บททั้งหมดของ CEO's Regret - Losing Valentina: บทที่ 11 - บทที่ 20

Two Years Earlier - Wednesday, March 4th 2024Valentina I remember seeing the empty desk of his PA and walking toward his office. I heard the sounds before I even reached the partially closed office door, with the COO metal plate. Moans. Low. Wet. The sound of skin slapping together. Everything in me screamed..."Walk away...you don't need to see this." But I didn't heed it...because I owed it to myself...to prove that the last twelve months meant something.I silently pushed the heavy door just a bit wider...still hidden but able to see inside and my heart broke...shattered...Nash was braced over his desk, pants at his ankles, shirt open, head thrown back, pounding into someone that isn't me. Under him, a woman I didn’t recognise. She was blonde. Busty. Long legs wrapped around his waist. Her dress shoved up over her hips. His hand twisted in her hair exactly the way it used to be in mine.The woman bucks with every forceful thrust, eyes glazed with pleasure and moans softly. Low.

Two Years Earlier - Wednesday, March 4th 2024 Valentina No…there was no shame in falling in love with the wrong man. The shame would be in having that knowledge and ignoring it. Wallowing in misery. In letting it define me, and allowing it to shape me into the woman he wanted, not the one I actually was. Nashian had trained me to his taste. Moulded into his ideal fucktoy. Defined the parameters of our relationship. And then placed me in this gilded cage. A pretty bird in a pretty setting. But a cage, no matter how expensive, how fancy, would still be a cage and never be a home. The tears slowed. Then slowed some more. Until only a few remained. I wiped them away and inhaled deeply. Okay. Better. You can do this. Think. Plan. Move. The way I always had. The way every child learnt to do when the adults responsible for them failed to do so. Survive first. Cry later. Tomorrow I would go to the bank. I would separate every financial tie linking me to Nash. Every single one. The

Two Years Earlier - Wednesday, March 4th 2024Valentina Dinner felt strangely normal at first. LReminiscent of the ones we had shared so many times before. Mark telling stories. Livvy interrupting. Ethan smiling beneath the long suffering sigh and rolling his eyes.Maddie trying unsuccessfully to keep order. The familiar chaos wrapped around me like a blanket. For a little while, I forgot my heart was broken. Then eventually the conversation shifted.The room grew quieter. Everyone looked at me. Waiting. For why they had all been summoned. I set my fork down carefully. "By now you all know that I am going away for a bit." I paused as they all gave me their attention. "The relationship I was in..." I began softly. Livvy's eyes immediately met mine. The only person at the table who knew anything. I offered her a tiny smile before continuing. "It didn't work out. We were both in different places."The words hurt. Even now. "I wanted more." My voice wavered slightly. "He didn't."Silen

Two Years Earlier - Friday, March 6th 2024ValentinaHeartbreak is quieter than people think.It isn't always screaming matches and shattered glass and dramatic goodbyes. Sometimes it's standing alone in a luxury penthouse overlooking Manhattan while rain crawls down the windows...trying not to break apart as you pack your life into two suitcases.The suitcases looks too small for everything I’m leaving behind.I folded another sweater mechanically before placing it into the open suitcase on my bed. My bed in my allocated room. Not ours. Never oursI zip it closed anyway. The sound is final. A full stop at the end of a sentence I spent twelve months trying to rewrite.This penthouse. God I hated it. A few million dollars worth of glass and marble and city lights, and it never once felt like home. Home was supposed to be where you smell cookies in the oven. Where you had mismatched cushions. Where your toothbrush stayed on the counter. Where someone knew what you ate for breakfast on

2 years ago - Friday 6th March 2024 NashI unlocked my phone and sent her a quick message. *Will be there at 6. Be ready.* Simple. Direct. The way things worked best between us so there were no misunderstandings. I slipped the phone back into my pocket and entered my office. Immediately notifications began flooding the screen. Emails. Messages. Calendar updates. And one bank notification? I frowned. Then stopped walking. What the fucking hell was this? I looked again. Three hundred thousand dollars had been deposited into one of my personal accounts. The sender reference made me freeze. VA Rossi. Valentina??? My frown deepened. That didn't make sense. I hit the intercom. "Devon." He answered immediately. "Yes Nash?" "My office now." Thirty seconds later my assistant stepped inside. Devon had worked for me long enough to recognize when something had my attention. "You needed me Nash?" I turned the phone around. "Look at this." His eyes scanned the notification. Then his b