Chapter 7 – Someone from the Past

( Ocean 's POV)

I woke before the sun.

The city was still dark outside the windows, faint ribbons of dawn brushing the horizon. Sebastian s side of the bed was empty.

For a moment, I thought he’d gone again without a word, but then I heard the faint clink of glass from the other room.

He was at the dining table, sleeves rolled up, one hand braced on the back of a chair while the other held a lowball glass. The amber in it caught the dim light like molten gold.

“It’s six a.m.,” I said softly.

“Couldn’t sleep.” His eyes didn’t quite meet mine.

I hesitated. Normally, when Sebastian was in one of his unreadable moods, it was safer not to push. But after last night, after the strange heat and tension between us, I didn’t want to go back to pretending.

“Is it business?” I asked.

“It’s always business.”

“Sebastian…”

He finally looked at me. His gaze lingered just a fraction too long, like he was weighing whether to tell me something or shut me out completely.

Then the front door buzzer cut through the quiet.

I frowned. “Who would—?”

“Stay here,” he said, already moving toward the door.

I followed anyway, barefoot on the cool marble.

Sebastian opened it without checking the screen, which told me one thing: whoever it was, he’d been expecting them.

It was a man — tall, expensively dressed, but not in Sebastian’s clean, precise style. His suit looked a little too easy, his hair just a little too unruly, like he wore the trappings of wealth but didn’t bother polishing them.

And when his eyes landed on me, the smirk that tugged at his mouth made something cold slide down my spine.

“Well, well,” the stranger said. “So this is the wife.”

Sebastian 's body shifted almost imperceptibly, angling between us. “You weren’t invited upstairs, Carter.”

Carter.

I knew that name. The man from the gala. The one Sebastian had accused me of smiling at.

My stomach tightened.

“Relax,” Carter said with an easy shrug, though his gaze didn’t leave me. “Just thought I’d see what kind of woman could make Sebastian Velez do something as foolish as get married.”

Sebastian 's voice dropped into something low and lethal. “Watch yourself.”

“Oh, I’m watching.” Carter’s smile widened, but there was nothing warm in it. “You have good taste, I’ll give you that.”

It was the kind of comment that made me want to step back, to hide behind Sebastian 's wall of composure. But something in me bristled instead — at Carter’s smugness, at the fact that Sebastian thought he could dictate my reactions to people like him.

“What do you want?” Sebastian asked.

“Same as always. The meeting. We both know it’s better if she hears it from me.”

“No,” Sebastian said, absolute.

Carter’s eyes flicked to me again. “You haven’t told her? Brave man.”

I didn’t know whether to be angry or afraid. “Told me what?”

“Leave, Carter,” Sebastian said, steel in his tone.

Carter chuckled, shaking his head. “You can’t hide everything forever, Velez.” Then he turned, strolling toward the elevator like he owned the place.

The moment the doors closed, I rounded on Sebastian . “What was that?”

“Nothing you need to worry about.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one you’re getting.” He moved past me, but I caught his arm.

“Sebastian, I’m already in your world whether you like it or not. Don’t treat me like I’m too delicate to hear the truth.”

His eyes locked on mine, and for the first time, I saw hesitation there. But it vanished just as quickly.

“I’ll tell you when it’s necessary.”

We didn’t speak for hours after that. I buried myself in emails for work I hadn’t been able to let go of, though my mind kept replaying the encounter.

Carter's look. Sebastian’s reaction. You haven’t told her.

By late afternoon, my restlessness was eating at me. Sebastian had disappeared into his office with the door closed, and I had no intention of sitting around feeling like a kept secret.

So I left.

It wasn’t rebellion. Not exactly. I just needed air, needed to move through the city on my own terms. The streets were still damp from a light rain, the scent of it rising from the pavement.

I wandered into a small coffee shop I used to frequent before… all of this.

I’d barely sat down when a shadow fell over my table.

“Ocean?”

I looked up — and froze.

It was Ethan.

From a lifetime ago. From before.

He looked exactly the same: warm brown eyes, a smile that used to make me feel safe. And in that moment, I realized just how long it had been since I’d felt that way.

“I can’t believe it’s you,” he said, sliding into the seat opposite me without asking. “I thought you moved away.”

“I… I’ve been busy.”

“I heard you got married.” His eyes searched mine. “To Sebastian Velez.”

There was something in his tone — not admiration. Not jealousy. Something closer to warning.

Before I could answer, the bell over the coffee shop door rang.

Sebastian.

He didn’t look at Ethan. Didn’t look at me. Just walked straight to the table, set a hand at the small of my back, and said, “We’re leaving.”

Ethan rose halfway to his feet. “She can decide for herself.”

The air between them was electric, dangerous.

Sebastian 's gaze cut to Ethan like a blade. “She already has.”

And before I could process it, he’d guided me out into the street, his hand firm and unyielding at my back.

We didn’t speak all the way back to the penthouse. The silence was worse than shouting.

Inside, he closed the door, turned to face me, and said, “You don’t meet men from your past without telling me. Ever.”

“He’s a friend,” I said, though it sounded weak even to me.

“He’s a loose thread,” Sebastian said. “And loose threads get pulled.”

“Are you even hearing yourself?” My voice rose despite the warning in his expression. “You don’t own me.”

His eyes softened — barely — but his voice stayed firm. “Ocean, in this world, if I don’t control the variables, people get hurt. You get hurt.”

I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him he was paranoid, that I could take care of myself. But the truth was, I’d seen enough in his eyes — and in Carter’s — to know it wasn’t that simple.

Still, I couldn’t give him complete control. Not without losing something I wasn’t sure I could get back.

So I said nothing.

And for the first time since this arrangement began, I wasn’t sure if I was playing his game… or starting one of my own.