Theo’s breath catches. His eyes lift to mine, but the lightness I’ve come to know in them is gone. In its place is the careful, guarded mask he wore the very first day we met all those weeks ago.
“Don’t,” I whisper. “Please, don’t push me away.”
His gaze drops to the floor, then flicks toward the elevator doors—anywhere but at me. “Kaori... I can’t do this,” he says, his voice strained to the breaking point. “Not right now. I don’t even know what I’m feeling. My head isn’t on straight.” He squeezes his eyes shut, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. “Everything I have has been poured into this project. I’m frustrated, I’m tired, and I am barely holding myself together as it is.”
He takes a slow, shaky breath. “And right now? I feel betrayed. Confused. And yeah—I’m angry.” His jaw worksas he fights for composure. “I trusted you. And the whole time, you were living an entire life I didn’t even know existed.”
He opens his eyes, and they’re flat and distant. “You make it sound as though this is something anyone could just absorb and move past. But finding out the woman I’m seeing is a princess? That’s a big deal, Kaori. It changes everything about how I see myself in this. It changes where I fit.”
His voice cracks, a raw sound that makes my chest ache. “You’ve dropped something enormous on me, Kaori, and I’m trying to take it in. I really am.” He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down. “But I can’t sort through the wreckage of us while the rest of my life is falling apart.” He looks away, his profile sharp and distant in the elevator’s artificial light. “I need time. And I need space. I hope you can respect that.”
Silence fills the lift. My own heartbeat thunders in my ears, a frantic, rhythmic pulse. It feels as if a trapdoor has opened beneath my feet, leaving me tumbling through a cold, dark void.
I didn’t know what to expect. In theory, I knew he’d be hurt. I knew there was a chance he’d want to walk away from me. But knowing the physics of a crash is different from feeling the impact. My brain wasn’t prepared for the sheer reality of it actually happening.
A sharp sting burns behind my eyes. I blink hard, refusing to let the tears fall here—not like this. I manage a single, stiff nod in acknowledgment.
The doors suddenly slide open. Leon is standing there, hand on the call button. His eyes widen as he takes us in—my shattered expression and Theo, standing rigid and as pale as a ghost.
“Oh,” he says, his hand dropping. “Whoa. Right. Sorry. Uh. . .”
“We’re going down,” I say, looking away. I can’t look at Theo anymore. The rejection is too much.
Leon steps inside and presses the button for the lobby. The doors close and the lift hums to life.
Nobody says anything for several floors. “Are you okay?” he asks me carefully.
“No, but I will be,” I say my voice wobbling. I shove my company-issued tablet into Theo’s hands. “Here,” I say, my voice thick. Then I look at Leon. “I’ll grab a cab to the hotel. I’ll meet you there.”
Ding.
The doors pop open to the lobby.
“What the—?” Leon stumbles to a stop, and I nearly collide with his back.
A dense wall of people presses against the building’s glass facade. There’s shouting voices and the blinding strobe of camera flashes everywhere. Security guards are straining against the weight of the crowd, shoving bodies and equipment back as reporters attempt to surge through the revolving doors.
“I gave you a chance, Ms. Minami,” Mr. Harris says, cutting across the floor at a leisurely pace, flanked by four private security guards.
“What have you done?” Theo’s voice slices through the noise. He steps in front of me, his back a rigid, protective wall.
“Nothing that concerns you,” his father replies, dismissing him with a casual flick of his hand. He stops a few feet away and surveys the frantic press with a look of mild satisfaction.
“Why are you doing this?” I murmur.
“It’s a simple matter of assets and liabilities, Ms. Minami. I’m a businessman. Taking advantage of a sudden opportunity is what I do. Sometimes you have to burn the field to reclaim the land.” He steps closer, breaching the small circle of safety Theo has tried to create. His voice drops into a poisonous whisper. “I gather she’s told you who she is?”
My eyes dart to Theo. He doesn’t move. He doesn’t speak. He just stares at his father with a look of dawning horror.
“Do you honestly think you deserve someone like her, Theodore?” He sneers, his eyes raking over me. “She saw your weakness immediately. Girls like her always do. They’re like parasites. They find a useful host and feed until they’ve gotten what they need. You were a tool this whole time to get ahead.” His smile turns sharp. “If you weren’t my son, she never would’ve spared a stunted creature like you a second glance otherwise. You’re a means to an end.”
“Don’t listen to him! None of it is true,” I whisper, reaching for Theo’s arm.
Theo goes deathly pale. I can see the tremor start in his shoulders. Every insecurity he’s ever had about being enough is being fed into a furnace right in front of him.
Mr. Harris smiles. He has Theo exactly where he wants him—broken. “Honestly, Theodore, you’ve always been a disappointment and my greatest mistake. I never wanted children. But at least now, you’re finally proving to be of use to me.”
“Theo, this monster is wrong. You are not a disappointment. You’re brilliant, you—” My voice is swallowed as the lobby finally shatters into chaos.
