Chapter 58
Chapter 13
Carlotta arrived exactly at six-thirty, right on cue, as though she had rehearsed her entrance to perfection. Her presence disrupted the fragile quiet of the morning like a gust of cold wind. As Amber buckled little Nico into his high chair, she deliberately avoided looking up. But out of the corner of her eye, she caught the sight of Carlotta leaning in and pressing her lips to Luc's. That familiar, searing pain she had become accustomed to over the past few days flared in her chest, but she swallowed it down, burying it beneath layers of forced indifference.
“Hello, Amber,” Carlotta greeted with a bright, overly cheerful voice as she settled into her seat.
Amber forced a smile, her voice hollow as she replied, “Good morning, Ms. Forentino.” She could feel Luc’s eyes on her, studying every tiny reaction, every flicker of emotion. But Amber had become an expert in masking her feelings—she kept her expression blank, her tone steady, refusing to give him the satisfaction of knowing how deeply this hurt. She didn’t want to give him anything.
Carlotta turned her attention to Nico next. “Hello, Nico!” she said with forced enthusiasm. But Nico, unlike his mother, didn’t have the patience for false niceties. His small face scrunched up, his brows furrowing as he spat out the word he had learned to wield like a weapon.
“No!”
Amber and Luc reacted at once, their voices colliding in their reprimands.
“Nico!” Luc’s tone was sharp, but Amber’s was sharper.
“That was rude, Nico!” Amber scolded, her frustration at the situation bubbling over. “If someone says hello, you greet them back. What you just did was very rude.”
“Now, greet Ms. Forentino.”
Nico's lip wobbled, a pout forming as his big eyes flickered uncertainly between his mother and father. After a moment, he relented, his voice small and hesitant as he muttered, “Hello, Ms. Foen-Foen-tino…”
Carlotta, in her desperate attempt to smooth over the tension, smiled brightly. “Hi, Nico,” she replied, her voice light as though nothing had happened. But the awkwardness lingered, heavy in the air like a dark cloud.
The rest of breakfast passed in uncomfortable silence. No one seemed interested in conversation, and the strained atmosphere weighed on everyone. Nico remained grumpy, scowling at his plate, while Luc mirrored his son’s mood, his own expression dark and brooding. It was almost comical—father and son sitting there like twin versions of the Grinch, plotting to cancel Christmas. And then there was Carlotta, awkward and unsure, clearly struggling to find a way to break the ice but not quite knowing how.
Amber kept her gaze down, focusing on her coffee cup, the dark liquid swirling as if it could pull her in and drown her. She didn’t want to be part of this scene. She didn’t want to witness this charade of a breakfast.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Carlotta ventured into conversation, her voice tentative as the housekeeper poured coffee. “So, Luc, the wedding planner mentioned cake tasting on Friday. Are you free in the afternoon?”
Amber felt her stomach tighten at the casual mention of their wedding, as if someone had pressed a raw nerve. She stared at the intricate patterns on the tablecloth, tracing the embroidered flowers with her mind as if that could drown out the words. She forced herself to focus on anything else—the bitter taste of espresso, the sound of the ticking clock in the background—anything but the conversation unraveling in front of her.
Luc’s reply was cool and dismissive. “Not really,” he said, not bothering to look at Carlotta. “Why don’t you take your mother and sister? You can invite my mother as well. She’d love it.”
Amber winced. His disinterest was palpable, and even Carlotta’s perfectly rehearsed smile faltered for a second before she regained her composure. “What about Saturday?” she asked, her voice a little more hesitant now, like someone walking on cracked ice. “Or Sunday?”
Amber found herself holding her breath. She could feel the tension radiating from Luc like heat. She wanted to scream at them to take this conversation elsewhere, to have it in the privacy of their own space where she didn’t have to be a witness to his coldness and her desperation. But she said nothing, keeping her eyes glued to the table as if it held some secret escape route.
Luc’s response came, just as callous as before. “Actually, I was thinking of taking Nico to the zoo this weekend,” he said, his tone casual but with a sharpness that cut through the air. “I don’t have any free time this week, and I haven’t had the chance to spend much time with him since we’ve been here.”
The rejection hung in the air, and Amber could see the hurt flash across Carlotta’s face, though she tried to mask it with another strained smile. “Maybe I could join you in your zoo expedition then?” Carlotta suggested, her voice softer now, throwing a hopeful glance Nico’s way as if the little boy might smooth over the cracks forming in her relationship with Luc.
But Nico’s face twisted into a scowl, mirroring Luc’s, and Amber knew her son was about to deliver another resounding “no” to Carlotta. She couldn’t let that happen, not again.
“Of course, Nico would love that,” Amber interjected quickly, her voice falsely bright. “If you take him in the morning and come back by three, that would be perfect. That’s his nap time, and he gets cranky if he’s kept awake after that. That way, you’ll still have the rest of the day for your own plans.”
Carlotta seemed surprised by Amber’s cooperation but nodded, her smile returning. “That sounds like a good plan,” she agreed, glancing at Luc.
But Luc… Luc wasn’t smiling. His face had darkened again, his expression hard as he stared at Amber, his eyes cold and unreadable. For reasons she couldn’t understand, he looked furious, as though she had somehow betrayed him by agreeing to this arrangement. Amber met his gaze, her confusion mounting. What did he want from her? She was doing everything she could to make this work, to keep everything civil and smooth. Why was he looking at her like she had done something terribly wrong?
The tension between them thickened, crackling in the air like a brewing storm. Amber held his gaze, refusing to back down even though her heart was pounding. After a few long, excruciating moments, Luc broke the silence with a clipped question.
“So, you’re not coming with us to the zoo?”
Amber stared at him, genuinely surprised he had even asked. Did he not realize how impossibly awkward it would be for her to tag along with him and his new fiancée? The thought alone made her stomach twist.
“No,” she replied firmly, shaking her head. “I think it’s best if I don’t.”
Luc’s expression didn’t change, but his jaw tightened. He didn’t say another word. With a sharp movement, he tossed his napkin onto the table and stood up, striding out of the room without looking back.
Carlotta hesitated for a moment, clearly torn, but eventually she followed him, leaving Amber alone at the table with Nico.
As Amber sat there, the silence closing in around her, she felt the weight of the morning settle heavily on her chest. Whatever words had been exchanged between Luc and Carlotta in the study after that, whatever apologies or reassurances had been made, it was clear they had reconciled by the time she saw them again. Luc was smiling as he leaned down to kiss Carlotta, his arm wrapped around her possessively.
Amber’s chest tightened, an unbearable ache spreading through her as she quickly looked away. She couldn’t watch.
“It’s for the best,” she whispered to herself, even as the pain gnawed at her insides. “It’s for the best…”
But just because she had accepted her fate, didn’t mean the pain got any lesser.