A billionaire was taking his fiancée home, until he saw his ex crossing the crosswalk with twins.
Daniel Harrington adjusted the platinum Rolex on his wrist as he drove his black Porsche Cayenne through the winding streets of London. The late afternoon sun cast golden beams across the leather interior, illuminating the woman beside him, Charlotte Bennett. At 28, with perfectly styled blonde hair in loose waves and designer sunglasses resting elegantly on her nose, she was everything he believed he wanted at that moment. Beautiful, independent and above all uncomplicated.
“The D.O.M. has a two month waiting list,” Charlotte said, checking her reflection in the sun visor mirror. “I still can’t believe you got us a table for tonight.”
Daniel smiled, his steel gray eyes focused on the road ahead. At forty, he had learned that money could buy almost anything, including spontaneity. His dark hair, streaked with silver at the temples, caught the light as he turned toward her.
“Perks of having renewable energy contracts with half the city.”
Simple. That was exactly how Daniel wanted his life to be. After years of complicated relationships, demanding schedules and emotional expectations he could not meet, simplicity felt like a luxury. His relationship with Charlotte was three months old. Long enough to enjoy her company, short enough to avoid serious conversations about the future.
The traffic light ahead turned red and Daniel brought the car to a smooth stop. His phone vibrated with work notifications, but he ignored them. Friday nights were sacred now, reserved for dinners, art galleries and conversations that never ventured into territory he was unwilling to explore.
“I love how relaxed you’ve been lately,” Charlotte said, reaching out to touch his hand. “When we first met, you seemed so intense.”
Daniel’s hand tightened slightly on the steering wheel. Intense. That was what his previous relationship had taught him about himself. Too focused on work, too unavailable, too resistant to the kind of domestic life others longed for. The breakup had been painful but necessary, a clean cut that allowed both of them to find what they truly wanted.
“I’ve learned to appreciate the moment,” he said, and it was true. No more pressure about weekend plans stretching months ahead. No more arguments about holiday traditions he had no interest in creating. No more hints about engagement rings or family dinners that made him feel trapped.
The crosswalk ahead filled with end of day movement. Executives heading home, couples holding hands, teenagers laughing as they crossed the busy intersection. Daniel watched them absently, his mind already shifting to the restaurant’s wine list, when something made him focus.
A woman was crossing the street, moving carefully through the crowd. She was holding something against her chest. No, two things. Babies, twins by the look of it, wrapped in soft blue and pink blankets. Her auburn hair was pulled back into a practical ponytail, and she moved with the cautious precision of someone carrying precious cargo.
Daniel’s breath caught. Even from a distance, even with her head lowered, he knew that profile. The gentle curve of her neck, the way she held her shoulders, the careful and deliberate way she walked.
Eleanor Price. His ex fiancée. The woman he had left exactly one year and one month earlier.
Eleanor stopped in the middle of the crosswalk when one of the babies began to fuss. She adjusted both in one arm and gently stroked the crying baby’s face with her free hand. Her lips moved. She was singing, Daniel realized, or softly humming something. The baby calmed almost immediately, and she continued crossing the street.
“Daniel?” Charlotte’s voice seemed to come from very far away. “The light is green.”
A billionaire was taking his fiancée home, until he saw his ex crossing the crosswalk with twins…
When Daniel Harrington saw Eleanor Price again, he was not prepared for the way the moment would fracture his sense of time. It did not announce itself with drama. There was no sharp intake of breath, no cinematic pause in which the world politely waited for him to understand what was happening. It arrived quietly, almost indifferently, as if the past had chosen a moment when he was distracted enough to slip back into his life without resistance.
She stood near Regent’s Canal, one hand resting on the handle of a double stroller, the other adjusting a blanket that had slipped just enough to expose a small sleeping face. Daniel noticed the gesture before he noticed her face. It was precise, practiced, and unconscious, the movement of someone who had learned to anticipate imbalance before it occurred. By the time recognition reached him, it was already too late to pretend this was coincidence.
He pulled the car over without quite remembering deciding to do so.
Eleanor looked up only when he was standing in front of her, his name already forming on his tongue. Surprise crossed her face, brief and controlled, before settling into something calmer, more guarded.
“Daniel,” she said. “I wondered when this would happen.”
They sat in a café nearby, quiet and half-empty in the early afternoon. The stroller was parked beside the table, two infants sleeping inside it with the absolute trust of those who had never yet been disappointed by the world. Eleanor did not waste time with pleasantries or careful phrasing. She had never been good at pretending ease where none existed.
