Amara’s POV
The Seoul crisis hit like a storm — fast, loud, and impossible to ignore.By the time Amara reached the boardroom, Damian was already there, sleeves rolled, eyes sharp with focus. The tension in the air felt too familiar — the kind that used to tighten her chest back when working under him meant constantly walking on glass.“Thanks for coming,” he said, voice calm but low. “I know this isn’t your job anymore.”Amara set down her folder. “It was my draft. That makes it my problem too.”Their eyes met briefly. For once, it wasn’t about their history — just the work. The numbers. The deal that needed saving.The next few hours blurred into calls, edits, and strategy meetings. Damian led with his usual precision, but there was a difference now. He didn’t dominate the room. He listened. He asked for opinions. When Amara disagreed with one of his proposals, he didn’t interrupt — he nodded.“You’re right,” he said sEthan’s POVSomething about Amara Lopez was different.He noticed it in the small things first — the way her laugh came slower now, softer, like she was guarding it. How her attention drifted mid-conversation, eyes unconsciously drawn to Cruz’s office. The way her posture changed when Damian’s name came up — just a fraction gentler before she caught herself.Ethan had always been good at reading people. It was what made him great at his job — spotting lies, loyalty, weakness. And Amara... she was hiding something.He just didn’t want to admit what it was.For months, he’d watched her rise through Cruz Holdings — smart, steady, relentless. She’d earned every win. But lately, her focus had slipped. She came in earlier, stayed later. Took projects that just happened to overlap with Damian Cruz’s schedule.And when she smiled — really smiled — it wasn’t because of anything in the office. It was because of him.Ethan tried to reason with himself. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe gratitude. Mayb
Amara’s POVRumors travel faster than truth.They start small — a whisper in the break room, a glance that lasts too long — and before you know it, they’ve taken on shape, voice, and weight.By the third week, the whispers had names. Hers. His.> “Did you see her leave his office last night?”“They’re always together lately.”“I heard he drove her home again.”Each word hit like a pebble against glass — small, but sharp enough to leave cracks.Amara tried to tune it out. She buried herself in work, in spreadsheets and proposals, in anything that wasn’t him. But silence couldn’t hide what was already true — because every rumor carried a sliver of it.They had met late. They had lingered too long.They had crossed that line.And now, they were pretending it hadn’t happened.Cold tones in meetings. Polite smiles in the hallway. Conversations so professional they could draw blood.But behind closed doors, the act fell apart.The way his hand brushed hers when he passed her a file.The way
Damian’s POVThe days that followed blurred together — meetings, reports, contracts, numbers that never stopped multiplying.From the outside, Damian Cruz looked like himself again — sharp, composed, in control. Cruz Holdings was stable. His name, once dragged through headlines, was clean again. Everything he’d fought to rebuild now stood firmly in place.Except him.Because every time Amara walked into his office, the world tilted.It wasn’t anything obvious — just the scent of her perfume lingering when she passed, or the calm in her voice as she read through a report. But between them, silence had become its own language — one filled with glances that lasted too long and words that never made it out loud.He told himself it was under control. That as long as things stayed professional, no one would notice how his tone softened when he said her name.But Lydia noticed.It happened during a strategy meeting, so
Amara’s POVWeeks had passed since that night on the rooftop — the night the city glowed beneath them, and everything quietly changed.Cruz Holdings had settled into a fragile calm. Projects moved forward, the board stopped panicking, and the crisis faded into memory.Almost.Because Amara hadn’t forgotten.She couldn’t forget the way Damian had looked at her that night — not as his employee, not as the woman who’d saved his company, but as someone who saw him. For days afterward, his words replayed in her mind like a song she couldn’t stop humming.> Strength isn’t about control — it’s about trust.Maybe it was foolish, but part of her wanted to believe he’d meant it.And yet, they never talked about it again. Their conversations went back to being safe — polite updates, formal nods, strictly professional. But in between the words, something lingered.Something neither of them dared to name.S
Amara’s POVIt had been weeks since the crisis ended — long enough for the office to look normal again. But “normal” didn’t mean what it used to. The constant tension at Cruz Holdings had faded. People actually laughed in hallways. Meetings didn’t feel like battlegrounds anymore.Still, something had shifted. Especially between her and Damian.He wasn’t the same man who used to rule through fear. Not anymore. He still had authority — that would never change — but the edge was gone. The sharpness had turned into patience. He didn’t raise his voice or use silence as a weapon. He listened. He trusted people. He smiled sometimes, and when he did, it wasn’t part of an act.It was real.Amara noticed the little things — the way he stopped to thank the interns, how he gave credit in meetings, how he didn’t hover near her anymore. He gave her space. Respect. Time.And somehow, she missed him more for it.That was what scared her — the quiet ache that wasn’t pain but… possibility.One Friday e
Amara’s POVThe office was too quiet.Too still for the chaos still spinning inside her.The last few weeks had blurred into late nights, emergency calls, and silent glances through glass walls. They’d saved the company — again — but it didn’t feel like victory. It felt like exhaustion wrapped in restraint.And somehow, Damian Cruz was everywhere.He wasn’t the same man she’d worked under before. He didn’t bark orders anymore or weaponize silence. He asked questions now. He listened. Sometimes he even smiled — small, hesitant things that looked out of place on his face.But the change didn’t make it easier. It made it harder. Because every new version of him chipped away at her resolve.She told herself it was enough — enough to see him change, enough to know her faith in him hadn’t been wasted. But late at night, when everything went still, the truth always found her.She missed him. The version of him that existed in quiet moments, when the world wasn’t watching.And that was what m