Chapter 5

Tania’s POV 

I opened the office door and froze. She was behind the desk, looking at me like I had already wasted her entire day. Not a smile, not a hello, just those piercing eyes that felt like they could strip me bare without touching me.

I tried anyway. “Hi. I’m Tania.”still looking at her waiting for her to respond.

She didn’t blink. Just tilted her head slightly, pen hovering over a pad like it was some weapon. “You didn’t check the name on the door before walking in?”

I blinked, unsure if she was mocking me or genuinely confused. “Uh… I thought the appointment mattered more than the name.”

“People like you always confuse urgency with importance,” she said. Flat. Sharp. Without a trace of humor.

I crossed my arms and tried not to glare, but it probably didn’t help that I did. “People like me?”

“Yes. The kind who walk in here expecting some sort of comfort.” She finally let her pen rest, leaned back slightly, and studied me cataloging every flaw, every lie I carried into the room.

I swallowed. “Well, I can assure you, this is important.”

She smirked, just the corner of her mouth. Not enough to soften her. Not enough to make me feel any better. “Important enough to walk in with a mean look on your face.”

I let out a humorless laugh. “I wasn’t trying to look mean.”

“Sure you weren’t.” Her voice was calm but sharp, like a blade.

I dropped my gaze, fiddling with the edge of my sleeve. “Okay. Let’s skip the formalities. I’m here because I need help. I want to seduce a man.”

Finally, her eyes sharpened, and I thought maybe she’d looked up at me for the first time. “Someone?”

“Yes,” I said, the words coming faster than I expected. “I don’t have much time left to live. I need him to want me. I need him to…”

“Stop.”

The word snapped like a whip. I jerked in my chair. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t give a fuck whether you have time left to live or not.”

I froze. My throat tightened. “What…?”

She leaned forward, elbows on the desk. “Exactly what I said. I don’t care. You walking in here with a sob story or a ticking clock isn’t interesting. It doesn’t impress me. It won’t impress him.”

I bristled. “Then why am I even here? You don't even know what I've been through and you have no flipping rights to be so mean cuz excuse you? I've honestly been through it. Losing my husband and daughter is more than enough for me and I won't deal with your arrogance when I'm paying.”

Her lips twitched. “Exactly, you answered yourself. My name is Doctor Nora and if you came here it's because you're smart and were able to find my portfolio on the darker side of the web. And like you said already, I'll make it clearer, you're here because you’ve been lying to yourself your entire life. That’s why your husband left you. That’s why your daughter stopped answering your calls.”

My stomach flipped. My chest constricted. My hands gripped the chair so hard my knuckles went white. I wanted to deny it, scream at her for saying things no one should know about me, but her eyes pinned me to the chair, unblinking, unyielding.

“ I didn’t”

“Yes, you did. You didn’t even notice yourself. That’s the problem. You think seduction is enough. You think if you master the posture, the look, the smell, you’ll get him. You’ll get what you want. You’re wrong. Completely wrong. You have no idea what’s coming.”

I felt my chest tighten further. “I swear I'm not weak and I've been to jail before, don't make me go back there…”

“Okay. And I don't think you know I've been to jail more than you think and oh Weak? You are. You're weak. You hide behind your cleverness, your charm, your calculations, and you don’t even see it. That’s why people leave you. That’s why he didn’t notice you. That’s why your husband walked out. Not because they stopped loving you. Because they saw through the mask and realized the real person behind it was fragile, scared, and alone. And that scared them.”

The tears came before I could stop them. Hot and fast, slipping down my cheeks, burning my makeup. I pressed my hand to my face, trying to hold it together, but she didn’t flinch. Didn’t soften. She just kept watching me, arms crossed, quiet but full of authority.

“ I can’t fix it,” I whispered, my voice cracking. “I can’t…”

“You can,” she said, almost too quietly. “But you won’t. Not if you think tricks and seduction are enough. You have to face yourself. The real you. The one you hide from everyone. The one who’s terrified of dependence. The one who doesn’t know what it means to let someone in and not push them away. That’s your problem, Tania. That’s your barrier with him.”

I looked at her, my mind spinning, and bitter. “You’re… brutal. ”

“I’m honest,” she said. “And honesty doesn’t always feel good.”

I wiped my tears roughly, trying to shove the rawness back into some semblance of control. “I don’t have time for therapy. I don’t have time for..”

“Bullshit,” she cut in, standing and walking around my chair. Her presence pressed against me. Not in a soft or comforting way. In a way that made me feel small and exposed. “You think time is the issue? You’re running in circles. Seduction alone won’t get him. If you want him to choose you, you have to forge a bond with him. Dominance. Vulnerability. Dependence. Connection. That’s what you lack. That’s why he doesn’t see you.”

I shook my head, trying to regain composure. 

She stopped behind me, hands on my chair, voice low and firm. “And if you leave now, you’ll never see someone like me again. Ever. You’ll know it the moment you step out that door. Walk away, and you’ll go back to what? Pretending? Playing a game where you never win? You won’t get another chance. Not like this.”

I turned in the chair, facing her. “You make it sound like I’m choosing between… what exactly?”

“Between staying and finally confronting yourself, or leaving and spending the rest of your life lying to yourself. I’m the one person who will make you face everything you’ve been running from. And you’re thinking about walking away.”

My throat burned. I swallowed, my stomach tight. But just when I got up to leave she said something that made me realize. I realized that if I left, I’d never meet anyone li

ke her again. And when she said it, I turned so fast, how did she know?.