Senior Vice President Kylie

SIX MONTHS LATER:

“The meeting is over. I'll expect the revised proposal on my desk before noon tomorrow.”

Kylie closed the file in front of her and stood up. As she did this, the conference room fell silent for a beat before the executives around the long glass table nodded in agreement.

Without another word, she gathered her tablet and stepped out of the boardroom, the sharp click of her heels echoing through the polished hallway of Luxeforge Group.

It had been six months since she had walked away from a life that had already destroyed her.

Six months since she had buried the weak, heartbroken woman who had begged for love in a marriage built on lies, and now, she was no longer that Kylie.

She was the newly appointed Senior Vice President of Luxeforge. Respected and admired.

By the time Kylie stepped into her office and sat behind her desk, her phone vibrated on the desk. She reached for it absentmindedly, expecting another work email. Instead, a reminder flashed across the screen

Sienna's birthday – two weeks to go.

Kylie instantly froze. For a second, the air in the room thinned and her fingers tightened around the phone as the words stared back at her.

In two weeks, Sienna would be another year older and staring at the reminder over and over again, a strange ache twisted in her chest.

Despite everything, despite the way she had been replaced so easily by her daughter, Kylie still remembered.

Her thumb hovered over the reminder, but before she could stop the floor of memories threatening to surface, her phone lit up again.

Seeing it was Elena calling, Kylie blinked, dragging in a steady breath before answering,

“Tell me you're not backing out tonight!” Elena said the moment the call connected, and a fair smile instantly tugged at Kylie's lips for the first time today.

“I just finished a meeting.” She replied, and rose to her feet, moving towards the floor-to-ceiling window of her office. “And no, I'm not backing out.”

“Good. Because after the week you've had, you need one night away from signing multiple contracts for Luxeforge. Everyone knows of your latest achievement barely two months after joining the company.”

Kylie let out a quiet breath that was almost a laugh as she responded,

“Fine, I'll be there in thirty minutes, Elena.”

She ended the call and took one last glance at the reminder before shoving her phone back into her handbag and grabbed it.

Once she stepped out of her office, she headed to her car, got in, and drove off immediately.

BLACKWOOD MANSION:

“We're here Sir.” The driver announced,

With his eyes shut tightly behind his glasses, Damian Blackwood let out a light groan before taking off the glasses. Then through the car window, he stared thoroughly at the mansion meters away and heaved a sigh for the third time,

The door suddenly opened and he strode one leg out first before the other followed seconds later.

The mansion was set ablaze with countless lights even around the luxurious water fountain in the compound.

Through the transparent large windows on the lower floor, he saw how the huge chandeliers brightened the inside making it look classy and rich,

“Welcome home Mr Damian—” Before the driver could continue, he pulled off his suit and threw it straight at him, then began heading towards the entrance.

The house welcomed him with a wonderful aroma as Damian stepped in but the first voice he heard was a tiny and sweet one he had been expecting— the real reason he had returned to New York so early,

“Daddy!”

He leaned down, spread both arms apart, and wrapped them around her when she got into his warm embrace,

“Kiara! How many times have I told you to stop calling your Uncle Damian Daddy?” Clara Blackwood corrected as she rushed out from the dining room, heading to her son,

“Let her be Mom, I really don't care if people get the wrong idea or not,” Damian said but when Clara got to him, she hit his chest lightly, and said,

“How then would you be able to find yourself a wife, son?

He rolled his eyes instead and picked up the 5-year-old Kiara in his arms,

“Tell me everything. Tell me everything you want me to know princess.”

She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck as they headed towards the dining room,

“I missed you so much.”

“I missed you more princess.”

As Clara watched from behind, she could only shake her head but didn't blame Kiara. After all, Damian was the closest person she had to a father, but how then would he be able to find a wife of his own and start a family?

As she watched him walk towards the stairs, something instantly crossed her mind and she thought to herself, why not find a wife willing to accept Kiara and in fact, play the role of a mother to the little girl.

____________

The next morning Damian rose as early as 6:30 am.

Luxeforge had numerous pending matters for him to attend to and he had abandoned the affairs of the company for way too long already.

Being away for almost a year hadn't been Damian’s plan entirely, but for some reason, one year was probably enough to escape the guilt that had been eating him so deeply over the last four years.

Although being away in London didn't change much, at least, it did something to keep part of his sanity in check pending the time the rounds of sleepless nights and bad dreams would come again.

An hour later, Damian stepped out of his spacious room dressed in a perfectly tailored brown tuxedo that clung to his broad frame like it had been made solely for him but upon getting to the living room, a shocking sight welcomed him.

Three ladies rose to their feet from the couches they had been seated on as Damian walked down the stairs.

By the right end of the couch stood Clara, a welcoming smile curled on her lips,

“Son, good morning. Hope you had a splendid night?”

Clara had no idea about her son's sleepless night, and Damian being one to keep a secret was indeed keeping it well. She had believed that all these years despite the accident four years ago, he had forgotten everything about that night and was living well now.

“Aurora Pierson.”

“Daisy Bright.”

“Katherine Bennett.”

Clara introduced, hoping her son would take another glance at the ladies right in front of him, “They are all from wonderful families and each has respectable jobs.”

“Hello, Mr Damian.” The Ladies uttered one after the other, watching as he slipped one hand into his pocket and continued walking down the steps. Of course, they had never seen such a handsome and dreamy man before. A man whose presence alone was enough to make their legs wet.

“Mom, do you really have to go this far?”

“To get you a wife, then I will. If I have to search the whole planet before I find her, then I will.”

Hearing his mother say this, he chuckled inwardly. If only she had even the slightest idea of his decision never to settle down,

“The company needs me and I have a lot of pending work to attend to.” He tilted his head backwards and glanced at the ladies with wide smiles enough to send a shiver down his spine one more time,

“Let's do this some other time, Mom, I need to leave right now.”

Not wanting to hear her nag, Damian hurried out of the house and got into the car waiting outside. Once he was in, his assistant Kyle who had been waiting for him next to the car also stepped in. The driver immediately kicked the engine to life and drove out of the building.

As the car drove to the company, Damian leaned back against the leather seat, his jaw tight with thought,

“Here are the company files you requested, sir,” Kyle uttered.

Sitting upright once again, Damian took it, along with the iPad tucked beneath it, and began flipping through the latest report. His sharp eyes moved swiftly across the quarterly figure, his brows drew together, and a small scoff escaped his mouth even before he could realize it,

Most of the new plans were extremely brilliant. He had to admit. The last person who had ever left him speechless with incredible proposals was the former CEO of Luxeforge, Edward Blackwood, but now, it almost seemed like there was someone whose thought processes were close to those of his brother's concerning the affairs of the company.

Finally, his fingers stilled over the screen. He tapped the attached profile without a second thought. The woman staring back at him from the screen was dressed in a sharp corporate suit, her expression calm, elegant, and unreadable.

But, he barely noticed any of that.

The only thing his eyes were fixed on was the name displayed beneath her photograph,

[Kylie Vale. SVP, Luxeforge Group.]

After a long glance, Damian finally flipped to another page and said,

“Kyle, set up a meeting with the company's executives immediately.”