Page 28

Avoiding my gaze, he pulls on his jeans.

My eyes fill with tears as I battle my conflicting emotions. Saying goodbye is going to be difficult.

He rubs his face with both hands in an attempt to hide his own inner turmoil, then stands completely still, his fingers clasped behind his neck.

“Your sweater is on the floor near the window,” I offer.

“Thanks.”

He pauses, watches me for a moment, then finishes getting dressed.

“So, who were those flowers from?”

“I don’t know, Vadim. I swear I’ve got no idea.”

He comes back, perches on the edge of the couch, and tucks away a strand of hair that was falling across my face. He doesn’t smile. His expression is serious, and his eyes full of concern.

“Whoever it is, I hope he takes care of you,” he says in a voice thick with emotion.

Then he leans down to kiss me on the forehead and leaves my apartment without looking back.

On the forehead?!

12

Alma

My return to reality is brutal. For several days now, I’ve been running into him in the elevator and watching him walk the corridors followed closely by Maximilian Finn—who, if you ask me, takes his assistant role a little too seriously. For several days now, I’ve been observing Vadim during our meetings, wondering why he is so polite, so distant, so professional, so unreadable.

But I know I didn’t imagine what happened between us. Vadim King kissed me passionately, the same way he used to. He made love to me with more tenderness, intensity, and emotion than I ever could have ever imagined. He made me tremble, and I saw with my own eyes that he was just as shaken as I was.

I know him. I can’t be wrong.

But now, we’re strangers again, as if all it took was for him to decide that’s how it is. I know he is officially in a relationship and that he has never mentioned breaking up with her. I realize that he is my boss and that that complicates everything. I wasn’t expecting anything, and yet I’m hurt all the same.

Back to where we started…

The only good news to come out of these past few days is that no one has mentioned Joseph Wilson to me, and according to the office rumor mill, HR briefed every single team before I came back to make sure they didn’t bring the subject up. I went to file a complaint, with Sophie there to support me, just as she promised. The legal case is moving forward, as is the internal investigation at King Productions. Wilson has been forbidden from contacting me, and Vadim has indeed launched a training program to combat sexual harassment in the workplace. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Except for Vadim to talk to me. Or even just look at me.

At the end of the morning, I meet with Clarence and Sophie to discuss the new hires and go over the questions that will be addressed at tomorrow’s big meeting. I haven’t stopped all morning, but it’s been an intentional choice: the less free time I have, the less I think about him. The hardest part is the way my body remembers—I’m constantly trying to block the impossibly vivid flashbacks that play on repeat in my mind, their echoes still lingering on my skin.

Alone again in my office, I weigh the pros and cons for a few minutes, then open my inbox and compose a message for Vadim, hoping to ease my tortured mind. It will end up being a much softer, watered-down version of what I’m really thinking, but I still need to do it.

From: Alma Lancaster

To: Vadim King

Subject:

I don’t regret what we did, but if you do, we can forget it ever happened.

Stop making me pay for it.

A.

I didn’t bother with a subject or a sign-off. I’m not in the mood for unnecessary flourishes.