Kneel, Darling, Your Trophy Wife Is Gone Chapter 16
For the next week, Ethan stayed outside the hotel every single day.
Like he’d finally thrown away all his pride, he showed up daily with flowers and gifts. He even personally arranged for the hotel kitchen to remake all my meals according to my preferences.
But this kind of belated tenderness only exhausted me.
Not moved.
Just tired.
So eventually, I started considering going back to New York.
Damien was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows with his arms crossed when I mentioned it.
Hearing my decision, he lifted an eyebrow slightly.
“Wouldn’t recommend it.”
His tone sounded casual, but there was calm calculation underneath it.
“New York is Ethan’s territory.”
He glanced at me.
“You really think once you go back, your father won’t pressure you into remarrying him?”
My hand tightened unconsciously around the coffee cup.
My fingertips turned pale.
I didn’t answer immediately, because I knew he was right.
A man like my father…if the profit was big enough, he absolutely would sell his daughter a second time.
That was exactly why I left the country after the divorce instead of returning home in the first place.
Damien walked over and casually leaned against the armrest beside me, close enough to feel his presence
without actually crossing the line.
He simply looked at me quietly.
“There is another option,” he said.
“Want to hear it?”
I looked up at him.
“What option?”
Damien reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of rings.
The movement looked casual, almost careless.
Too casual.
Like he’d prepared them a long time ago and was only pretending this wasn’t important.
“Marry me.”
I froze.
He continued speaking in that same light tone, almost like a joke.
“Lawyers are good at fighting battles.”
“Even if your father wants to force you back to Ethan, he’ll first need to ask whether anyone in New York can
beat me in court.”
The room fell silent for a second.
Instinctively, I almost refused.
But before the words left my mouth, I saw his eyes.
Gone was the usual lazy confidence. Gone was the teasing amusement.
What I saw instead was tension so tightly restrained it almost felt fragile-like he was waiting for a verdict
that could decide his entire life.
And suddenly, I stopped.
A memory from the cruise resurfaced in my mind.
Then quietly, I heard myself say: “Okay.”
Damien visibly froze.
“You…” For once, even his voice sounded unstable. “You’re actually agreeing?”
Then after a brief pause, he added carefully, “Fair warning-once you marry into the Santoro family, there’s
no such thing as divorce.”
A laugh slipped out of me.
“Then maybe I should reconsider.”
The second the words left my mouth, Damien grabbed my hand almost immediately, fast enough to betray
just how afraid he was that I might take it back.
He slid one of the rings onto my finger.
The motion was firm enough to almost hurt.
But steady.
Certain.
“No,” he said flatly.
“You already agreed.”
I lowered my eyes toward the ring.
Perfect fit.
Like it had been measured countless times before.
Suddenly, I smiled.
Then lightly poked his chest with my fingertip.
“So…” I tilted my head slightly. “You’ve been in love with me for a long time, haven’t you?”
Damien went completely still.
His breathing even paused for half a second.
“You…” His voice lowered. “You remembered?”
And in that instant, I saw his eyes change completely.
I nodded slowly.
“I remembered.”
Ten years ago. Junior year of high school.
I attended a banquet with my mother.
While passing through the hotel lobby, I saw a young waiter being humiliated publicly.
Because of a small accident, he was being forced to compensate the guests, apologize, even kneel.
There were people everywhere watching.
But nobody stepped forward.
So I asked my driver to pay the money for him. And afterward, I gave him extra cash too.
Three hundred thousand dollars.
To me, it was just a number.
But later, I learned that for him-it became another life entirely.
Damien gently took my hand.
His grip stayed light, but unwavering.
“Maybe to you, it was only three hundred thousand,” he said quietly. “But to me back then… it was the first
light I’d seen in years.”
His eyes stayed fixed on me.
“After that day, I could never see you as a stranger again.”
“You became the one thing I didn’t dare get close to.”
A faint smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
“And the only thing I ever wanted.”
He looked at me deeply.
So deeply my heartbeat suddenly lost rhythm.
“Ten years, Nora.”
His voice turned lower.
“And now…”
“I finally don’t have to wait anymore.”
