u/Frequent-Crew-4688

I went online at 3pm PST (12am Paris time) to get tickets for July 20th (exactly 60 days out) and the site just circled for half an hour loading the calendar. I then had to leave to come home (yeah, was absolutely using the last of my work day to try & get them lol) So at 4:33 when got home I tried again I got through - sadly no summit tickets left 😢. Did get 2nd floor tickets via lift (only ones available) at 11pm. There were only tickets for 10:30 or 11 pm left. So now my son & I habe changed our plan for the day & are happily looking forward to the night time view of Paris. But holy crap!!! I didn’t think essentially everything would be sold out in an hour & a half. We had really wanted to do the summit, but ce la vie.

Now we're going to the Arc de Triomphe at 7pm get a daylight/sunset view of the city before heading over to the Tower. Instead of the morning view from the tower & evening from the Arc.

I've stressed a lot while making plans to travel, from booking flights, hotels, tickets for trains/events/sites and building the itinerary. What I've learned. My family doesn't care.

I don't mean that they don't care about the effort, but they don't care about the specifics. We had a plan, I could not execute said plan, my kid (16) did not care. He was so chill about needing to change it. Was just like "okay, so, (insert shrug) we'll go at night & get to see all the lights. And 2nd floor is still a good view. What's the issue?" And right there I took a breath and realized this trip doesn't need to be perfect. We just need to find the joy in exploring the country together.

Edited as I realized I didn't actually follow the rules of the sub by asking a question. I was just trying to empathize with others in this mad scramble of ticket pre-booking and were perhaps losing a little of themselves in the chaos.

So on to a question that would help me out? Suggestions of things to do in the morning & afternoon. Thinking more low-key, less structured. Parks?, Fairs?, Shopping? We are staying near Gare de Lyon so anything along the route.

I signed the divorce papers at my own anniversary party—while my husband slow-danced with his ex-girlfriend under chandeliers I'd chosen myself.

The pen was steady.

My mascara was not.

Three years of marriage—and I discovered I was invisible in a room of three hundred people who called me Mrs. Moretti.

I'd excused myself to the bathroom at ten. On my way back, I passed Luca's private office—door cracked open, his lawyer inside, murmuring into a phone.

"...yes, papers are drafted. He wants it finalized after tonight. Clean break. Valentina's been briefed."

I stood frozen in the hallway, champagne going flat in my hand.

Divorce papers.

Drawn up before our anniversary party even started.

I walked into that office after the lawyer left. Found the documents on the desk. Two copies. Yellow tabs marking every line where I was supposed to sign.

So I signed.

Every page. Every tab. Every clause that read Sienna Moretti née Calloway agrees to dissolve...

Then I set down the pen, returned to the ballroom, and watched my husband pull Valentina Ricci closer on the dance floor—his lips at her temple, his hand on her waist—while three hundred guests pretended not to see.

No one looked at me.

Not one person.

I picked up my clutch and slipped out the service entrance.

January air hit my face. Cold. Merciless. New York at midnight.

I pressed my hand against my stomach—still flat. Not for long.

Six weeks pregnant.

With the child of a man who'd already drafted my exit.

I hailed a cab.

"Grand Central," I told the driver.

He glanced in the rearview mirror—a woman in a twelve-thousand-dollar gown, mascara streaked, standing coatless on the curb outside a building full of Manhattan's most dangerous men.

"You okay, lady?"

"Never better."

I pulled out my phone and dialed the only number I had left.

"Aunt Celeste? It's Sienna."

"Baby, it's midnight—what's wrong?"

"I need somewhere to go. Can I come to you?"

A pause. Then, softly:

"What did he do?"

And that was the question that broke me—because when someone asks what happened with genuine love in their voice, after three years of no one asking at all, something inside you just... shatters.

"He was never mine," I whispered. "I think I always knew. I just didn't want to see it."

"I'm looking up trains right now. Don't argue."

"Okay."

"And Sienna?"

"Yeah?"

"You are never going back to that family. You hear me?"

I ended the call and watched the city shimmer through my tears.

Somewhere behind me, in a ballroom full of killers and silk, my husband was waltzing with the woman he'd loved since before I existed.

And the worst part?

He hadn't noticed I'd left.

He wouldn't notice until morning—when he reached for the coffee I always made him and found only silence.

