The Godfather Who Never Lost Begged Me Not to Leave Him Chapter 01

The Godfather Who Never Lost Begged Me Not to Leave Him Chapter 01

After I miscarried, Leander walked away from a billion-dollar deal and flew back from Europe overnight.

He stopped giving me the cold shoulder. He stopped mentioning his first love, Cressida, as casually as he used to.

He even started checking in with me every day, something he’d always hated doing, especially as the Don.

He didn’t need to. I was already doing everything I could to avoid him.

That evening, I used family business as an excuse and went with a friend to a restaurant I’d been looking forward to for ages.

Over dinner, my friend caught me glancing at the little girl at the next table and asked casually,

“You don’t want to try for another baby?”

I shook my head.

“Forget it.”

“Leander and I… could be divorced by tomorrow for all I know.”

I turned and found Leander standing at the entrance, his expression grim.

He stared at me, his face unreadable.

“It’s raining. I came to take you home.”

I didn’t need him to pick me up. I had my own car and a personal driver.

Still… I got to my feet, grabbed my bag, and headed for the door.

He stayed stone-faced the entire way to the car.

Halfway home, he suddenly said, “I don’t want a divorce.”

“I only said that because I was angry.”

Before…

Then it came back to me.

It had snowed hard that New Year’s Eve.

Leander had to fly to Europe on short notice. I begged him for ages before he finally agreed to have dinner with me first.

He’d bought out the restaurant for the night. I arrived early and ran into Leander and Cressida just as they stepped out of a car by the entrance.

I stopped cold.

When Leander noticed I wasn’t moving, he glanced back at me. “Why aren’t you going in?”

I looked past him at Cressida. “Why is she here?”

Tonight was supposed to be a date with my husband.

Cressida stiffened.

Leander frowned. “Cressida and I are flying to Europe later. It makes sense to eat together.”

I pressed my lips together. “It doesn’t make sense to me. She can eat somewhere else nearby.”

Leander’s expression cooled.

“Nerissa, don’t start. It’s just dinner.”

There it was again. “Just.” Everything was always “just” to him.

There was an opera I’d been dying to see, and he’d gone so far as to arrange a private performance just for me.

Then I took my seat and found Cressida sitting on his other side.

He said she’d wanted to see it too.

I asked, “Then why does she have to sit with us? Can’t she sit somewhere else?”

The entire theater was empty.

He said, “Nerissa, it’s just an opera. We all know each other. It’d be rude to make Cressida sit by herself across an empty theater.”

I’d designed a diamond necklace, and he’d spent a fortune having it custom-made for my birthday. Then I saw an identical one around Cressida’s neck.

I pointed at it and asked Leander why she had the same necklace.

He said, “You have good taste, so I had them make a second one.”

Cressida lowered her head with an awkward smile. “Rissa, if you don’t like us having the same necklace, I won’t wear mine.”

She reached up to take it off.

Leander stopped her. “It’s just a necklace. Nerissa isn’t that petty.”

My face went cold. I never wore that necklace again.

Two months earlier, Leander and I had planned to watch a meteor shower at the family estate. I’d even picked out something gorgeous to wear because I wanted the night to be unforgettable.

I opened the passenger door and found Cressida already sitting there.

For a second, I forgot how to breathe. I turned to Leander. “Why is she here too?”

Leander looked genuinely puzzled, as if I were the one being unreasonable.

“Nerissa, it’s just a meteor shower.”

We stood there at an impasse, his face growing colder by the second.

Finally, he said, “If you don’t want to go anymore, go home on your own.”

That was when I finally understood how much Cressida, his first love, the name his family’s old guard avoided speaking aloud, still meant to him.

They’d known each other for ten years, loved each other for five, and been apart for three. I finally understood what that history meant to him.

I saw it in the way Leander lost focus the moment he saw her again after she returned to the city.

I saw it in the way he always gave Cressida his full attention, a faint smile touching his lips before he even realized it.

Again and again.

I was done enduring it.