Page 191 of Say My Name

And so familiar that relief nearly buckles my knees.

I grip the edge of the curtain, my knuckles white.

He came. The two words are both a prayer and a panic.

I should feel cornered. I created distance, and he crossed it.

Except I gave him the address. I told him he could come. More importantly, I decided to return before he reached this cabin.

My laptop is open to a flight home. The Telluride intake form is closed. Every truth I planned to take back to Chicago is waiting in that note.

Dominic’s arrival hasn’t made the choice for me. He’s here to meet the one I already made.

“Fuck,” I whisper.

His head turns slightly toward the window.

I unlock the deadbolt and place my hand on the knob. Fear moves through me, sharp and familiar, but I don’t mistake it for an instruction this time.

I open the door.

Cold mountain air rushes inside.

Dominic looks at me, and for the first time, I see past the composure he wears like armor. The tight line of his jaw, the raw exhaustion in his eyes, the way his chest rises on a sharp, unsteady breath—it’s all there. The control is gone.

“Elena.”

My name comes out as a frayed edge, rough with a relief so profound it looks like pain.

I tighten my hand around the phone holding everything I’m ready to tell him.

Then I open the door wider.

CHAPTER 24

Dominic

“The Weller acquisition is dead.”

Elena’s fingers tighten around the edge of the door.

The flight to Colorado was a blur of rehearsed apologies and branching scenarios for how this moment could end. I’d mapped every variable, every question, every prepared response if she told me to leave.

Then she opened the door, and every plan dissolved. There was only one thing that mattered: she needed to know what I’d already done.

Her voice is a strained whisper. “What?”

“Rowe Holdings withdrew from the deal this morning.”

Cold air cuts between us. Her eyes search my face before she steps back and opens the door far enough for me to enter.

The cabin is warm, with a fire burning in the living room and the faint smell of coffee lingering in the kitchen. Her laptop is open on the table beside a mug and her phone.

Elena closes the door. “You withdrew the offer?”

“Yes.”

“The entire acquisition?”