Chapter 2

I married Luca Moretti three years ago because he made me feel safe.

Ironic—given what he did for a living.

We met when his men accidentally kidnapped me.

A case of mistaken identity—they thought I was a rival's daughter. By the time Luca realized the error, I'd already broken one guard's nose with a champagne bottle and bitten another's hand.

He walked into the room, took one look at me—wild-eyed, barefoot, gripping a broken bottle—and laughed.

"Wrong girl," his lieutenant said.

"No," Luca murmured, still watching me. "I think she's exactly right."

He drove me home himself. Sent flowers the next day. Then the next. Then every day for a month until I agreed to dinner.

He was charming. Disarming. The kind of man who made you forget his surname appeared in FBI files.

And when my father was killed—a robbery that may or may not have been random—Luca held me together. Stood beside me at the funeral. Handled everything. Made the world feel survivable.

So when he proposed, I said yes.

Not for the empire. Not for the money.

Because he looked me in the eyes and said, "You'll never be alone again, Sienna. I promise."

He lied.

The loneliness started six months in, when Valentina Ricci returned from Milan.

His ex. His first love. Daughter of another powerful family—stunning, razor-sharp, fluent in four languages and the art of making me feel small.

"She's a business associate," Luca said. "Our families have history. I can't cut her off."

I nodded. Because I trusted him.

Then came the late nights at "meetings." Phone calls he took in another room. Weekends in Atlantic City I wasn't invited to.

I cooked dinner every night and ate alone at a table set for two.

Marco, his right-hand, stopped meeting my eyes. The guards at the door started looking at me with something worse than disrespect—pity.

Everyone knew before I did.

But I kept smiling. Kept hosting dinners for his associates. Kept being the perfect wife—because if I was perfect enough, maybe he'd come back to me.

He never did.

The gala was my last attempt.

Six weeks of planning. His favorite bourbon. His mother's tiramisu recipe. A live band playing the song from our first dance.

And he spent the evening with her.

At nine, I crossed the room.

"Dance with me?" I asked my husband. At his own anniversary party.

He glanced at me like I'd interrupted something important.

"In a minute, Sienna."

That minute never came.

At ten, I found the papers.

At ten fifteen, I signed them.

At ten thirty, I was gone.

Now, in the back seat of a cab heading to Grand Central, I let myself feel it—the full, crushing weight of three years spent loving a man who'd already let me go.

My phone buzzed.

A text from Luca.

"Where did you go? Valentina wants to say goodbye and you disappeared. Don't be rude."

He thought I'd stepped away to fix my makeup.

He didn't know I'd signed the papers.

He didn't know I was already gone.

And he didn't know about the baby.

Chapter 3

Aunt Celeste was waiting at the station, wrapped in a coat two sizes too big, clutching a thermos of hot chocolate like a weapon.

She was my mother's younger sister—the family's black sheep who'd refused to marry into any "connected" family and instead opened a bakery in a small Connecticut town.

When Mom died—a car accident that Luca's people insisted was just an accident—Celeste begged me to come live with her.

But I was already engaged.

"He'll take care of me," I told her.

She looked at me with knowing eyes but said nothing.

Now here I was. Twenty-five years old, wearing a designer gown, carrying everything that mattered in a clutch purse and my womb.

Celeste didn't ask questions. She drove me to her apartment above the bakery, sat me down with hot chocolate and leftover cannoli, and said:

"Eat first. Cry later."

I ate. And for the first time in months, food tasted like something other than obligation.

After I finished, she sat across from me. Waiting.

So I told her everything.

The loneliness. Valentina. The gala. The papers on his desk.

She listened without interrupting, her expression shifting from concern to controlled fury.

When I finished, she set down her mug with deliberate force.

"I'll say this once, Sienna. That man never deserved you. And if any of his people show up at my door, I own a shotgun and I know how to use it."

I almost smiled.

Then she noticed.

"Sienna... you keep touching your stomach."

I froze.

Her eyes narrowed—sharp, the way all Calloway women were sharp.

"How far along?"

I hadn't told anyone. I'd confirmed it two days before the gala—a pharmacy bathroom, shaking hands, two pink lines that changed everything.

"Six weeks," I whispered.

Celeste closed her eyes. When she opened them, they glistened.

"Does he know?"

"No."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"He drafted divorce papers before our anniversary party. He was going to leave me. This baby changes nothing for him."

