My fucking fiancée. The one I had never chosen. The one my family had picked, perfect, acceptable, a goddamn social transaction dressed as commitment. I stared at the screen, my thumb hovering, rage twisting in my gut. The last thing I wanted was her voice in my ear while my body still remembered Edwina’s warmth.
The phone buzzed again. Persistent. Relentless. She wasn’t going to stop.
“What the fuck do you want, Alessia?” The words came out harsh and ragged, soaked in the exhaustion I no longer bothered to hide.
A pause followed, the faint sound of her breath before her voice sharpened. “Hayden. Really? That’s how you greet me after weeks of silence? I thought you’d at least pretend to have manners.”
“I told you before,” I bit out, my gaze fixed on the rain streaking the window, “there’s nothing between us. No relationship. No engagement. No fucking future.”
There was a beat of silence on the other end, the soft sound of her breath caught in She scoffed, the sound grating, threaded with the cool arrogance that had always infuriated me. “You don’t get to rewrite history, Hayden. You’re still mine, whether you like it or not.”
My grip tightened on the phone until it creaked in protest. “I was never yours, Alessia. Not for a single goddamn second. I belonged to my family, to their rules, to their expectations, but I cut that leash years ago. I left that life, and I left you with it.”
Her silence lingered a moment, heavy enough to almost fool me into thinking I’d won. Then her voice returned, smooth and deliberate, carrying a weight I hadn’t expected.
“You can shout at me all you want, Hayden. Deny me, deny us, deny everything. But it doesn’t matter.” A pause, her breath brushing faintly against the receiver. “Because I’m here.”
My grip on the phone tightened until the plastic threatened to snap. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“In Washington.” Her words sliced clean through the static, each syllable cutting deep. “I found you. And I want to meet. Face to face. No more hiding behind your cowardly excuses.”
A bitter laugh scraped from my throat. “You think I’ll sit across from you in some goddamn café and pretend nothing happened? Pretend I didn’t already tell you this is over?”
“I don’t care where,” she replied, her tone smooth and venomous. “But you’ll meet me, Hayden. You owe me that much.”
Rage flared hot in my chest, tangled with panic and a cold dread that crawled beneath my skin. The past I had buried was clawing its way out, piece by piece, wearing her voice. Alessia wasn’t just a ghost anymore, she was here, in my city, breathingthe same air as me. Within reach of everything I had built. Within reach of Edwina.
And that was the one fucking thing I couldn’t allow.
“You think you can hang up and pretend I don’t exist?” Her voice dipped lower, a cruel purr. “You think you can bury me the way you buried your family? The way you bury every mess you make?” She let out a soft laugh, cold and mocking. “You forget, Hayden, I know you better than anyone. I know exactly where to dig when you start hiding. And I’ve already found more than you’d want me to.”
My stomach twisted, the heat in my chest collapsing into ice. “What the fuck are you talking about, Alessia?”
“I’ve seen her,” she said, every word heavy with smug satisfaction. “The girl you’ve been keeping in the dark. The one you can’t stop staring at. You really thought you could hide her from me? Your little secret?
My grip on the phone shook, knuckles whitening as fury tore through me. “If you go near her—” My voice came out low and broken, a threat scraping against the edge of control.
“Then meet me,” she cut in, her tone softening in that way she knew would infuriate me most. “Or maybe I’ll pay her a visit myself.”
The line went quiet, but I could still feel her smile through the static, poisonous and certain, pressing the weight of her threat straight into my chest. I lowered the phone slowly, my pulse slamming through me, each beat a warning. Alessia was here. And she fucking knew.
I hadn’t fucking wanted this. Every part of me rebelled against the idea of seeing her, of sitting across from Alessia as if thepast hadn’t bled us both dry, as if the years of silence could be smoothed over with coffee and small talk. But her threat had left me no goddamn choice. The moment she said she’d seen Edwina, I knew I had to come. Because if she went anywhere near her, I wouldn’t just lose control, I’d destroy everything.
So I came.
The café was warm, full of soft conversation and the hiss of steaming milk. The air smelled of roasted beans and sugar, too civilized for the storm raging in me. My fists stayed buried in my coat pockets, jaw clenched so tight I could taste blood.
She was already there.
Alessia sat by the window, sunlight spilling over her perfect posture and her pristine white coat, every detail of her designed to draw attention. Her beauty had always been polished, soulless perfection carved into shape by family ambition. When her gaze met mine, a smile unfurled across her lips, measured and venomous, meant to wound.
“Hayden,” she purred, her voice smooth enough to make my skin crawl. “You look well.”
I dropped into the chair across from her, barely containing the disgust twisting in my gut. “Cut the bullshit. What the hell do you want from me?”
Her smile deepened, venom hiding beneath elegance. “Always so blunt. You haven’t changed.” She wrapped her manicured hands around her mug, every move calculated. “I told you already. I wanted to see you. To remind you of where you came from. Of what you owe. You can’t erase blood, Hayden. You can’t just walk away from duty.”
My throat burned, anger scraping raw inside me. “That life is dead. You’re dead to me. Whatever deal our families made, it ended the day I walked out.”
