Chapter 6: When Paths Collide

JAMES

I slammed my palms against the desk. The sound cracked through the room like a gunshot.

Stephen stood in the doorway. Executive assistant. Personal attorney. Childhood friend. The only person who knew when not to speak. He slipped out without a word.

The door clicked shut behind him, leaving a silence that pulsed against the windows.

I paced toward the glass. Rain streaked down in crooked lines, warping the skyline beyond. I pressed both hands to the pane, the chill biting at my skin.

What the hell am I even doing this for?

I shut my eyes. Sofie appeared instantly, vivid in the darkness. The way she looked yesterday. That soft smile. The hope in her eyes. It clung to me.

I had watched her from a distance for almost a year. It started with the hospital acquisition. She gave a presentation at a medical conference, poised, smart, calm. I couldn’t look away.

Later that day, I saw her helping a mother in the lobby, guiding her to the pharmacy, covering the child’s medication quietly. No cameras. No audience. Just grace.

And then at the coffee shop. The card reader stalled, and she covered my drink with a polite smile before disappearing into the crowd, gone before I could thank her.

That moment stayed with me longer than I wanted to admit.

I told myself it was about the hospital. Told Stephen to dig into her background for professional reasons. That was the lie I used. The truth was simpler. I wanted to see her again.

I looked around the office. Shelves lined with contracts and awards, cold reminders of everything I had built. No photos. No people. No family waiting for me at home.

I had everything, and somehow nothing.

Though never short on women’s affections, those encounters were always fleeting. Mutual agreements. Momentary desires. They were transactions of convenience, not connections of substance. Every one left me a little more hollow than the last.

I longed for the kind of love my parents had. Something rooted in authenticity and mutual respect. Something stable. Enduring. Genuine.

Sofie represented that kind of love. Her warmth wasn’t something anyone could fake. It was something I’d always searched for but never found.

And now I was out of time.

I’d spent my life chasing the next deal, the next win. Telling myself there’d be time for everything else. Later.

Later turned into never.

And Sofie...

She’d been the exception I let slip. The one I never made space for. Because work always came first. Until now.

Now she was marrying someone else.

And I wasn’t even a footnote in her story.

I’d never approached her. Never asked. Never tried.

I’d lost her to another.

I grabbed my phone.

"Stephen, bring the car. We're going to the church."

As I descended in the elevator, each floor passing felt like a countdown to a moment I wasn't sure I was ready for.

I wasn’t going to stop anything.

I told myself this was about closure, a final glance and a silent farewell to the life I never had.

But as the car edged closer to the church, a knot tightened in my chest. I’d been a fool to think I could walk away without a fight. The truth hit hard: I didn’t want closure. I wanted a second chance.

As we turned onto the block, doubt clawed at me. What am I doing? Chasing ghosts?

I’d watched her from a distance, always telling myself it wasn’t the right time. But I couldn’t stay away. Something about her had always pulled me in, not just curiosity. It was gravity. A force I didn’t understand but couldn’t resist.

This wasn’t about redemption. I told myself I wasn’t hoping. But my heart, traitorous and quiet, beat with the rhythm of a man who’d already lost too much.

I needed one last glimpse of her, even if she never knew I was there.

We cut through Midtown. The streets blurred past, lights smeared across windows still streaked from earlier rain. The downpour had eased into a light drizzle, soft enough now to blur the edges of everything, but not enough to wash anything away.

I stared straight ahead, my heart thudding in a steady, dull rhythm. Told myself this was about closure. Just to see it. To move on.

But before we even reached the church, I saw her.

She wandered through the drizzle in her wedding gown, the fabric soaked and sagging around her. Her shoulders were curled inward, her arms wrapped tight across her chest, like she was holding herself together through sheer force of will.

My breath caught.

“Pull over.”

Stephen didn’t hesitate.

“I’ll need your help.”

“Whatever you need,” he said, already reaching for his phone.

“I’ll send the details once we’re moving again.”

I stepped out into the street. The light drizzle touched my skin, the city's usual hustle fading into the background, muffled by the gentle patter. Streetlights blurred, softening the world into something distant and unreal.

Sofie stood motionless. Her gown clung to her frame, hair plastered to her face. Her eyes, once full of life, now stared blankly ahead, lost in a world of pain.

I barely registered the cold. My focus was only on her.

She looked fragile, like something made of paper left out in the rain. Her arms wrapped around herself. The soaked dress tangled around her legs with every movement.

She didn’t see me.

Didn’t see anyone.

Grief had taken her somewhere unreachable.

Every instinct in me screamed to close the distance, to shield her from the world, but I had to go slow. One wrong move, and she might shatter completely.

I slowed my steps, careful not to scare her.

"Sofie?"

She blinked, unfocused. Empty. She didn’t recognize me.

Of course she doesn’t. I’m not part of her world. Just a shadow.

"No," she whispered. Her voice cracked, barely there.

It hit harder than I expected.

"I'm James," I said gently. "Can I take you somewhere safe?"

She didn’t move. Just stood there shaking, soaked to the skin, the dress hanging heavy around her.

I glanced around. Strangers had stopped. Some pointed. Others whispered.

She was unraveling in the middle of the street.

"Is there someone I can call? A friend?"

She shook her head.

"I don’t know where to go." Her voice cracked again. "I don’t want to go home."

Something pulled tight in my chest.

"Let me help," I said. "No pressure. Just somewhere quiet. Warm. Out of this mess."

Her eyes flicked toward the people watching. To the ground. To the street. She was searching for an exit that she didn’t have.

"Okay," she whispered.

I shrugged off my coat and placed it around her shoulders. She didn’t resist.

I opened the car door. She climbed in slowly, curled into herself, head resting against the window.

Stephen caught my eye and nodded. Already handling logistics.

I got in beside her. She didn’t speak. Didn’t look at me. But somehow, she fit right there in the silence.

The city flew past in streaks of light. My phone buzzed with messages and confirmations. I read them, making sure everything was in place.

Sofie had fallen asleep in my coat. Her breathing soft. Steady.

She didn’t know who I was. Not yet.

But I wasn’t going to lose her again.

Not this time.

A plan formed in my mind that might change both our lives.