I was frustrated.
Meeting stacks. Deadlines pressing. My head pounding with numbers, deals and strategy.
Then my phone rang.
My personal line.
Very few people had that number.
I glanced at the screen...and my entire body stilled.
Her number.
Sienna.
Only God knows how many nights I stared at that contact, thumb hovering over the call button. Wanting to hear her voice. Needing to. And yet..... always stopping myself.
But I never deleted her number.
I couldn't.
Not even after everything.
So yeah, I knew why she was calling.
Her father must have told her.
And before you judge me_ I know what you're thinking.
Yes.
I told Caleb to inform the project manager: We'll only move forward if Sienna Blake is the one assigned from their side.
I wanted her near.
Needed her close _ even if she hated me for it.
Even if she still believed the lie.
The phone kept ringing.
I answered.
"Hello?"
And for a second _ just for a second _ I heard her voice again. That voice I used to wake up to. Laugh with. Breath in.
But this time... It was venom.
"What else do you want from me?" She snapped. "Haven't you broken me enough? You left me with nothing, Damian. You lied, you cheated and now what _ you want to drag me back just to humiliate me again?'
I tried to speak. To explain.
"I _"
But she didn't let me.
"You don't get to talk. You don't get to pretend this is just business. You saw me today. I know you did."
And then _ silence.
Not from me.
From her.
She ended the call.
Like I never mattered.
Like everything we were had turned to ash.
I stood there for a long time, phone still pressed to my ear, listening to nothing.
Wishing I could go back.
But knowing I couldn't.
She acts like she was the saint in all of this.
Like I'm the villain. Like she didn't leave me too.
But she did.
She left us.
No explanation. No warning. One day we were planning forever, the next....gone.
And it shattered me.
I never begged anyone in my life. Never needed to.
But I would've gotten on my knees for her if she'd stay.
Instead, she walked away like none of it mattered.
Like I didn't matter.
So no _she doesn't get to talk to me like I'm the monster who ruined her.
She broke me too.
She left scars I still can't erase.
And still....
I hate her.
And I love her.
At the same time. in the same breath.
It's sick, I know. But it's real.
And maybe this time..... maybe she needed to feel what I felt. What I've carried for six years.
This time, she'll know who's in control.
This time, she'll learn what it means to walk into my world like she still owns pieces of it.
She's going to suffer.
Just like I did.
And maybe then _ only then _ I'll finally be able to let her go.
Two days after.
"Good morning, sir"
I nodded at Caleb as I stepped into the building, the familiar hums of polished power buzzing through the lobby.
It was Monday _ and for the first time in a long time, I felt ..... awake.
Because today, I was going to see her.
Sienna.
Six years.
Six goddamn years of silence, memories, and question that burned holes through my soul.
And now, she was back.
Not by chance.
Because I made it so.
The moment I saw her last week _ just a glimpse _ it ignited something in me. Anger. Ache. And that addictive pulse of wanting her close, even if it meant watching her squirm.
So yes, I pulled strings.
Yes, I used the deal.
I'm not ashamed.
Let her come here, smile through her teeth, and pretend she's fine. Let her feel what I've felt all this years _ powerless.
Because if she thought she could waltz back into my life without consequences, she's about to learn otherwise.
Today's going to be a good day.
Not because I'm healed.
Not because I'm whole.
But because I finally get to see her walk into my territory _ and this time, I'm the one holding all the cards.
Let the game begin.