His shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him. “You’re right,” he said, voice rough. “When I first read my father’s letter, all I saw was the company. The inheritance. Edge Records was everything I’d ever worked for, everything I thought I wanted. And when I realized the stipulation was tied to you,” He dragged a hand through his hair, chest heaving. “I hated it. Hated that my future was in someone else’s hands. I told myself you were just a means to an end.”
The words sliced through me, every syllable like a fresh wound.
“But then,” Nathan pressed on, eyes blazing as if he could burn the truth into me, “the more time I spent with you, the more I got to know you, the less the money mattered. The less the company mattered. You changed everything, Elise. You made me feel things I didn’t even know I was capable of feeling. For the first time in my life, none of it mattered. Not the empire, not the inheritance. None of it mattered as much as you.” His voice cracked, raw and unpolished in a way I’d never heard from him. “I fell in love with you.”
The words, once everything I’d wanted, now landed like stones in my chest.
I shook my head, tears burning hot. “No, Nathan. You don’t get to say that. You don’t get to stand here and talk about love when you lied to me, when you used me. Love isn’t manipulation. Love isn’t playing me like a pawn in your father’s game.” He flinched, but I pressed on, the words spilling out of me, unstoppable.
“You took away my choice. Do you get that? You decided what I meant to you, what I was worth to your company, beforeI even knew the truth. You stole the chance for me to decide for myself what we could have been. That’s not love, Nathan. That’s control.”
Nathan’s eyes darkened, pleading and desperate all at once. “Elise… please. I never meant to hurt you.”
“Stop,” I said sharply, my voice echoing in the suite. “I don’t want to hear it anymore. Nathan, you’ve spent months convincing me that what we had was genuine while hiding the truth.”
He stepped closer, reaching for my hands, but I stepped back, my robe brushing against my legs as I created space. “Don’t. Touch me. Not now. Not after everything.”
“I know I messed up,” he said, his voice low and rough, the kind that used to make my knees weak. “I—”
“I don’t care,” I cut him off. “You can’t undo what’s been done. I can’t pretend the trust is still there when every moment we shared feels poisoned.”
He opened his mouth, but I lifted a hand, stopping him.“I loved you. I gave you everything I had. But love doesn’t feel like this. It doesn’t feel like betrayal.” My voice wavered, but I held it together. “I can’t be with someone I don’t trust.” The tension in the room thickened as we stood there, him with that pleading, haunted look, and me holding onto the last of my strength. “We’re done.”
He looked as if I’d punched him. His chest rose and fell and his eyes held a suspicious gloss. “Elise…”
“I need you to leave.”
He lingered for a moment. Silent eyes burning into mine, searching for a crack. But there was none.
Finally, he nodded, stiffly, and turned toward the door. "I'm sorry,” he whispered, voice low, almost drowned by the sound of the closing door.
I watched him leave, the click of the lock echoing like the finality of a tomb.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
NATHAN
THE BOARDROOM WASsuffocating.
I sat at the head of the table with glossy folders and projections spread out in front of me, but I couldn’t hear a damn thing. My head of A&R was rambling about a new artist showcase, but all I could see was Elise’s face the night she walked away.
You stole my choice.
The words had carved into me, bone-deep.
“Mr. Edge?” Kingsley's voice cut through, tight and cautious. “We need your final approval on the streaming partnership before we move forward.”
Approval. Final say. That was what I did. My name opened doors, closed deals, built empires. But I couldn’t even keep the one thing that mattered most. My hand hovered over the papers, useless, until I shoved them aside with a rough exhale. “Table it. We’ll circle back in a week.”
Around the table, eyes flicked toward each other. They thought they were being discreet, but I could feel the pity. They’d never seen me like this. Nathan Edge didn’t stumble. Didn’t lose his grip. But now? Now even my silence cracked the walls I’d built around myself.
My new assistant, Harper, cleared her throat. “Maybe we should, um, revisit this after lunch? Give everyone a breather?”
Everyone? No. She meant me.
I let out a sharp breath, shoved the papers into a pile, and pushed up from my chair so fast it screeched against the floor. “Fine. Dismissed.” My voice was too rough, more bark than command.
They scattered like mice, relieved, but not before I caught that look in their eyes. Not respect. Not fear.Pity.
