PART TWO

That afternoon, Mia was alone in her office, reading a contract she had already read twice, when Ethan appeared again.

"You have a visitor. Victoria Sterling."

She looked up. For a second, nothing in her moved. "Send her in."

"You're sure?"

"I'm sure."

Victoria came in like a woman entering a room she already owned: tall, blonde, in a pale silk dress that cost more than Mia's first month of rent had. She smiled. "Mia. It's been a long time."

"Victoria."

She looked around the office, at the windows, the brass monogram, the long walnut desk. "You've done well."

"Thank you."

"I suppose leaving Vale International worked out for you."

"It did."

Victoria sat down without being asked. "You were very devoted to him. I remember that."

"I was devoted to my work."

"Of course." The smile didn't move. Something about the way she said it made the back of Mia's neck prickle. "I wanted to see you, that's all. I'm curious about the people who were close to Alexander."

"Why?"

"We're to be married. A woman likes to understand her husband's history." She crossed her legs. "His records from those years are such a mess, you know. I was wondering whether his old assistant ever kept anything. Files, notes. Anything about his approvals, his signatures."

Mia kept her hands folded on the desk. "I prepared documents. He signed them. I left with a notebook and a plant."

Victoria laughed softly. "How practical."

"Is there something specific you're looking for?"

"Not at all. Just a bride's curiosity." Her smile thinned. "You've certainly changed, Mia."

"So have you."

Victoria rose and smoothed her dress. At the door she turned. "Alexander is getting married soon. I thought you should hear it from me."

Mia felt her fingers tighten on the edge of the desk and made them relax. "I heard."

"I'm glad. You've moved on."

"I have."

"Good."

When the door closed, Mia sat very still. She had avoided Alexander's name for three years. She never searched for him, never read the interviews, never asked anyone how he was. And now a stranger had said it aloud in the room she had built, and it had gone through her like a cold current.

It wasn't love. She refused to call it that. It was an old wound, the kind that only hurt when the weather changed.

But the other thing nagged at her. Approvals. Signatures. Why would a bride care about the paperwork of a man's assistant from three years ago?

She wrote one line in her notebook before she closed it: Why did she ask about his signatures?

,

The restaurant was quiet and dim, the kind of place where the tables were far apart on purpose.

Victoria had opened a leather folder of venue photographs. "I've narrowed it to three."

Alexander turned the pages. "That one."

"You like it?"

"It's fine."

"You could sound a little more excited."

"I'm listening."

She reached across the table and touched his hand. "Do you love me?"

The question caught him off guard. "Why are you asking?"

"Because I'd like to hear you say it."

He looked at her, at the perfectly drawn mouth and the careful eyes, and found that he had nothing prepared. "I care about you."

Her smile faded. "That isn't what I asked."

He looked away. She withdrew her hand.

"You know what I think? I think you don't know how to love anyone."

"That's enough."

She stopped. For a moment neither of them spoke. Then she smiled again, brightly, and reached for her glass. "Let's talk about something else."

He nodded. But the words stayed with him, and he didn't know why.

,

The next morning he arrived at Vale Tower before anyone. His assistant had already set the coffee on his desk, black, no sugar, exactly where he liked it.

He looked at it for a moment, and something felt wrong.

Good coffee.

The words came in a woman's voice, quick and a little shy. He could see her standing in his doorway with a tablet pressed to her chest and a smile she tried to hide.

He frowned. Why was he thinking about her now?

He picked up the cup and drank, and it tasted perfectly fine. That was the problem. It tasted like nothing at all.

His phone buzzed. Dinner with my parents tonight. Don't be late. He typed I won't and set the phone aside.

Everything in his life was exactly where it should be. The company was thriving. The wedding was in six months. His father approved. And yet, at the back of his mind, there was a woman he had told didn't belong in his world, standing in a doorway, waiting for him to say something he had never said.

He pushed the thought away. He had no reason to think about her. He had everything he wanted.

He pulled the next file toward him. Outside, the city went on without him noticing, and somewhere across it, Mia Carter was building a life that no longer included him.