Page 163 of Say My Name

“What happened?”

I work to keep my voice light. “Good morning to you too.”

“Elena.”

“I’m fine.”

Her eyes narrow. “That answer might work better if you didn’t look like you’re about to throw up or fire half the company.”

Of her two accusations, I can only refute one. “I’m not firing anyone.”

“Interesting that you skipped the other option.”

I keep walking.

Inside my office, I open the day’s agenda. The Project Northstar identity-release call is this afternoon, Dominic expects me in a meeting in twenty minutes, and a dozen other decisions are already waiting.

There is no convenient place on the schedule for a life-changing conversation.

That is an excuse, and I know it.

I make it through three emails before realizing I read the same paragraph four times.

My hand drifts toward my stomach beneath the desk. Nothing feels different. There is no visible proof anyone else could notice, yet my body no longer feels entirely mine. It is carrying a secret that belongs to Dominic too.

I push back from the desk.

Maya glances up when I emerge.

The words feel heavy, a commitment I can’t take back. “I need to speak to Dominic.”

Her attention sharpens. “About?”

“Something personal.”

Her eyebrows rise, but she doesn’t ask. That restraint frightens me more than a dozen questions would.

Dominic’s office sits at the far end of the executive corridor behind a glass wall that used to feel like an inconvenience. There were months when I could look through it and find him already watching me. Passing his office meant a private smile, a lifted eyebrow, or the quiet promise that he would find a reason to come to mine later.

For the past two weeks, I’ve passed that glass without stopping.

I walk toward him anyway.

He is behind his desk, reading something on his monitor with his jacket off and his shirtsleeves rolled to his forearms. A coffee sits untouched near his right hand. Even from the corridor, I can see the exhaustion in the set of his shoulders.

Evan told Maya that Dominic has been working fourteen-hour days. Maya told me because she thought I should know.

I pretended I didn’t understand why.

My pace slows.

I can open the door. I can say his name, close it behind me, and tell him before fear turns this into another decision I regret.

I lift my arm as I reach the glass.

Dominic looks up.

Our eyes meet, and everything inside me stops.