“Bullshit,” she said, but the word wasn’t angry. It came out as a whisper. “Everything you said was bullshit. The IT guy? The ‘we work together’?” She continued, but it was not fury; it was defeat. “You let me believe you were just some normal guy, so I’d—what—fall into bed with you?” Her hands were shaking. “You’re just slumming it with the admin assistant? Is that it?”
Her words were like acid, dissolving the last of my control. I saw red. Not at her, but at Derek, at my father, at the wholefucking world that put this look of betrayal in her eyes. My hand tightened on her arm to anchor her. To anchorme.
“Slumming it?” My words came out as a low growl. The idea that she thought so little of herself, that Derek convinced her she was somehow beneath people, beneath me, made me sick. “You think you’re so unimportant that the only way this makes sense is if I’m slumming it?”
I shook my head, a harsh, broken laugh escaping. The irony was so bitter I could taste it. “Fuck, Eunice. It’s the other way around.”
Her eyes widened, confusion warring with the anger. “What are you talking about?”
And suddenly, I couldn’t hold it back anymore. All the reasons I lied, all the truth I’d been too fucking scared to tell her.
“I lied because the moment I saw you…” I rubbed my face with my free hand. “I was standing across the street from the firm, feeling like a ghost in my own life, and I saw you, trying so hard to get that asshole to see you.” The memory was as clear as glass, painful. “And it felt like lightning hit me. Because I know that feeling. I’ve spent a large part of my life trying to get my own father to see me.”
I released her arm and stepped back, hands rising in surrender.
“The lie wasn’t… It’s not to get you into bed. It was desperation.” My voice cracked on admission. “It’s the only way I can think of to get close to you without this name—this fuckingcurse—getting in the way first. The ‘IT guy’ was a coward’s way of getting that one clean chance.”
She was listening now, and I could see the war happening in her head.
“You think ‘Dominic Rutherford’ has anything to offer? He’s a broken, angry disaster who hates his own life. The IT guy… all he wanted was a moment of your time. To see if the woman withlight in her eyes, burning herself to the ground trying to brighten an asshole, might also spare a little of it for me.”
Tears welled in her eyes, but she didn’t look away.
“Girls like me don’t end up with guys like you,” she whispered, and I recognized a poison in every word.
That snapped the final thread of my restraint. I was in her space again, cupping her face, thumbs catching her tears before they could fall.
“There are no girlslikeyou,” I said, emphasizing each word. “There is onlyyou.”
I leaned closer, so close our noses almost brushed. “Guys like him walk past a jewel and are too blind to see it.” My thumb caught another tear slipping down her cheek. “I saw it. The second I saw you. Eunice, this isn’t about my family name or money. This is about you and me, nothing else.” I searched her face for any sign that she believed me. “So yeah, I lied. And I’d do it again if it meant I got to stand here with you right now.”
The silence stretched, so I continued. I laid everything bare.
“Tell me you believe me,” I whispered. “Tell me you feel this connection. Tell me it’s not just me. Because if you walk away now, you’re not just walking away from me. You’re siding with every asshole who ever made you feel small. Don’t do that. Don’t let them win.”
She stared into my eyes, and I could see the battle raging—Derek’s poison against what she felt in my arms, his lies against the truth written all over my face.
Finally, she gave the smallest nod, her breath hitching. “Okay.”
Relief crashed over me so hard I could barely stand. But I didn’t give her time to change her mind. I didn’t give doubt time to crawl back in. I kissed her like I was drowning, pouring everything into it. Pouring every ounce of relief, every promise I wanted to make, all into the kiss.
And when she kissed me back just as desperately, the man who’d been dead all these years came sparking back to life. I knew then that everything would be okay.
10
Epilogue - Eunice
THE AFTERNOON SUN was thin and silvery, spilling across the oak floors while outside, white-capped pines disappeared under the blankets of fresh snow. It’s a place very different from anywhere else in the world. Maybe because this place held something sacred for both of us. This life we’d built together. Oftentimes, I had to pinch myself—it still didn’t feel real.
Five years married. Three years since Dom launched his cybersecurity company, proving to everyone that he didn’t need his surname to make it big. We were still small—only five clients—but they were all high-profile, high-ticket accounts.
And then there was me, tucked into our holiday home in Hope Peak, working remotely. I especially loved this setup around the holidays because the snow made everything feel hushed and sacred.
My finger hovered over the “send” button for our monthly newsletter. My official title was Head of Client Relations, but unofficially, I was theadmin assistant, Dom’s part-time secretary when he needed me, and the person who reminded everyone that there’s always a human being behind every business.
The office we’d carved out from one of the four bedrooms was my sanctuary—bookshelves lined at the sides, a small desk positioned to catch the afternoon light, and fairy lights strung around the big window that Dom had insisted looked “toofestive” but never took down. The fireplace crackling in the corner made everything cozy.
I heard no footsteps, but I knew Dom had entered the room because a pocket of arctic air still followed him everywhere he went.
