She's coming to see me

Chapter 8

Jace’s POV

The boardroom of Carter Holdings was designed to intimidate.

Everything about it screamed power. There were glass walls that overlooked Manhattan from the fortieth floor, a twelve-foot mahogany table polished to a shine, leather chairs that seemed more like thrones than seats. A long wall screen displayed our acquisition targets in precise columns of red and green, numbers shifting as the executives debated valuations and strategy.

I sat at the head of the table, perfectly still, an island of calm in a sea of restless suits. The city stretched behind me, skyline sharp against the glass, but the men and women across the table knew better than to think I cared about the view.

The one thing and person I cared about wasn't where I wanted her to be. I stared at my phone every chance I got to see if she would call me back at all. I don't even know why I had just a little hope that she would when it was obvious she wanted nothing to do with me.

My phone sat there on the table, face up, silent, black screen reflecting the recessed lights above.

It's been five miserable years, and still the sound of her name in my head made something in me twist. I’d tried to drown it, bury it under money, under power, under meaningless distractions, but nothing ever took her out of me. Nothing ever will.

The years without her were so terrible that sometimes when the world had dulled to a low hum, in my home and all the workers had gone, I played her old voice messages. They were just simple messages. Some were recordings she sent me about trivial things. Some were to ask if she could go out or get something which honestly, she didn't need to ask me. But those recordings filled me with the delusion that she was still next to me.

I still had them. All of them.

And God help me, I’d been tempted to record her voice again when she called yesterday, just so I wouldn’t forget what it felt like to hear her after so long. To hear her be so fiery. A spitfire that wasn't going to pretend to be anything but.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I failed to pay attention to the meeting going on in front of me until someone's voice interrupted my thoughts.

“We’re bleeding time on this,” one of the executives said, a middle-aged man named Harris who always spoke like his opinion weighed more than anyone else’s. “We’ve been circling this acquisition for nearly six months. If Lexington Innovations merges with Biogenix first, Carter Holdings will lose leverage in the sector.”

The mention of those two companies barely registered. Lexington, Biogenix, just more names, more deals, more prey to fold into Carter Holdings. That was the job. That was the game.

Another exec, Patel, a sharp woman who had built her reputation on risk assessments, countered quickly. “And if we overbid, we set a precedent. Every other mid-sized firm will know we’ll pay over market value just to close a deal.”

Voices overlapped, rising and falling. Someone clicked through the slides, growth potential, projected profits, integration strategies.

I didn’t hear a word.

Because at that moment, my phone lit up. And it was like I conjured her because she was calling me. It felt like the floor tilted under me.

My hand was around the phone before logic could catch up. My chair scraped back, harsh in the silence, and every head snapped toward me.

“Mr. Carter?” Harris said, confused.

But I was already on my feet, already moving.

I didn’t explain because I didn’t have to. I was their boss and they really couldn't question me. I walked straight out of the boardroom, the weight of a dozen stares on my back.

The door clicked shut behind me, and I pressed the phone to my ear before the second ring.

“Aurora?” I called out confused like I didn't know already that she was the one on the line.

“I need to see you.” Her voice was steady, but I heard the tremor under it, the one only I would notice.

“I’m at work. I’m in a meeting,” I said automatically.

“This is about what you proposed,” she told me.

I paused. Was this a joke? Was she playing tricks on me? But even with the doubt, I felt a mix of relief, hunger and satisfaction that I was able to get this reaction out of her.

“Come to my office,” I said, voice clipped, sharp. Before she could change her mind, I ended the call.

I stood there for a long second in the corridor, staring at the dark screen. My reflection stared back at me in the glass wall, eyes too bright, jaw tight.

For the first time in years, I felt alive.

When I pushed back into the boardroom, the silence was deafening.

Every executive was watching me like I’d sprouted horns. I never walked out of meetings. Never.

I sat, slid my phone onto the table, and said evenly, “Meeting adjourned.”

The room exploded.

“Adjourned?” Harris sputtered, his face blotchy with disbelief. “Mr. Carter, we’ve been grinding through this for months…”

“We can’t afford to stall again,” Patel cut in. “Lexington and Biogenix are both strengthening their positions. If we don’t close this, we’ll lose the sector entirely…”

Their voices overlapped, their arguments flowing through the room. I let it go on for a moment, then lifted my gaze.

That was all it took. The room fell silent.

My voice was calm, precise, each word dropping like a blade. “If months of discussion haven’t produced results, then you’re wasting my time. You’re executives. Your job is to finalize details so I don’t have to sit in this room. If I need to be present for every decision, it proves you’re incapable.”

I let that hang.

“Do your jobs. Or I’ll find people who can.”

No one spoke after that.

I closed my folder, stood, and adjusted my jacket. Not a single person dared stop me as I walked to the door.

George followed me outside the hall, tablet in hand, eyes wide like he’d just watched me burn the building down.

“Order a coffee,” I said, voice back to ice. “Extra hot. One sugar. Dash of oat milk. And doughnuts. Fresh.”

George didn’t blink, just nodded and typed quickly, falling into step behind me. He knew better than to ask questions.

But the truth was simple, so simple I couldn’t even deny it to myself anymore.

Aurora was coming to see me.

And for the first time in years, I wasn’t thinking about Carter Holdings, or acquisitions, or profit margins.

I was thinking only about her.