The soft hum of conversation inside the most exclusive restaurant in Newport Beach faded into a dull, overwhelming noise. Three tables away, something—or someone—pulled his entire focus.
His business partners from Europe were discussing a fifty-million-dollar pharmaceutical deal. Lawyers leaned over documents, pointing at charts and projections. But Ryan Carter didn’t hear a single word.
His eyes were fixed on the service station in the corner, where plates were being cleared.
There she was.
Elena.
For a moment, he thought it had to be a trick of exhaustion. But no—it was her. The woman he had left behind five years ago. The brilliant emergency nurse. The only person who had ever loved him before money changed everything.
But the woman standing there now was nothing like the one he remembered.
Her scrubs were faded and worn thin. Over them, she wore a stained black apron. Her hair was tied back carelessly. Her hands—once precise and confident—were hidden inside cracked yellow gloves.
Then he noticed something worse.
She wasn’t just cleaning.
She was taking food.