Chapter seventeen

Amelia

When I woke up with a groggy head. The sunlight stretched into my room noting the rise of a new day.

A new day indeed

I wanted so much to go back to dreamland and never wake to this nightmare, how can all of these be happening at once, a suspension from my very big girl job, my face all over the blogs, like I was a side piece, I read some of them and boy I didn’t know Noah was the city’s boyfriend, women were losing their shits that he was in a relationship again, I didn’t know how to feel, but one thing I was sure about was Noah’s feelings towards me.

It’s undeniable that we like each other and the chemistry is insane, he was a beautiful handsome being and all I wanted was to be beside him and under him.

I stretched out my arms to touch him but the bed was empty, I raised my head in alarm

And for a moment, just one second—I felt afraid.

Then I saw the look on his face.

He was sitting across from me

Not angry.

Not cold.

Just… sharp.

Like he had switched from comfort to calculation without moving a muscle.

“Noah?” I whispered, sitting up a little. “Why do you look like you’re about to fire half a company?”

His jaw flexed once.

And my stomach dropped.

“What happened?” I asked, breath catching.

He didn’t answer right away. He just reached for my hand, brought it to his chest, and held it there.

Then—

“Baby,” he said softly, “you got a lot of messages this morning.”

My blood froze.

My eyes shot to the coffee table.

My phone.

Still lighting up with his name—

or rather, the number he’d been calling me with for months.

Noah watched the realization hit me.

Watched the fear slide into my expression.

His eyes softened instantly. “Hey. I’m not upset with you.”

I swallowed, throat aching.

“I just… need you to tell me who Flynn is.”

My pulse thrashed.

He came sitting on the edge of the bed, squeezed my shoulder. “You don’t have to explain if you’re not ready.”

Noah looked like he already knew I would.

Like he needed me to trust him with this.

So I inhaled shakily.

And opened the door I’d been trying to keep bolted shut.

“Flynn was someone I dated,” I said quietly, staring down at my fingers twisting in the blanket. “I was fresh out of college and business school, when I was looking for a job and we met through an acquaintance of mine, we dated for two years but things went downhill and we broke things off, rather I did. But he… didn’t take the breakup well.”

Noah’s brow lifted. Not judgment.

Awareness.

“Define ‘didn’t take well,’” he said carefully.

My chest tightened.

Heat flushed up my neck.

“He kept showing up,” I whispered. “At my job. At my apartment. He’d leave notes on my door. He always had a reason—something he ‘forgot,’ something he needed to ‘return,’ something urgent he needed to ‘talk about.’”

Noah’s jaw clenched so hard I heard the grind of teeth.

“He made me feel responsible for him. Guilty. Like I owed him my attention because he was ‘still healing.’ And whenever I didn’t respond, he’d get angry. Then apologetic. Then angry again. Over and over.”

I swallowed.

“I tried blocking him. He used different numbers. I tried ignoring him. He showed up in person. I tried being firm. He’d cry or make me feel like I was heartless.”

“I had to move apartment to an entire new location so as to avoid him popping up unannounced and we haven’t seen in months”

Noah didn’t move. Didn’t breathe wrong.

Just listened, eyes darkening with every word.

“He wasn’t violent,” I said quickly. “Just… persistent. And manipulative. The kind of guy who makes you feel crazy for wanting space.”

Noah’s voice dropped an octave.

“Amelia… that is a kind of violence.”

My throat tightened instantly.

“But it’s over,” I rushed out. “It’s been over for years”. He just… can’t let it go.”

Noah’s glare sharpened, directed at the floor like he was imagining Flynn’s face there.

He exhaled slowly, controlled. Too controlled.

“I see,” he said.

Except that tone meant: I want to strangle him slowly, but I’m waiting for more information before I commit to the method.

I rubbed my hands on my thighs nervously. “I know how it sounds.”

Noah gave me a look.

One eyebrow raised.

Arms crossed.

Jaw set.

Expression somewhere between Are you kidding me? and I’m seconds from committing a crime.

“It sounds like he’s been harassing you,” he stated.

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“It is that bad,” he repeated. “Amelia, what exactly about this sounds normal to you?”

I looked away. Shame pooled warm and suffocating under my ribs.

Noah hummed under his breath, eyes still on me.

That unblinking, slow-assessing stare that made my skin warm and my stomach twist.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone?” he asked softly.

