I LEFT WHEN HIS EX CAME BACK WITH HIS SON

THALIAThe meeting dragged on for nearly forty minutes.Charts flashed across the screen as Dr. Harlan talked about revised timelines for Project Elara. Clara stood beside him, explaining sections of the presentation as if she had always been part of the team.I stayed quiet.My pen tapped against my notebook once.Then I forced my hand to stop.No reaction.No weakness.Inside, though, my thoughts were spinning.How long had Brandon planned this? Because Dr. Harlan told me earlier, Brandon was the one who approved Clara as the supervisor.Dr. Harlan finally checked his watch.“Let’s take a fifteen-minute break,” he said. “We’ll reconvene after that to finalize the rollout strategy.”Chairs scraped back as people stood.I gathered my tablet slowly.No rushing.No running away.If anyone expected me to break down, they were going to be disappointed.I stepped out into the hallway.“Thalia?”The voice stopped me instantly.I turned.Clara stood a few steps away, holding two coffee cups.

BRANDONThe first thing I felt was anger.It sat heavy in my chest all afternoon, refusing to fade.I stood in my office at Langford Pharmaceuticals, staring through the floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city. Traffic crawled below like ants. People moved through their ordinary lives, while mine felt like it had been hijacked by chaos.Thalia’s face flashed in my mind again.The sharp sound of that slap echoed just as clearly as it had outside the conference room.My jaw tightened.I still couldn’t believe she had done it.Clara had stood there, one hand pressed to her cheek, while half the executive board watched. Her eyes had been shining with tears. The entire hallway had gone silent.The humiliation burned hotter the more I thought about it.You don’t put your hands on anyone in my building.My building.I had handled the situation exactly the way a CEO should.Calm. Firm. Controlled.Still…Something about the way Thalia looked when she walked away bothered me.She had

BRANDONThe only thing on my mind since afternoon was the same sentence my secretary had said over the phone.Mrs. Langford submitted her resignation today.It made no sense.Thalia had worked in that laboratory for years. She had fought to earn that position, spent countless nights buried in research reports and experimental results. Even when we argued, even when she was clearly unhappy, she had never once talked about quitting.Yet now she had resigned without saying a word.And apparently left the house.I still hadn’t opened the envelope she left behind either.The thought irritated me more than it should have.Honestly, it felt like another one of her dramatic moves.Ever since the incident at the company, she had been acting increasingly unreasonable—arguing, making accusations, refusing to listen to explanations. Walking out now and quitting her job felt less like a decision and more like another attempt to stir up trouble.As if resigning and leaving the house would somehow f

THALIA“I don’t know him.”The words left my mouth calmly, but the effect they had on Brandon was immediate. His face drained of color like someone had flipped a switch. For a moment he just stared at me, completely frozen, as if he couldn’t believe what he had heard.His lips parted slightly. The anger in his eyes twisted into something else. Shock. Disbelief.“What the hell are you talking about, Thalia?” he demanded.His voice cut through the crowd, sharp and furious, but for once it didn’t intimidate me. Not tonight. Tonight I felt strangely calm, like something inside me had finally snapped into place.Around us, people were whispering. Phones were raised. The club had turned into a small arena and we were the show.I didn’t look at Brandon again.Instead, I turned to Knox. “Can we get out of here?”He studied my face for a moment, his jaw tightening slightly, then he nodded.“Yeah,” he said. “Come on.”He placed a gentle hand at the small of my back and guided me through the cr