Chapter 4

I called him three times. The first time, it rang until voicemail and I hung up. The second time, it clicked over after two rings. The third time, straight to voicemail.

He was clearly ignoring me.

Nina found me staring at my phone, face pale, hands trembling.

"You called him," she said.

"Yes but he did not answer."

"Then you know what you have to do."

I looked up as I ran my hands over my face in frustration. "I have to go to him and beg him to marry me."

"Yes."

"I have to face the man who destroyed me."

Nina sat beside me and comfortingly took my hand. "You do not have to do anything but if you want to save your father's company, then yes. You have to go to him."

"I do not know if I can."

"You can, Ria. You are the strongest person I know."

"I do not feel strong at all right now."

"Strength is not about feeling strong. It is about doing what needs to be done even when you are terrified." She squeezed my hand. "I will be right here when you get back."

The next morning, I arrived at Richards Industries.

I wore a black Chanel suit and accessorized with pearl earrings. My hair was pulled back in a sleek bun to give that professional and composed aura that felt untouchable.

No one would guess I had spent the night staring at the ceiling, heart pounding.

Patricia, Aziel's assistant, met me in the lobby. She is a stern woman with sharp eyes. She looked at me like I was a stray cat that had wandered in from the rain.

"Ms. Grant. Do you have an appointment?"

"No."

"Then I am afraid I cannot help you. Mr. Richards is very busy."

"I will wait."

"That could take hours."

"Then it will take hours."

She studied me. Then sighed. "The waiting area is to your left."

I sat down and waited as ten minutes turned into twenty and then thirty.

I checked my watch as each minute felt like an hour. I had spent five years trying to forget Aziel Richards. Five years convincing myself I did not care. Five years telling myself he meant nothing but how do I act as though my first love and the only man I have been intimate with was nothing?

Here I was sitting in his lobby like a supplicant. I thought about leaving to find another way. But there was no other way and there was no one else I could turn to but him.

Forty five minutes later, Patricia appeared.

"Mr. Richards will see you now."

I followed her to his office.

Floor to ceiling windows. A desk carved from mahogany. A view that made the waiting area look like a closet.

And behind the desk, stood Aziel. He was standing by the window with his back to me. I waited for him to turn, acknowledge me or say something but he did not.

He just stood there.

Patricia disappeared, closing the door behind her.

"Aziel," I said.

He turned and I felt the air leave my lungs. He is thirty-six now. Older, more powerful and more devastating. There is a reason why we couldn't ignore each other when we first met but it seems like I was the only one still affected by those memories. Because, his eyes were cold and unreadable.

"Ria," he drawled in that damned voice of his. "This is unexpected."

His voice was smooth and neutral. As if I were a business associate he had not seen in a while.

"You have been ignoring my calls."

"I have been busy."

"Too busy to pick up the phone?"

He walked to his desk and sat. He did not offer me a seat or ask if I wanted anything. He simply leaned back and looked at me with those cold, unreadable eyes.

"What do you want?"

I wanted to scream. I wanted to tell him I had spent five years trying to forget him. That I had cried myself to sleep for months. That he had broken me in ways he could never understand.

But I needed his help and I wasn't here to rehash the wreckage of our whirlwind relationship. Five years ago, we met fir the first time and cou tear our eyes away from each other. He approached me first and one thing led to another and he pursued me for three weeks. I got flowers every morning and sent me handwritten notes that made me smile.

There is something magnetic about being thoroughly loved by a man others see as cold and elusive. He remembered my coffee order, my childhood dog's name, that I forgot to eat on Thursdays. He showed up at my office with takeout, insisting I take a break. He made me laugh, made me feel seen and I was convinced that I was the only woman in the world.

And then one night at his penthouse, he kissed me with a desperation that made my knees weak.

"I have been wanting to do that for months," he murmured.

"Why did you not?"

"Because I knew the moment I started, I would not be able to stop."

We did not stop.

I had never been with anyone before. I was too focused on my career and afraid of vulnerability. But with Aziel, everything felt different. He was patient and gentle. He made me feel cherished.

Afterward, I lay in his arms, my head on his chest.

"I think I am falling in love with you," I whispered.

Silence. Then, so quietly I almost missed it, he said: "I know I am falling in love with you."

I believed him. However, three weeks later, he disappeared without a call or text. His assistant told me he was unavailable and his penthouse locks were changed. Two days later, the news reported he had left the country. Three months after that, I saw the magazine cover of Aziel Richards and Natalia Voss New York's Hottest New Couple.

He had moved on and forgotten me. And I had been a fool to think he ever loved me at all.

I quickly pulled myself back from 5he past to focus on the issue at hand.

"I need to speak with you about a business matter," I said.

"Business?"

"Yes."

He gestured for me to continue. I sat across from his desk, took a breath and laid out my situation.

I told him of the willand its condition, the six month deadline, my standoff with Victor and Arthur, the board meetingand the looming threat of losing everything.

I needed a legal marriage for one year nothing more. I offered him a generous financial arrangement, access to Grant Industries resources and a clean dissolution at the end of the contract.

I told him he was the only one who could help me.

He listened without interruption keeping his expression unchanged. He sat there watching me as though I was a problem he was trying to solve.

When I finished, he was silent for a long moment, then he utteredone devastating one word.

"No."

I blinked. "I am sorry?"

"No." He rose, walked to the window, his back to me. "I have no interest in marrying you, Ria. Not for money business or any reason."

"Aziel…"

"You have made your proposal. I have given you my answer." He turned. "I am sure you can find someone else."

I stared at him as blood drained from my face. I felt the floor drop out from under me. I was prepared for rejection but not like this. I was not prepared for the way he looked at me like I was nothing. This is the first time I talked to him since he ghosted me.

"You cannot be serious," I said in disbelief.

"I am always serious," he returned coldly.

"I need your help, Aziel. I have no one else." I implored.

"That is not my problem."

"My father believed in you. He wrote about you in his letter."

"Your father is dead."

The words hit me like a slap.

I stood on my unsteady feet. I could feel my face burning with shame and my eyes stinging but I would not give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

"You are still the same person you were five years ago," I said, voice shaking. "You do not care about anyone but yourself."

"You left me without a word. Broke my heart without a second thought. And now you will not even help me when I am desperate. When I have swallowed my pride and begged you." I walked toward the door. "I do not know why I thought you would be any different."

I was at the door when he spoke.

"Ria."

I paused but did not turn around.

"What?"

"You are wrong."

I waited for him to explain but he did not. I walked out and slammed the door.

I made it to the elevator before I broke.

The doors closed. I leaned against the wall, body shaking and tears threatened to fall. As the elevator doors opened, I walked through the lobby with my head held high but inside, I was falling apart.

I drove home in a daze. I do not remember the drive or walking into my apartment and thankfully Nina was not here.

I only remember collapsing onto my bed, tears tearing through my chest and streaming down my face. I cried for the girl I had been, who gave him everything, who believed in him and loved him with her whole heart.

I cried for the woman I had become. The woman who learned to survive without him. The woman who built walls around her heart. The woman who had just been reminded why those walls existed.

And I cried because I knew deep down, I would have to go back to beg again I had no choice.

He was the only one who could save me and he knew it.