I shrugged helplessly. “Because I didn’t want to seem dramatic. Or stupid. Or—”

“Or like a burden,” he finished.

My lips parted.

I didn’t confirm it.

But I didn’t deny it either.

He sighed, long and slow, and dragged a hand down his face before gripping my chin gently.

“You are not a burden,” he said. “Not to Dawn. Not to anyone. And definitely not to me.”

My eyes stung instantly.

I blinked fast.

He brushed his thumb under my eye. “Look at me.”

I did.

And he held my gaze with enough certainty to anchor me.

“No one should make you feel unsafe. Not in your own home. Not in your job. Not in your life.”

I nodded shakily.

He leaned forward and kissed my forehead.

I nearly melted.

I wanted this man, he made me felt safe and secure, I wanted to stay here and be here with him.

Underneath all that hard exterior was a beautiful soul.

“I was thinking about your suspension from work and I want to fix it baby” he said brushing his fingers at my cheeks

“No.”

He blinked. “No?”

“No involvement,” I said firmly, voice shaking but serious. “Promise me. Don’t call my job. Don’t talk to anyone. Don’t fix this for me.”

His brows lowered. “Amelia—”

“This is my career,” I said softly. “My accomplishment. The one thing in my life I built myself. If you intervene… if you fix it for me… then I didn’t earn it anymore.”

His jaw tightened.

“Please,” I whispered.

His eyes searched mine, conflicted.

Possessive. Protective.

Desperate to shield me.

But respecting me more than his impulse to do so.

Finally, he sighed through his nose, shoulders tense.

“Fine,” he muttered. “I won’t get involved.”

Relief hit so hard I could breathe again.

“But—” he continued sharply, “if anyone tries to humiliate you, threaten you, or drag your name through the mud, I am stepping in. Whether you ask me to or not.”

“Noah”

“No negotiation.”

I exhaled “fine I accept”

He reached out, cupping the back of my neck.

“You fight for your career,” he murmured. “And I’ll fight everyone else.”

My heart… actually stumbled.

I nodded “okay”

“I have some meetings to attend today, I’ll send somethings over for you” he said standing up

“You’ll be alright baby?” He asked

I took his hands in mine, “you’ve done enough,I’ll be fine, Dawn’s coming over today”

“Okay that’s perfect” he said

He was fishing inside his wallet and then brought out a black card, “this is for you baby, take it and get whatever you want, spend on you friend too”

“Noah this is too much… I complained.

“No it’s not, especially for you, you deserve to be taken care of okay”

And then he leaned in to kiss me, soft and quick, and then it deepened, slowly into something promising.

He broke it off with a gasp “I want to stay here with you all day, but I have a company to run, I’ll text you” he said

“No problem” I replied my eyes fluttering to his

And a few mins later he was out of the door and silence filled my apartment.

Dawn insisted we go out.

“You need real food,” she said. “And sunlight. And a reason not to cry on your couch like a heartbroken Victorian widow.”

“I’m not heartbroken,” I muttered.

“No,” she said, grabbing her bag, “you’re stress-broken. Different thing.”

“And we have a black Amex card to use” she said waving Noah’s card at me smiling

She dragged me to Café Liora, a gorgeous little restaurant with warm amber lights, green vines on the walls, and the constant smell of freshly baked bread. Cozy. Safe. Quiet.

Exactly what I needed.

We ordered brunch pancakes for her, avocado toast for me and I slowly felt the heaviness in my chest loosen a little.

“Okay,” Dawn said, sipping her iced latte like a therapist. “How are you really?”

“I’m…” I hesitated. “Trying.”

“That’s all you can do.” She squeezed my hand. “And Noah staying last night, holy shit, Amelia. That man is…”

“Dawn.”

“—literally boyfriend-coded.”

I groaned into my hands.

“He’s not my—”

“Sure,” she said, deadpan. “That’s why he slept over, held you all night, made you breakfast vibes, and looked at you like you hung the moon.”

I threw a napkin at her.

She dodged it easily. “You love him.”

“I don’t—”

“You love him.”

I glared.

She smirked.

And honestly, maybe I did a little.

Maybe I did too much.

I sighed, looking out the window to distract myself,

and froze.

My breath hitched violently.

Because standing outside the restaurant glass—

was Flynn.

Staring right at me