CHAPTER TWO: Meeting Him Privately

“Come to the Regional Director's office immediately"

I look up from my desk as the notification hit my screen and I stand up to get in the elevator knowing fully well Dominic is probably behind this

I've walked through it three times in the six months I've worked at Meridian Corp for legitimate business meetings, reviews.and budget presentations.

Today, I'm walking into an ambush wondering if I should run. But the thought leaves immediately. Running shows weakness, and I'm not that girl anymore.

I open the door.

He's alone, standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows with his back to me,against the skyline while the late afternoon sun turns him into a dark shape against all that light, and for a moment—just a moment—I remember what it felt like to love him.

Then he turns around, and i see the familiar look on his face, the same look he had when he used to chase me

This is not the controlled, calculated Dominic Blackwood the world knows, this is the man I used to see at three in the morning when I'd open my eyes 5 years ago who told me things he'd never told anyone and made me believe I was special.

"Hello, Abigail."

"Mr. Blackwood." I keep my voice professional, cool as the glass walls surrounding us. "I was told I was meeting with the regional director."

"There is no regional director." He takes a step closer but I hold my ground. "I needed to see if it was really you."

"And?" I raise an eyebrow. “Are you satisfied?"

"It's you." 

"Five years," he continues. "Where did you go?"

"Away from you."

"Abigail, I—"

"It's Ms. Monroe here." I cross my arms. "Abigail Hale doesn't exist anymore because you made sure of that."

The words land like physical blows and I can see them hit him, watch his jaw tighten and hands curl into fists at his sides. But he doesn't look away, the same old Dominic never backs down from a fight.

"I looked for you," he says quietly. "In the beginning. I tried…"

"You looked for me? You destroyed me, Dominic. You publicly humiliated me while you had your lawyers paint me as a blackmailer and a whore making sure I couldn't get a job anywhere in this city or live my life the way I want" My voice is rising now, five years of rage bursting through the careful control I've maintained like air in a bubble 

"And then you married Victoria Ashford two months later and had a fucking child with her while I was sleeping in shelters."

His face goes white. "You were, what?"

"Homeless Dominic for three months or did your private investigators miss that part?" I take a step toward him now, my boldness growing with the shock on his face. "I slept in subway stations, Dominic and 

dirty churches that opened their doors to the desperate. I got pneumonia in January and nearly died in a free clinic because I couldn't afford a real hospital."

"I didn't—" He reaches for me, but I step back. "I didn't know."

"You didn't want to know, there's a difference. If we're done here I would like to leave, I was working on something else when you called me up here"

Silence falls between us, thick and suffocating enough to kill a baby

"Why are you here?" His voice is steadier now, but his eyes are still devastated. "In this company, in my city."

"I needed a job, however I didn't know Meridian was yours."

"Liar." The word is soft, but it cuts deep. "You're too 

smart not to have researched your employer. Too thorough not to know exactly who you were working for."

Damn it. He's right, and we both know it.

I meet his eyes, let him see the truth. "Fine, I knew. Maybe I had no choice or maybe I wanted to watch you and see if you were as miserable as I hoped you'd be."

"And?" He moves closer again; we're only a few feet apart now. "Am I?"

I study him properly for the first time since I walked in, the shadows under his eyes that speak of sleepless nights and the tension in his shoulders that suggests he carries the weight of his empire like Atlas carrying the world. 

"Yes," I whisper. "Good, you deserve every bit of it."

He's close enough now that I can smell his 

cologne,the same one from before, expensive and subtle, the scent that used to cling to my skin after he touched me. My body remembers it even though my mind knows better. 

"I made a mistake, Abigail."

"You made a choice."

"I chose wrong."

"And now you're married with a daughter. You have everything you wanted."

"I don't have you."

“Fuck you Dominic”

“I wish you would”

I can't breathe, can't think, can't do anything except stand here while he looks at me like I'm the answer to a question he's been asking for five years.

"You gave up that right," I manage to say, "when you stood in front of five hundred people and told them I meant nothing, and when you had security escort me out like trash. You evicted me and blacklisted me and made sure I'd never work in this city again."

"I know." His voice breaks completely now, and I hate how much it affects me. "I know what I did but I had a reason, my father was dying and the board was threatening a takeover. Senator Ashford had evidence of illegal dealings, secrets about my father's business that could threaten everything we had, spoil my family's name forever—contracts and bribes that could have destroyed everything my family built. He offered protection in exchange for the marriage alliance and I had to choose."

"And you chose the empire over me."

"Yes."

At least he's honest. I'll give him that.

"So what do you want now, Dominic? AForgiveness? For me to tell you it's okay, that I understand?"

"I want to explain. I want you to understand—"

"I understand that when it mattered, I wasn't worth fighting for."

I turn toward the door, my hand reaching for the 

handle. I really need to get out of this room before I do something stupid like cry or scream or worse. 

"Can you please stay”

The raw honesty steals whatever response I might have had. 

"Why am I really here?" I whisper.

"Because I saw you yesterday and realized I'm still in love with you, I don't care if it destroys everything I've built. I'm not letting you disappear again."

I don't remember leaving Conference Room 12. Don't remember walking to the elevator or riding down to my floor. One moment I'm drowning in Dominic's eyes, and the next I'm at my desk, gripping the edge hard enough that my knuckles turn white.

"Hey, are you okay?" Elena's voice sounds like it's coming from underwater. "You look—"

"Fine, I had a really long meeting."

My phone buzzes with a message from an unknown number, but I know.

Unknown: Dinner. Tonight. 8 PM. Eleven Madison Park. Don't pretend you have other plans.

Dominic again. 

I should refuse and I should block the number, pack up Ethan and disappear again, this time somewhere Dominic Blackwood will never find me.

Instead, my fingers type: I'll be there.

Because this is why I came back, isn't it? To get close. To make him care. To destroy him from the inside the way he destroyed me. Make him fall in love again and tear him apart. 

At least, that's what I tell myself.

But as I stare at the message I just sent, my hands still shaking, I know the truth.

I want to destroy him and I will destroy him, but some broken parts of me still want him to want me.

And that realization is more terrifying than anything else.