The lobby was quiet. She crossed it without seeing anything, just going through the motions. Outside, the night air hit her like a slap, humid and thick.
She made it to her car before her hands started shaking.
Astoria sat behind the wheel in the dark, gripping the leather steering wheel cover hard enough that her knuckles ached. Her heart was still pounding, had been pounding since the hallway.
He saw us. He saw me kissing her. He knows who I am.
The thoughts came rapid-fire, almost on top of each other.
He knows my face. Everyone knows my face. And Miller— Miller in that robe, Miller pressed against me, Miller making that sound…
She couldn’t breathe. Astoria forced herself to loosen her grip on the wheel. The leather was damp where her palms had pressed against it. She could hear her own pulse in her ears: too fast, too loud.
It might be nothing. Hotel employees saw things all the time. Discretion was part of the job, especially at a place like this—boutique, upscale, the kind of establishment that catered to people who valued privacy. He might not say anything. He might not care.
But…he might.
The thought lodged in her chest like a stubborn splinter.
He might casually mention it to a coworker, post about it online, or worse, see the story to one of those trashy tabloid sites that loved nothing more than a wealthy woman’s downfall. Or he might recognize Miller. Her face had been in the divorce coverage, too, back when Valerie was publicly bitter about her departure from the case.
If he connected them, if he realized who Miller was…
Astoria thought about Miller’s career, her reputation, everything she’d built and worked for, all destroyed because Astoria couldn’t keep her hands to herself in a goddamn doorway.
She should’ve been more careful. They both should’ve, but somewhere in the last month, she’d let herself get complacent and start to believe that wanting something this much might actually be safe.
She knew better, though. She’d always known better.
Astoria sat in the car in the dark parking lot and stared at nothing, the fear she’d been holding at bay for weeks finally catching up to her.
The drive home passed in a blur of streetlights and stop signs. Astoria couldn’t have said which route she took or which turns she made. Her body moved through the motions while her mind stayed frozen in that hallway, watching the employee’s eyes sharpen with recognition.
Her phone buzzed from the passenger seat. She glanced at the screen, seeing Miller’s name glowing in the dark.
“Are you okay?”
Notdid you make it home safe.Notgoodnight.Miller had seen the same thing Astoria had. She knew.
Astoria pulled into her driveway and sat there, the engine still running as she stared at those three words. She could call. She could hear Miller’s voice, let herself be talked down from this ledge, process the fear together in the way Miller always wanted to process things: openly, honestly, like two people who trusted each other.
But if she called, she’d have to say it out loud. She’d have to put words to the terror clawing at her chest. And once they started talking, really talking, one of them might say what had been hovering at the edges since the beginning:Maybe we should stop. Maybe this was always going to end badly. Maybe we should walk away now before it gets worse.
Astoria wasn’t ready for that conversation.
Because she already knew what she would say. That the fear was real and so was the danger. That employee could destroy everything: her reputation, Miller’s career, the fragile thing they’d built over the last month.
Astoria understood the math; she’d built an empire on calculating risk.
But when she thought about walking away—never touching Miller again, never hearing that low laugh again, never feeling known the way Miller knew her—the math stopped mattering. She’d spent forty-six years protecting herself, building walls and keeping everyone at a distance where they couldn’t hurt her. And where had it gotten her? A failed marriage, an empty house, and a lifetime of being so guarded that she’d forgotten what it felt like to be seen.
Miller saw her, though. She looked past every defense, every mask, and every sharp edge Astoria used to keep people away. And instead of turning that knowledge into a weapon, the way Valerie had, Miller just stayed. She kept showing up and reaching for her like she were a lifeline.
Astoria wasn’t willing to give that up. Not for fear, not for safety, not even to protect herself from what might be coming.
She picked up her phone, her fingers hesitated over the screen. There was so much she could say.I’m terrified. I don’t know what happens next. I’m not ready to lose you.Words that would crack her open, leave her exposed, and start a conversation that would spiral out of her control.
She inhaled sharply and typed,“I’m okay. Home now. We’ll talk soon.”
