Sebastian's POV.
Time: 6:48 p.m.
Location: Ashford Estate – Foyer
It was raining.
Not the kind that makes poets romantic, but the kind that stung when it hit your face. Cold. Angry. Heavy. Like something was being punished.
I stood in the marble foyer, staring at the door.
She was late.
Sky was never late.
Her schedule was sacred. My men followed it down to the second—school, bakery stop, Kai's reluctant "sister duty," then home by six. I checked the time again. 6:49 p.m.
The door burst open before I could text Kai.
And there she was.
Soaked from head to toe. Her perfect uniform plastered to her. Hair tangled, dragging behind her like a silk storm cloud. And her face—God.
Tear-streaked. Mottled. Broken.
Her backpack hit the floor. She didn't even take off her shoes. She just looked up at me, chest heaving, lips trembling, and said:
"Do I not deserve a mom?"
It felt like someone plunged their hand into my chest and ripped out my heart.
She collapsed forward and I caught her just in time, dropping to my knees in the foyer as her sobs ripped through the mansion.
"They said I'm weird for never talking about her. That she didn't want me. That I probably ruined her life. I didn't even know her! I was a baby!"
I held her tighter.
"They said I'm just some spoiled accident—'daddy's little mistake.' That rich people don't have kids at sixteen unless it's a scandal."
"Enough," I whispered, fingers carding through her dripping hair, damp strands clinging to her cheeks. "That's enough, baby."
"I hate crying," she hiccupped. "It makes my nose ugly."
I gave a soft chuckle. "You're beautiful. Crying or not."
She sniffled and nuzzled into my chest like she did when she was little. "You always say that."
"Because it's always true."
I scooped her up and walked us both toward the sitting room. Rosa had already lit the fireplace. Bless her.
We sat on the couch, wrapped in the softest blanket in the house, her shivering tucked into my arms, still wet and small and angry at the world.
"You know why she left, don't you?" I asked quietly.
Sky nodded. "She wanted someone richer. She didn't want a baby. You told me. I just… it hurts anyway."
"I know."
"I try not to care. But I do. It's dumb."
"It's not dumb. It's human." I kissed her forehead. "But she didn't deserve you. She didn't even try. I was sixteen, broke, terrified, and I still chose you."
Her eyes brimmed again.
"I would choose you a thousand times over, Sky."
"I know," she whispered. "That's the only reason I'm not broken."
She fell asleep in my arms that night, curled up like she used to as a toddler—hair everywhere, knees tucked to her chest, hands clinging to the front of my shirt like I might disappear if she let go.
But I wouldn't.
Not ever.
Not for anything in this world.