r, drink untouched, eyes fixed on the el

dn't c

ways that

and things he could say about her-her beauty, her grace, the fire in her spirit-but what shook hi

ai

reaking records, of silencing boardrooms and buying out companies like breathing. But none of i

ria wasn'

as a

tch?" the ba

ing down at his full

congratulate him. The event had gone exactly as planned-on the outsid

verything fel

xpected her

ken something loose. He'd watched her from across the room, quietl

w that

ne she wore the n

gs layered like bricks in a wall that neither of them had the strength to tear down

t been r

e was

the ownership, but he knew she was behind it. She wasn't the kind of woman who liked attent

broke

m believed he was the o

a ghost," a familiar

ldest friend and sometimes worst influe

ghost," Damie

ale face, haunted eyes." Travis raised a

didn't

ake the big announcement, push the pre

as ho

is exactly why it scare

flinch. "I nee

lize this isn't a rom-com, right? You don'

id, his voice low. "I'm trying to underst

he'll even

e w

u s

htened. "No. But

k from the venue, heels clicking against the pavement in time with her heartb

e was never one for subtlety, especially

had ma

s the p

ng mattered, he buried himself in it until i

eneath the suits and the legacy and the billion-dollar ambit

e missed dinners. The canceled vacations. The way she

d she didn't recognize her

e words-I'm not happy, Damie

. He hadn't stopped her. He hadn't b

art that still

the

sile

"loss" like some poetic martyr, while she's spe

ath the soft glow of a streetlamp, a

gr

ng

at she could

ri

ice fr

ed to turn ar

e did

ollar loose, his eyes searching her face lik

want?" she

ta

hree years

kno

k at him with the steel she had spe

ause I never stopped thinking about you. And because I saw you tonight, and for

e thrummed with every mem

voice st

me woman you ma

. Because I'm no

her

ilence be

me... it fe

tat

pok

pe

"Don't make this harde

quietly. "But I wi

ty was never our problem.

ore her feet could betray he

amien

city and the sting of everything unsaid, a