"But does it change things for you?"

I pressed both hands to my stomach.

"Everything."

Celeste gripped my hands hard.

"Then here's what happens. You stay with me. You rest, you heal, you grow this baby. And we figure out the rest together."

Her voice cracked.

"Your mother made me promise, Sienna. She made me promise I'd protect you. And I spent three years failing because I let you walk into that family."

"You didn't fail me."

"I did. But not anymore."

That night, I lay in the small bedroom above the bakery, listening to the radiator hum and the wind rattle the windows.

For the first time in three years, silence felt like peace instead of punishment.

No waiting for footsteps. No checking my phone. No rehearsing smiles.

Just warmth. Just quiet. Just the faint smell of bread dough rising downstairs.

My phone lit up.

Luca. Seventeen missed calls.

And one text:

"Sienna. Why the fuck are your closets empty? Why are the papers signed? Where are you? Call me. NOW."

He'd noticed my clothes before he noticed me.

I stared at the screen for ten seconds.

Then I blocked his number and turned off the phone.

So admittedly I'm a "little" (read basket case) OCD when it comes to travel. I get really anxious about things going smoothly. So from seasoned Travellers to Paris what are he necessary tickets to pre- buy, other than the Eiffle Tower (I have alerts on my phone to buy 60 days out).

Will be in Paris Jul 19-25 & things we want to do that I don't already have tickets for:

Arc de Triomphe

Louvre

Seine river cruise (preferably evening)

Moulin Rouge

Notre dame

Catacombs (maybe)

Mont St. Michel, but driving from Asnelles

Will be in Asnelles to visits the beaches (car rented for easy travel) Jul 26-Aug2

So do I need to pre purchase tickets for any of the museums or sites there?

Any suggestions on can't miss places?

Thanks in advance

I have seen a lot of conflicting information about this online.

So just looking for some clarification.

I was told the legal age for drinking by themselves is 18, but 16 if accompanied by a parent by a friend. But there are lots of differing views online when I went to clarify.

I am traveling with my 16 yr old son in July. We are not looking to go out & drink a lot, but occasionally we allow him to have a cider or cooler (he hates beer) in the summer at get togethers, bbqs etc. if we are present. If he wanted to try a cider, wine or cocktail (like a pina colada) while out for dinner would he be allowed. If not no biggie he's fine with pop or water, but didn't want him to be embarrassed if he asked and then was denied.

"After three agonizing years of trying for a baby, I finally got pregnant—only to be handed cold divorce papers.

My husband’s first love—my own half-sister—was back, and he wanted to kick me out to move her into our home.

“I, Alpha Sebastian King of the Dark Hollow Falls Pack, reject you, Zaia Toussaint, as my mate and Luna.”

There was no need to tell him that I was pregnant anymore. Sebastian didn't even look at me; his eyes were fixed on my sister, his arm wrapped around her waist as she smirked at my ruin.

“You’re barren, Zaia,” he sneered in front of the entire pack. “A Luna who can’t provide an heir is useless. Annalise is my true mate, and she will give me the legacy you couldn't.”

I looked at the man I had worshipped for three years—the man who was now throwing me away like trash. I didn't beg. I didn't cry.

“I, Zaia Toussaint, former Luna of the Dark Hollow Falls Pack, accept your rejection, Alpha Sebastian King.”

The bond snapped like a whip, a physical agony that nearly brought me to my knees. But I didn't fall. I walked out into the rain with nothing but the life growing inside me, leaving behind a man who had just made the biggest mistake of his life.

Sebastian thought he was finally free. He thought he had found his happily ever after.

But what would happen when I return—not as his submissive wife, but as the powerful Luna of his greatest rival?

Tap the button below to read more."

"I have some good news, Zaia. Sebastian will be so excited. Congratulations, you're pregnant!"

The doctor's words rang in my mind as I stared down at the test reports once more, leaving the hospital.

"Sorry!" I said, avoiding bumping into someone. My heart skipped a beat as I placed a hand protectively over my stomach, hurrying toward the car waiting for me.

My driver, Ethan, stood beside the sleek black vehicle. He opened the door for me, nodding respectfully.

"Thank you," I said as I slid in gracefully.

"Where to, ma'am?" he asked once he was behind the wheel.

"Home," I said, unable to suppress my smile, excitement bubbling through me.

