But I didn’t.
I lost control.
I brace for the rest. For her to tell me I’m a hypocrite. That I’m using professional ethics as an excuse to run from her again. That I’m exactly the coward she thought I was five years ago.
I deserve all of it.
But instead, she goes quiet. I watch her face shift from anger to something cooler. More controlled. The lawyer sliding back into place like a shield.
“You’re right,” she says finally.
Wait.
What?
“The optics are terrible,” she continues, her voice steady now. “If anyone found out, it would undermine everything we’ve built. The clinic’s credibility. The foundation’s reputation. My professional standing.”
She’s agreeing with me.
She’s actually fucking agreeing with me.
And somehow that feels worse than if she’d slapped me.
“So we wait until the contract ends,” she says, already moving past me to gather her wet clothes from where they’re scattered across the floor. “Four more weeks. Then we reassess. That’s logical.”
Logical.
The word sits wrong in my chest.
“Amara—”
“Deal,” she says, cutting me off. She’s pulling on her damp dress with efficient movements. No hesitation. No lingering looks. Just task completion.
Like I’m a line item on her legal pad.
I expected resistance. Expected her to fight me on this or at least make me work for the boundary I just erected between us.
Instead, she’s already halfway to the door.
“The guest cottage,” I manage. “I’ll show you—”
“I can find it.” She snaps. “Separate from the villa, right?”
“Yeah,” I tell her. “East side. Stone path.”
She nods once. Opens the door. The sound of rain rushes in.
Then she’s gone.
I stay at the window, watching her run through the rain until I’m sure she’s reached the guest cottage, then I lean back against the desk.
And so I’m standing alone again in my soundproof study, in wet clothes, with the taste of her still on my tongue and the growing realization that I just made a catastrophic error.
Because when you tell someone you can’t be with them for professional reasons, you expect them to care enough to argue.
Her immediate agreement suggests either she’s a better strategist than I am—
Or she doesn’t care as much as I thought she did.
