Taken by Dad’s Best Friend: My Biggest Regret Chapter 03
In my last life, a man made that exact joke about Serena in front of him.
That night, the coldest, most controlled Don on the East Coast took the guy by the back of the skull and put his face through a table until the wood was wet.
I used to think I simply couldn’t measure up to Serena.
Standing there, I finally understood the real shape of it. In Damian’s head, I had never been in the same category as her at all. I didn’t even qualify for the comparison.
What? You won’t?” He swirled the whiskey in his glass. “Then get out.”
I didn’t argue. I didn’t make a scene.
walked through the laughter, sat down at the bench like an obedient girl, and played Für Elise.
He taught me that piece when I was thirteen.
Before that night, I had never once played it in front of anyone but him.
Ten seconds in, he had me by the arm and was hauling me
out to the car, back to the penthouse.
Every object in that apartment I had chosen with love..
Walking in again, all I felt was the urge to burn it.
“Take your bag,” he snapped, and vanished into the bedroom.
Five minutes later he came back out. The bag was gone. So
was everything else. Every trace I’d ever left in that place had been erased.
I was standing at the elevator when he backed me into the corner and slammed a hand against the wall beside
“Vivienne. What the hell are you playing at?”
my head.
I blinked at him, blank.
I’m not playing at anything.”
He laughed, furious. “Do you have any idea how ridiculous you
look when you dig your heels in?”
pressed my lips together, met his eyes, and kept my voice mild.
I was young. I didn’t know better. I won’t bother you again.
I’ve realized there’s nothing between us that-”
His phone rang before I could finish.
At that hour, we both knew who it was,
I expected him to snatch it up. Instead, for the first time in
ten years, he didn’t move at all. He leaned closer, face going dark.
“There’s nothing between us that what? Finish it. Vivienne.”
“You should take the call. Serena just moved abroad. She doesn’t know anyone. She needs someone with her.”
Damian went still. Then he came out of it like a man
surfacing from deep water and answered on the last ring.
“Serena. I’m sorry, I’ve been buried lately. Don’t cry. Baby, you know it cuts me open when you cry.”
He walked out without looking back, straight toward the helipad.
Watching him go, I let out a breath I’d been holding for two lifetimes.
Two days later, the Laurents and the Calloways gathered for the formal dinner where the wedding date would be set.
I stood outside the private dining room, spine straight, hands folded. The older generation teased me for being too eager to see him.
Then Damian arrived.
Not only did he show up, which I hadn’t expected. He brought Serena, home early from overseas.
He didn’t look at me once. He led her by the hand to the
head of the room, and the two of them knelt together in front of Penelope.
“Grandmother. I’ve asked Serena to marry me.”
The room detonated into noise.
Serena curled into his chest, eyes glossing over on cue, and looked at me.
“Vivienne, I know I promised you I’d stay away from Damian. I
know. But I can’t control what I feel. For his sake, today I have to be brave enough to choose love.”
And there it was. A flash of triumph in her eyes, gone in half a second.
She’d been reborn too.
Damian! This is madness!”
Penelope’s stare fixed on Serena, and I could see the truth coming, the money the family had paid to send that girl out of the country.