003

Mirabella

I surveyed the room with a single glance, taking in the sea of shocked faces. Dora, my assistant, stood off to the side with a knowing smile, her arms folded across her chest.

“My apologies for the late arrival. The press was an obstacle,” I said smoothly, ignoring the blatant disbelief in the room as I sauntered to a seat off to the side, one where I could oversee everything without being too close.

Don’t look, Mirabella. Don’t. But from the corner of my eye, I saw him. Ethan. He was still standing, his mouth slightly open as he locked onto me like I was a ghost. A blank expression was painted across his face.

The sound of clearing throats followed, and one of the men, whose name tag read Richard, finally spoke up. “Mirabella… I was not expecting to see you here. None of us were.”

Dora stepped beside me, handing me the tablet for the presentation. I began scrolling through it, but at Richard’s words, I paused and scoffed.

“That is Miss Carter to you, Richard,” I said, my voice empty of emotion as I handed the device back to Dora. “Thank you. It is fine.”

The tension in the room thickened until it felt almost suffocating.

Ethan finally sat down. His mouth was shut now, but he seemed completely disconnected, his brows furrowed and his gaze vacant.

“Shall we proceed?” I asked, sweeping my eyes across the room.

A female board member gave a curt nod. “Indeed. Let us proceed.”

But then, a man near the main table raised a brow. “Miss Carter…” His words sounded forced. “You are required to be at the head table with Mr. Robert. Your seat is beside his.”

I looked toward Ethan’s chair, still refusing to meet his barely veiled, pleading gaze, and raised my chin.

“My seating arrangement will have no effect on the outcome of this meeting. However, bringing up irrelevant matters will. I am not sitting there. Please proceed.”

The man let out a grunt, barely masking his frustration. I caught the mutter under his breath, which was unmistakably aimed at me.

I knew him. “Liam, is it? Dr. Liam?” I asked, uncrossing my legs and standing up with a practiced smile on my lips.

He did not look up, instead burying his face in the document before him. His cheeks began to flush under the room’s watchful silence.

“Watch your tongue around me, Dr. Liam,” I said coolly, my voice low but sharp. “Trust me, if I wanted to ruin your career, I could. Do not give me a reason.”

The room froze again. Dora, ever efficient, tapped her screen and waited patiently for the moment to pass.

Ethan’s fingers began tapping rhythmically against the table. He was nervous. Good. He should be.

“Miss Carter,” Ethan finally said, his tone careful. “I apologize for my teammate’s attitude. It will not happen again. Please, sit.”

I looked at him, really looked, and saw the way he tensed under my gaze. He had not changed much. He appeared a little more rugged now with the stubble he was clearly trying to grow, but he was still the same bastard underneath it all.

“Make sure it does not,” I muttered under my breath, just loud enough for him to hear. “You cannot even keep your team or your company in check.”

I returned to my seat. Thankfully, the rest of the meeting went on without another hitch. No one dared challenge my authority again. When Dora wrapped up, I stood and watched as the board members filed out one by one, each bowing slightly before leaving.

Dora approached. “Great job,” I said softly, a genuine smile breaking through the facade.

She returned the look. “I will meet you at the hotel.” With a nod, she exited the room.

And just like that, the calm slipped away. Ethan was still there, staring at me very intensely. He stood from his chair, his eyes locked on mine as each step he took closed the space between us. I should have shut him down right then, but as much as it sickened me to admit, I needed him.

“Mia…” he whispered when he was just a few feet away.

My neck snapped toward him, a cold frown tightening my features. Mia? Five years ago, I would have given anything to hear him call me that. But he had not. He had thrown me out instead.

“It is Carter, Mr. Robert,” I reminded him, my voice as clipped as ever.

He flinched slightly and ran a hand through his hair, clearly thrown off. “How?” he asked, his voice barely a squeak.

I crossed my arms and lifted my chin. “How did I get here?” A hollow smile curled my lips. “I guess I could not let my degrees in Computer Science and Software Engineering go to waste, hm?”

He stared at me, his eyes searching mine as if he were trying to find a version of me he remembered. Then he stepped closer, regret swimming across his face. “Let me—”

“Do not.” My tone sliced clean through the air, and he went silent.

I watched him for a moment, weighing whether to say it. But Theo’s face flashed in my mind, and suddenly, there was no hesitation. “Ethan Robert.”

He straightened at the use of his full name. There was a flicker of hope in his eyes. “Yeah?”

The power shift, the begging, the control; it was all ironic.

“You want me to sign the merger with your company?”

He blinked, confused. “I thought you already agreed to the deal?”

I curled my upper lip into a smirk. “No. There is one more condition you need to meet.”

His brow furrowed deeper. “Which is?”

I took a breath, letting it sit heavy between us. “You need to take a test. In an hour.”

His confusion morphed into concern. “A test? What kind of test?”

This was it. The moment I had waited years for.

“The kind that determines whether my son lives.”