Chapter 3 — The Interview

Elena arrived at Lorne Publishing twenty minutes early with damp palms and a nervous stomach. Leo was with Mia’s cousin Sophie for the morning, and although Elena trusted her, leaving him still felt wrong. Before she left, she had kissed him three times, promised chips if he behaved, and tried not to cry when he waved Bunny at her and said, “Don’t be scared, Mummy.” She had smiled for him, but the second she stepped outside, the smile disappeared.

The office was nothing like Blackwood Tower, and that helped. Lorne Publishing sat inside an old red-brick building near Holborn, with warm lights, bookshelves, plants, and posters of novels on the walls. People walked around in jumpers with coffee cups and papers tucked under their arms. It felt busy, but not cold. For the first time since coming back to London, Elena felt like she might be able to breathe here.

The interview started better than she expected. Priya, the editorial director, was friendly but sharp, and the other two people on the panel seemed interested in her work. They asked about editing, pacing, commercial fiction, and how to keep readers turning pages. Elena was nervous at first, but once they started talking about stories, she relaxed. “Readers can usually feel when a chapter is dragging before they know why,” she said. “My job is to notice it first.” Priya smiled at that, and for one dangerous second, Elena let herself imagine getting the job.

Then Priya glanced towards the door. “We have one final person joining us,” she said, and before Elena could prepare herself, the door opened and Adrian Blackwood walked in.

The sight of him knocked the air out of her and, for a moment she forgot where she was. She had imagined seeing him again many times, but the real thing was worse. He looked older than he had three years ago, but not softer. His face was sharper, his eyes colder, and he still carried himself like every room belonged to him.

Adrian's gaze found her's and, for half a second, something unguarded crossed his face. To other's it would be unnoticable but, for someone who had spent years studying the changes in his expressions, it was clear. Then it vanished, and his expression settled into the calm, controlled mask she remembered all too well.

“Ms Hart.” He said with a polite nod.

Not Elena. Not Mrs Blackwood. Ms Hart.

Elena forced herself to stand. “Mr Blackwood.”

Priya looked between them, her smile faltering.

“You know each other?”

Adrian answered before Elena could.

“We were married.”

The silence that followed was awful. Elena felt heat rise into her face, but she kept her back straight. She had spent enough of her marriage feeling small. She refused to do it here.

Adrian sat himself at the head of the table and told them to continue, but the interview had already changed. His questions sounded professional, but Elena knew him too well to miss the meaning underneath. He asked why she had returned to London, and she said it was for personal reasons. When he asked what reasons, she told him they were not relevant to the role. He asked why she had left full-time work three years ago, and she said she had moved away. Then he asked, “Alone?” and her hand tightened around her bag.

Elena knew that tone. Adrian had always noticed the things other people missed: a pause, a careful answer, a missing detail. She made herself hold his gaze. “That is also not relevant.” His final question came quietly. “Are you running from something, Ms Hart?”

That was enough.

Elena stood, picked up her bag, and said,

“I think this interview is over. Thank you for your time.”

She made it to the corridor before her hands started shaking. She pressed the lift button and tried to breathe, angry with herself for letting him affect her so quickly. Then she heard his voice behind her. “Elena.” She turned, already tired. “Do not follow me.”

Adrian stopped a few feet away. “Three years,” he said. “You disappeared.” Elena gave a small, bitter laugh. “You let me.” His jaw tightened. “Where have you been?” She looked at him and said, “Living.” When he asked with whom, she almost laughed again. “Still asking questions like you own the answers.”

His eyes moved over her face, and for a moment he looked less controlled. “You look different.” Elena held herself still. “I am different.”

He said she was thinner, and she answered before she could stop herself. “I’m happier.”

The words landed. She saw it in his face, and a small wounded part of her was glad.

The lift doors opened, and Elena stepped inside, but Adrian put his hand against the door. “Why did you come back?” he asked.

“My life is none of your business,” she said, but he reminded her that she had walked into one of his companies.

Elena lifted her chin. “Then reject me and be done with it.”

Something shifted in his eyes. “I never rejected you.”

She stared at him. “You divorced me.”

His answer came too quickly. “You signed first.”

Elena felt the old hurt rise. “Because you sent the papers.”

For three years, she had believed Adrian had thrown her away. Now he stood there trying to make it sound like a misunderstanding. She shook her head. “You don’t get to do this.” The lift began to beep, and he slowly removed his hand.

“Come to dinner,” he said. “We need to talk.”

Elena looked at him one last time. “We needed to talk three years ago.”

Then the doors closed.

Inside the lift, Elena leaned against the wall and tried to steady herself. Her phone buzzed before she could take a proper breath. It was a message from Sophie:

Leo is fine, but he has a fever. Can you come back soon?

Everything else vanished. Elena hurried out of the building and into the rain, already calling for a taxi.

She did not see Adrian watching from the lobby, or hear him tell his driver to follow her.