This was actually happening. I'd been trying for a baby for three years, and finally… finally, I was pregnant.

I wanted to shout it from the rooftops, tell everyone that yes! I was pregnant with the heir to the pack! But I contained myself. I needed to tell Sebastian the good news first.

Sebastian was the Alpha of the Dark Hollow Falls pack. It was one of the largest packs on the eastern side of the state.

However, with the large territory came dangerous borders that roamed with rogues, ready to tear apart anyone who got in their way.

Werewolves spent their entire lives searching and hoping to find their destined mates. As for me, I'd had a crush on Sebastian from the moment I'd seen him when I was eleven years old.

That crush never went away, and when he turned out to be my fated mate, it had been a dream come true. We married shortly after.

He desperately wanted an heir, and what Alpha didn't? I had just turned eighteen when I found him, but he was thirty-one at the time. Many other Alphas had sons who were already being trained to become the next Alphas by his age.

"Make haste, Ethan. I have a lot to do today," I said to the driver as I sat back against the plush leather seat.

Reaching our large gated mansion, I stepped inside and headed straight to the kitchen, my stilettos clicking on the wooden floors. I would cook his favorite pudding and place the reports underneath the plate!

"You may take the evening off. Get some rest," I said to the maid, Emma. "I'll cook for us tonight."

"Oh, thank you, Luna!" she said, placing down the dish towel she'd been holding. "I am certain Alpha will absolutely be so happy if you make him his favorite dessert! Not to mention he doesn't like sweet things, but your pudding is something he can't resist!"

I couldn't help but smile at her words. Yes, Sebastian didn't enjoy sweet things, aside from me—and the "cream pie" he loved.

My cheeks heated as I remembered the first time he'd told me that was now his second favorite dessert. In hopes of making his favorite dessert, I had asked him what his favorite was. Only for him to smirk and reply, "You."

I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear, the elated feeling creating a pleasant buzz around me as I got to work, wanting everything to be perfect for his return.

Hours passed, and when everything was almost ready, I changed into something pretty and set up the dining table with candles and the food.

"Almost 9 p.m…" He would be home soon.

With the troubles that had surrounded our borders, as well as having to run the business, Sebastian often worked until late into the night. But he would try to come home by 9:30 p.m. and continue working from home if necessary.

I sat down on the chair, watching the clock tick away, the sound loud in the room's silence.

Once again, I looked down at my stomach, smiling softly as I awaited the return of my mate.

Time passed slowly, and soon 11 o'clock came and went, but I wasn't deterred. Maybe I would reheat the food again…

I had just placed the reheated meals on the table when my head jerked up at the sound of footsteps, making my heart thud at the sudden noise. I looked toward the door excitedly.

Finally, he was home!

The front door shut, and a familiar faint scent of my mate hit my nose.

I cast a swift glance at the clock on the wall. To my surprise, it was past midnight.

I rushed to the hall, the excitement of finally being able to tell him the good news filling me. There he was, in the dimly lit hall. He still looked as handsome as ever.

Three and a half years on, he still made my heart skip a beat whenever I saw him.

He loosened his black tie as he placed his briefcase down, holding a few files in his hands as well. His bright blue eyes looked tired as they met mine, and I smiled.

"Sebastian!" I rushed over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He caught me with one arm, but there was no enthusiasm. He must have had a really hard day. I didn't mind; I knew how stressful things were at work lately.

Placing me back on the floor, he raised a brow as he looked down at me.

"Why are you awake at this time?" he asked in his deep, rough voice.

"I was waiting for you. I wanted to have dinner together. There's something I wanted to tell you," I explained as I helped him out of his jacket, brushing a piece of lint from his white shirt that was no longer as crisp as it had been this morning.

"I've already eaten," he replied, surprising me as he headed towards the living room. "I have something to tell you."

"Okay, you go first," I said as he dropped onto the sofa, stretching his long legs and resting his arm on the back of the cushion.

I sat down beside him, knowing he would share something regarding the work meeting. After all, I was knowledgeable on these matters, and he'd often get my opinion on his ideas.

However, there was something off. There was a coldness in his eyes as he looked into mine.

Sebastian looked down at the file in his hands before he tossed it on the table. The loud snap as it hit the surface made me jump.

"Read it."

I took it uneasily and flipped open the blank file, but the red words in bold print at the top of the first page made my blood run cold.

