CHAPTER 2 A SEAT BESIDE AN EMPTY MAN
The next morning, Seraphina woke before the alarm.
For several seconds, she lay perfectly still, staring at the ceiling.
Then she remembered.
Lucien had promised to come home for dinner.
He hadn't.
She turned her head toward his side of the bed.
Empty.
The sheets were untouched.
He had not come home at all.
Seraphina sat up slowly.
There had been a time when she would have panicked.
She would have called him repeatedly, worried that something had happened. She would have contacted Cassian Roe, searched the news, or driven to Lucien's office herself.
Instead, she reached for her phone.
There was one message.
Business ran late. I stayed at the penthouse.
Seraphina stared at it.
No apology.
No explanation.
Not even a question asking whether she was all right.
She placed the phone face down.
"Of course," she whispered.
By eight o'clock, she was dressed and downstairs.
The breakfast table was enormous enough to seat twelve people, yet she had become accustomed to eating alone at one end of it.
A housekeeper poured her coffee.
"Mrs. Armand, Mr. Armand asked that his breakfast be sent to his office."
Seraphina nodded.
"Fine."
She picked up her spoon.
Then she stopped.
"Did he say anything else?"
The housekeeper hesitated.
"He said he had several meetings today."
Seraphina smiled faintly.
"That sounds like Lucien."
She ate alone.
Again.
By noon, she found herself standing in front of her wardrobe.
There was an important charity luncheon that afternoon, one Lucien had promised to attend with her.
She almost laughed when she remembered.
I'll be there.
His words had become so easy to remember because they were so easy for him to break.
Still, she dressed.
Not because she expected him to come.
Because she had already promised the organizers she would attend.
At two o'clock, Seraphina arrived at the hotel ballroom.
The room glittered with crystal chandeliers and expensive gowns. Business leaders, socialites, politicians, and philanthropists filled the tables.
Her place card sat beside an empty chair.
LUCIEN ARMAND.
She stared at it.
For a moment, she considered asking someone to remove it.
Instead, she sat down.
The woman across from her leaned forward.
"Is Lucien joining us?"
Seraphina smiled politely.
"He may be delayed."
The woman nodded.
Everyone knew what that meant.
Lucien Armand was important enough to arrive whenever he pleased.
Seraphina spent the first hour answering questions about the Armand Foundation, smiling for photographs, and pretending the empty chair beside her didn't exist.
Then the doors opened.
She looked up.
Her heart jumped.
Lucien entered.
He was accompanied by two executives and Cassian Roe.
For one foolish second, relief warmed her chest.
He had come.
He saw her.
Their eyes met.
Lucien gave her a small nod.
Then he turned to the executives.
Seraphina's smile faded.
He walked past her table.
He didn't stop.
Didn't kiss her cheek.
Didn't apologize.
Nothing.
Cassian slowed as he passed.
His eyes moved from Seraphina to the empty chair.
He seemed uncomfortable.
"Seraphina."
"Hello, Cassian."
"Are you all right?"
"I'm fine."
Cassian looked toward Lucien.
"He's been buried in meetings all morning."
"I know."
"I'll talk to him."
She shook her head.
"Don't."
Cassian frowned.
"He should at least—"
"No."
Her voice was gentle.
But firm.
"I don't want you fighting my battles."
Cassian studied her.
"You shouldn't have to fight them alone."
Seraphina looked down.
"I'm getting used to it."
Before he could respond, Lucien called his name.
Cassian sighed.
"I'll see you later."
She nodded.
Lucien never came to her table.
The luncheon ended at four.
Seraphina stood outside the hotel waiting for her driver when she heard footsteps behind her.
"Seraphina."
She turned.
Lucien approached.
He looked surprised to find her alone.
"You left without saying goodbye."
She stared at him.
"You were busy."
"I was working."
"I know."
He frowned.
"You seem upset."
"I'm not."
"Then why are you acting like this?"
She almost asked him what this was.
Being tired?
Being quiet?
Not pretending everything was fine?
Instead, she said, "You promised you'd attend with me."
"I had an important meeting."
"You could have told me."
"I thought you understood."
Seraphina looked at him for a long moment.
"I understand everything, Lucien."
He seemed satisfied by that answer.
That was the tragedy.
He didn't hear what she meant.
He stepped closer and brushed a strand of hair from her face.
"You know I love you."
Her heart tightened.
Those words should have comforted her.
Instead, they made the emptiness worse.
"Do you?"
His hand fell.
"What does that mean?"
Seraphina shook her head.
"Nothing."
Lucien sighed.
"You're overthinking this."
There it was again.
The dismissal.
The quiet way he made her feelings sound unreasonable.
He looked at his watch.
"I have to go."
"Of course."
"I'll call you tonight."
She almost smiled.
"Will you?"
He frowned at the question.
"Why wouldn't I?"
Seraphina looked at him.
Because you don't.
Because every promise eventually becomes another empty space.
Because I have spent so much time sitting beside an empty chair that I've started to wonder whether I'm married to a man or merely waiting for one.
But she said none of it.
"Nothing."
Lucien kissed her forehead.
Then he left.
Seraphina watched his car disappear into traffic.
Her driver opened the door.
She got inside.
As the city passed outside the window, she thought about the empty chair at the luncheon.
It had been waiting for Lucien.
Just like she had.
For years, she had believed the problem was that Lucien wasn't there enough.
But perhaps that wasn't the truth.
Perhaps the real problem was that even when he was sitting beside her, some part of him was always somewhere else.
And for the first time, Seraphina wondered how long a marriage could survive when one person was physically present but emotionally absent.
She didn't have the answer.
Not yet.
But she was beginning to understand that love could not fill every empty seat forever.