Chapter 2: Is This A Trap?

Sebastian Blackwood remained seated, watching her with a calculated control. The initial, raw shock of seeing her had passed, replaced by the familiar stillness of a predator who knows his prey has nowhere to run.

"A trap, Sebastian?" she said, her voice dripping with a contempt she had earned over five years of rebuilding. “After all this time, this is your grand move? Luring me into a boardroom under false pretenses?”

“The pretenses were not false, Liliana,” he replied, rising from his chair. The movement was fluid, graceful, and utterly dominant. He began to walk slowly around the vast table, not toward her, but circling, his presence consuming the space between them. “Blackwood Corporation is launching a new global initiative. And they do need the best event planner to orchestrate the launch gala.”

He stopped at the head of the table, opposite her, putting the entire length between them. “The only detail that was omitted from their initial brief,” he continued, a faint, humorless smile on his lips, “is that this is a joint venture. A partnership between Blackwood and my new company, Grandland Holdings.”

Liliana felt a cold dread creep up her spine, chilling her to the bone. This was worse than a simple, cruel joke. This was a calculated, strategic invasion. He wasn't just ambushing her; he was entangling her, weaving his life back into hers using the one language he truly understood: business.

“Why?” she asked, the single word sharp and raw. She hated how much it revealed, how much pain was packed into that one syllable.

“Because it’s the biggest property deal of the decade,” he said, his voice a low purr as he began to walk again, this time down the side of the table, methodically closing the distance between them. “And for a launch of this magnitude, I needed the best. There was only one name on my list. Yours.”

The compliment felt like an insult, a testament to the success she had built specifically to escape him, now being used as the very tool to drag her back. Her stomach twisted.

She had to regain control. She launched into her presentation, her voice a marvel of detached professionalism. She laid out her concept, “The Sky is the Limit,” complete with flawless graphics and financial projections. It was a brilliant performance, a testament to the woman she had become. A woman who could stand in a room with the man who had shattered her and still command the space.

But inside, she was unraveling. She could feel his eyes on her, a physical weight. It wasn't the critical gaze of a potential client. It was a burning, consuming stare, the look of a starving man. He wasn't listening to her words; he was drinking in the sight of her. He was studying the way her lips moved, the determined set of her jaw, the fire in her eyes that he himself had almost extinguished.

She risked a glance at him. He wasn't looking at the screen. He was just watching her. For a split second, the boardroom, the five years of pain, it all melted away. She was twenty-three again, passionately explaining some wild dream to her new husband, who was looking at her with that same all-consuming intensity.

The memory was a knife to the gut. She faltered, losing her place for a fraction of a second. Damn him. She snapped her eyes back to the presentation, her voice becoming even colder, more detached.

“I have a question,” Sebastian’s voice cut in, sharp and focused, pulling her back to the present. His eyes were no longer soft with memory, they were the hard, analytical eyes of the CEO she knew. “Your projected budget for material sourcing. It seems optimistic.”

It was a test. A way to reassert his dominance.

Liliana didn’t miss a beat. She flipped to another page of her proposal. “If you’ll refer to appendix B, Mr. Blackwood, you’ll see I’ve already negotiated a preliminary exclusivity contract with a smart-glass manufacturer in Germany, cutting import costs by thirty percent in exchange for prominent product placement.”

An eyebrow arched. He was impressed, though he tried to hide it. “Clever.”

“I prefer to call it thorough,” she replied coolly.

“I have another question,” he said, leaning forward, his powerful forearms pressing against the table, a display of casual dominance. “You mention an ‘unforgettable resident experience.’ What is your guarantee?”

“My guarantee is my reputation, Mr. Blackwood,” she said, her voice laced with steel. “A reputation I have carefully built over the last five years. I have never failed to deliver on a promise.” The double meaning hung in the air, a sharp jab about the promises he had broken. She saw the muscle in his jaw clench and knew he’d felt it.

She finished her presentation with a powerful closing statement. The silence that filled the room was absolute, broken only by the distant sound of city traffic far below.

“Exceptional,” he said quietly, more to himself than to her.

This was the moment she had worked for. The culmination of years of sleepless nights and relentless ambition. But as she looked at Sebastian, who was now watching her with a possessive gleam in his eye, the victory tasted like ash. He thought he had won. He thought he had her.

She had to end this. Now.

“Mr. Blackwood,” Liliana said, her voice a cool mask of professionalism as she began to gather her documents. “I appreciate your time and your praise for my proposal.” She took a deep breath, steeling herself. “However, after this… revelation, I believe there is something we need to reconsider.”

Sebastian’s expression of admiration vanished, replaced by a wary stillness. “What do you mean?”

Liliana looked him straight in the eye, a direct challenge. “I believe a successful partnership is built on a foundation of trust, open communication, and… a comfortable synergy between all involved parties.”

She let the words hang in the tense air, a clear indictment of the man sitting opposite her.

“After the… dynamic in this room today,” she continued calmly, “I’m not convinced that synergy exists here. I will, of course, honor my commitment to Blackwood Corporation, but this joint venture changes things. It might be in the best interest of all parties if Grandland Holdings were to consider working with one of the other, more… suitable, firms. Because … I’m suddenly unavailable.”

***