I gasped as I quickly scanned the document. That feeling became worse. This was a divorce agreement with our names on it… My entire body trembled as I looked up at him, hurt and confused.

"W-why?" I managed to blurt out as I looked at the man I loved with all my heart.

What went wrong?

"Annalise is back, and she's rejoined the pack."

I looked up sharply. It was suddenly hard to breathe.

"But I am your mate," I whispered. How could he still care for Annalise? She was his past. "We've been married for three years."

"Our marriage was a mistake from the very beginning. Back then, my father demanded that I marry my mate, but now I don't want to be bound by the Goddess's arrangement. I don't see the point of fated mates."

My heart clenched. I looked at his face, trying to understand what he was thinking, but there was nothing that revealed his feelings. He had his walls up, blocking the mate bond.

"But your father, he—"

"My mom is not my father's mate, but she still gave birth to me. She gave him a powerful Alpha son, and even after he found his mate, he stayed by her side, rejecting his mate. I will never understand his reason for wanting me with my destined mate when he himself is proof that you don't need your mate."

Those words were worse than being stabbed a thousand times, and I could feel my eyes prickle with tears, the agony my wolf was feeling consuming me.

Did he really think that was the truth? Annalise was my half-sister, and although she and Sebastian had dated, I knew her truth. The real her that she hid behind her pretty face and doe eyes.

"Annalise only approached you because you were an Alpha… Sebastian, she doesn't love you the way I do. She wants to be Luna—"

He kicked the solid oak coffee table, making me jump as it was thrown over with a loud crash, hitting the wooden floor with a deafening bang that made the ornaments in the glass cabinet shake.

"And what about you? You just want to be Luna, don't you! You knew that Annalise and I were in a relationship, yet you selfishly accepted the marriage anyway and betrayed your own sister by taking her man! You lied to me. She's told me everything!"

"No, that's not true. Let me explain—"

"Don't antagonize me, Zaia. You got what you wanted. You became my wife and Luna, but that wasn't enough for you. You forced Annalise to stay away from this pack because you knew once she returned, I would learn everything!"

Yes, I did want Annalise to leave, but I never made her leave. She left of her own accord once she learned Sebastian had found his mate, but now, it was almost as if she had been planning her return all this time.

Was she really enough to come between what we had? Sadly, I looked into his eyes, realizing he never trusted me. He was now judging and calculating everything I gave him with suspicion, as if I had played him to gain the position of Luna.

Didn't he realize I fell for him before I even knew he was an Alpha? Had he always been wary of me? That one person could come between us and ruin it all? Did he even, for a moment, truly love me wholeheartedly?

I couldn't understand it. Tell me, Sebastian… If you didn't want me, then why did you make love to me? Why did you touch me like I was the only woman who mattered to you?

Taking a deep breath, I asked him the decisive question. "Sebastian… Tell me, if it wasn't your father's request—"

"Then I would have rejected you, and even now, I will, for Annalise."

My lips quivered, remembering how my father hadn't been happy with me marrying him. He never liked Sebastian's family, yet I had given it all up for him.

My family… my inheritance and my position, but it was clearly not enough for him.

If he was able to cast me aside so easily, then what was my use?

He exhaled as if I were an irritating child and took out a lighter and a cigarette.

"Sign the papers soon. I don't want this to drag out," he said.

I stared down at the file as a single tear splashed onto the papers.

"What did you want to tell me?" he asked.

"It's no longer important… forget about it," I said, thinking he would never see the papers that currently sat on the dining room table.

"If you have any concerns regarding the alimony, let me know. Your expenses will be covered, and you are welcome to stay in the pack."

That hurt.

"No… there's no need. Everything is fine as it is. I will sign and have these returned to you immediately," I replied as I stood up, trying to hold myself together when my entire world came crashing down around me.

He paused for a second and simply nodded, uncaring of my heartbreak and agony that I knew he could feel through the bond. Could he really cast me, his own mate, aside for another woman?

The answer was in front of me, and although it was painful, the truth was yes. Yes, he could.

"You may remain here for tonight. It's late anyway. Annalise won't move in until everything is settled. I don't want her to feel uncomfortable."

I stared up into his handsome face, trying to recognize the man I fell for.

I smiled bitterly and nodded at him.

"Don't worry, I'll be gone. Say hi to Annalise for me."