12. Another Conversation

I sit in bed, staring absentmindedly at a corner of the room.

Moonlight seeps through the windows and paints everything a serene shade of blue and the silence is calm, but my mind is far away from the present.

Unlike my dreams, I remember my nightmares in brutal detail. They are never scary, just reminders of my past and all the things I could have, should have, done differently. My nightmares are a collage of regrets resurfacing to remind me who I am and what I destroyed.

Memories laced with guilt and pushed away bubble up to the surface and I can't help but relive them.

After I got my heart broken watching Theodore get married, I wrote letters upon letters to him. It went on for months on end; a routine filled with writing, stalking, and feeling more disappointed and angry with each passing day.

And then one day I finally received a reply.

It was his handwriting. I could even smell a whiff of his cologne on it. My anticipation was at an all time high it made my hands tremble as I opened the letter, eager to hear from him for the first time since he left.

It was brief. Detached even. It was just a single line that warned me to never reach out to him again, to move on.

For a moment, the air left my lungs and I wanted to disappear.

I refused to believe I was just another girl, another summer fling. I refused to believe the Theodore I knew would ever abandon me so easily. So I put all my anger and hurt into another letter and sent it. I was certain that he would read it and remember what we shared.

And that was when I began to face the consequences of falling in love with the heir of a national empire.

It's started small. Rumors that painted my parent's family owned hotel resort in a bad light. Then important business investors and suppliers got lured away by rival businesses. Slowly, we lost even the most loyal clients and the hotel became a relic of the past and had to be shut down.

And everybody in town knew why. It was an open secret that Theodore's family pulled a string or two in favor of our rivals.

In less than a year, my parents went from successful business owners to sick and ailing. And soon after, they died.

“Yet here I am, sleeping in the comfortable sheets of the man behind their deaths and fucking him in my dreams,” I mutter bitterly.

Hot tears slide down my tears as an ache I have long since identified as self loathing settles like an anchor in my chest.

After a long, shaky breath, a sigh leaves my parched lips and I reach for the faint light of my phone. It's only 1am.

I swing my legs out of bed and head downstairs to quench my thirst.

Just like last night, Theodore's dark figure stands overlooking the scene from the tall windows in the darkness of the living room. His white shirt is untucked and his sleeves are rolled up while his dark trousers hang low on his hips.

But this time I pay him no mind and walk by silently. I'm in no mood to entertain a conversation with anyone, especially not him.

For a second I allow myself to think about his strange sleeping patterns and the bags under his eyes but I ignore the thought.

In the kitchen, I drink a glass of water and walk to the stairs heading back to my room when he speaks.

“You’re not going on that date.”

A bitter chuckle leaves my lips. “Or else what? You'll fire me?”

His jaw tightens. “I won't have my staff–”

“--the contract says I can go about my life after the children have been put to bed for the day, provided I am back in time for the next day’s activities and I don’t allow it affect my performance.”

He arches an eyebrow in surprise.

“I told you,” I add as I fold my arms. “I actually read that form.”

And yet, I somehow missed the clause that stated I had to work for him for a minimum of a year. How could I have missed it? How could I have been so stupid?

“Stop being so fucking stubborn Nova,” he says as he runs a hand through his hair. “You have no idea what Grant is capable of. I'm trying to protect you.”

“Protect me?” My eyes narrow and I step closer until I can see the storm in his dark eyes. “You think you're the good guy here? You're the one forcing me to work for you or else you'll take me to court for a ridiculous amount of money.”

“Like you have better fucking options?” he laughs incredulously. “I'm saving your fucking life by taking you in.”

Anger bubbles up in me at the thought of being saved by him. “You're saving my life? After you ruined it?”

“Whwt the fuck do you mean?” he spits. “We spent one fucking summer together, I don't owe you shit.”

The words hit harder than expected, but it isn't his tone that breaks me, it's the confusion on his face.

“Wait…” My voice drops to a whisper. “Do you not remember what you did?”

The confusion on his face deepens and that is all the answer I need. I take a step back, seeing him in a new light.

Since the day I saw him again for the first time I have been waiting for an explanation. Some sort of crazy, unimaginable and yet true story to convince me what happened was a mistake and something he regrets.

Instead, he doesn't even remember ruining my life.

It finally dawns on me that this man before me is not the person I fell in love with.

“Let me out of that contract, Mr Thompson,” I say quietly.

His eyes flash in anger. “You don't seem to understand, Miss Patel,” he says, each syllable coming out like a blade. “While you're under this contract what you do, where you go and even who you see, I am in control of it all. Do not fuck with me.”

Just like before, my life and freedom is completely in his hands to do whatever with. But this time I won't allow it.

“Then I’m leaving,” I whisper as I turn and walk away. “I would rather fight you in court than spend another fucking second here.”

I would rather lose the little I have escaping him than play his twisted game.

“You might be willing to lose everything,” he calls after me, “but is your friend? Alexandra, was it?”

Her name from his lips stops me dead in my tracks. The warning is clear.

I might not have much to lose but Xander has her whole life ahead of her. Thoughts of Xander suffering what I did flash through my mind and I know I could never do that to her.

Slowly, I turn to face him and my voice trembles with fury.

“You're a fucking monster.”

The corner of his lips lifts in a bitter smile. “Are you just finding out?”