Chapter 3

NADIA’S POV

I shouldn’t have stayed.

The moment I saw him standing there, I should have walked out and kept going. Instead, I stood in the rain with him like nothing had changed, like three years of silence could be explained in a few words.

“You don’t remember anything?” I asked.

Colin shook his head once. “No. Just what I’ve been told.”

I let out a breath that didn’t feel steady. “Then there’s nothing to explain.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is.” I folded my arms, more to hold myself in place than anything else. “You already made your decisions. This doesn’t change that.”

“I didn’t know—”

“You didn’t ask.” My voice cut through his before he could finish. “You never asked anything, Colin. That’s the point.”

He went quiet.

Good, because I didn’t trust myself to keep talking if he didn’t.

Rain soaked through my sleeves, my hair, everything, but I didn’t move. It was easier to stand there than to deal with what came after.

“I saw footage,” he said after a moment.

I frowned slightly. “What?”

“From the penthouse. Security logs.” He paused. “You were there. Waiting. And I… walked past you.”

My chest tightened, but I didn’t let it show.

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“It should.”

“Why?” I looked at him properly this time. “Because you don’t remember doing it?”

His jaw tightened.

“I’m trying to understand what happened.”

“And I’m telling you it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“It matters to me.”

I let out a short laugh. “That’s new.”

Something flickered across his face, but I didn’t stay on it long enough to figure out what it was.

“I didn’t come here to fight with you,” he said.

“Then you shouldn’t have come at all.”

That landed.

I saw it in the way his expression shifted slightly, like he hadn’t expected that answer.

Too bad.

“I built a life without you,” I continued, my voice quieter now but steadier. “I fixed everything you broke. I’m not going back to that.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“Then what are you asking?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

“I just need to know what I did,” he said finally. “I need to understand why you left.”

I stared at him.

“You really don’t know?”

“No.”

For a second, I almost believed him.

That was the problem.

“You didn’t do one thing,” I said. “You just… didn’t do anything at all.”

He frowned slightly.

“You stopped seeing me,” I continued. “You stopped talking to me. You stopped caring if I was there or not. I could sit in the same room with you for hours and you wouldn’t notice.”

“That’s not—”

“It is.” I cut him off. “You don’t get to correct me on something you don’t even remember.”

He went quiet again.

I took a step back.

“I tried, Colin,” I said, softer now. “For a long time, I tried to fix it. To make you look at me like I mattered. But at some point, you realize you’re the only one trying.”

The words came out easier than I expected.

Maybe because I had already said them to myself a hundred times before.

“I didn’t know,” he said.

“That doesn’t change anything.”

“I would’ve—”

“You wouldn’t have.” I shook my head. “That’s the point. You had every chance to, and you didn’t.”

The rain was getting heavier, soaking through everything, but neither of us moved.

“I found the divorce papers,” he said. “You signed them without hesitation.”

I let out a quiet breath.

“Because there was nothing left to fight for.”

“That can’t be true.”

“It is.” I met his eyes. “You ended it like it was a meeting you didn’t want to be late for. You didn’t even try to pretend it mattered.”

His expression shifted again, something tightening in it.

“I didn’t know that.”

“I know.”

That was the difference.

Silence settled between us, heavier this time.

I stepped back again.

“I should go.”

“Nadia—”

“No.” I shook my head. “You don’t get to do this now. You don’t get to come back and ask questions like it changes anything.”

“I’m not trying to change it.”

“Then what are you doing?”

He didn’t answer.

Of course he didn’t.

I turned away before I could hesitate.

“Nadia.”

I stopped, just for a second.

“You said I made you fall in love with me,” he said. “Was any of it real?”

I closed my eyes briefly.

That question, of all things.

“Yes,” I said quietly. “That was the problem.”

I didn’t wait for his response.

I walked away, not fast, not slow, just enough to make sure I didn’t stop again. The rain blurred everything around me, but I kept going until the gallery lights were behind me.

By the time I got back inside, my hands were cold.

My chest felt worse.

“You okay?”

I looked up. Lila stood near the doorway, watching me carefully.

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“I said I’m fine.”

She didn’t push it.

I moved past her, heading toward the back room, needing space, needing quiet, needing anything that wasn’t him standing in the rain asking questions he should have asked years ago.

I stopped when I reached the door, just for a second then I pushed it open and stepped inside.

The room was empty, finally.

I leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes.

It shouldn’t have affected me, It shouldn’t have mattered.

But it did, Because no matter how much I told myself it was over, that I had moved on, that I didn’t feel anything anymore—

Seeing him like that, looking at me like he didn’t know what he’d done…

It made everything feel unfinished.

The door opened behind me.

I didn’t turn.

“Nadia.”

My chest tightened.

I exhaled slowly. “You shouldn’t be back here.”

“I know.”

“Then leave.”

Silence.

I turned this time.

He hadn’t moved. Just standing there, like he wasn’t sure if he should come closer or not.

“You said you don’t remember anything,” I said. “So let me make this easy for you.”

He didn’t speak.

I held his gaze.

“You lost me.”

A pause.

“And this time… I’m not the one coming back.”