It had been years since Penelope felt this way. Standing in the snowy landscape, in that empty square, he felt utterly alone, as if nothing remained of him.

Thinking about it, he had lost Zoe but hadn't truly lost anything else. Yet at that moment, it felt as if he had nothing left.

He didn't want to return to the Wells family, didn't wish to see his mother, with whom he had shared a good relationship for so many years. He had no desire to manage his assets or companies, and least of all to go back to the Wells Family Group to continue working.

He found himself disinterested in...