“But the universe didn’t do that.Youdid.” I’m lightheaded now. On the verge of needing to brace myself. “You and Marcus saw a broke girl with no options, and you trapped her.”
“Hazel—”
“You know what makes this worse?!” I snap, my voice cracking with weakness. I stab my nails into my palm and keep going. “It’s not the file I found, or Marcus’s creepy note about retention probability either. It’s thatyou let me believeit was fate. You let me believe I was special.”
Finally, Dominic’s composure cracks. “Youare special, Hazel. When I saw your photo, I—"
“Built a trap for me?”
He sighs, leans against his desk with his head down. “I didn’t know how to just ask you.”
“Ask me? Ask me what?”
“To stay!” His voice is ragged, stripped of its normal confidence. “I’ve never askedanyoneto stay. Never wanted it. But when I saw your photo, I knew. I knew that if I let you slip away, I’d spend the rest of my life knowing that the one personwho could have saved me is out there somewhere because I let her go.”
Something softens in my chest. My vision starts to clear.
“Hazel, I trapped you because I was afraid you’d never truly choose me on your own.”
The silence that follows is heavy, enormous, and fills the space between us like an invisible barrier.
I look at Dominic—this brilliant, broken, ruthless man that controls more money than most countries—and my mind spins.How could he not know how to ask a girl to stay?
I pull the massive ring off my finger, and his face goes white. His chest stops moving. I’ve never seen him look so vulnerable. Not even when we’re in bed together.
Slowly, I set the ring down on his desk, right next to the smiley-face cup.
He looks at me, his jaw loose like he wants to scream. Then I pick the ring back up and slide it onto my finger. I move slowly, deliberately, watching his eyes the entire time.
“You’re right, Dominic,” I say. “I wouldn’t have chosen you. Because I never thought a man like you would ever even know a girl like me existed.”
I move around to his side of the desk, closing the distance between us. For the first time since we met, I feel likenowis the real moment where I get to make a truly informed choice. My own choice.
“Hazel—”
“But you saw me,” I say, tears spilling down my eyes. “Before I even walked through the door.”
He takes a big step forward and slips his hand over my cheek, threading his fingers through my hair. My body reacts to his touch, lighting up inside. Goosebumps pop up all over my arms.
“Stay with me, Hazel,” he says. “However we met, it doesn’t matter now. All that matters is we’re together. That we love each other.Thatis the universe telling us that this is fate.”
My words nearly choke in my throat, but I manage to get them out. “Iamstaying, Dominic. And I want you to know that I would have loved you without the contract, without the trap. But Dominic, if you ever lie to me again—”
“I won’t,” he snaps, wrapping his arms around me so tightly I can barely breathe. I inhale his scent and bathe in the warmth of his body. “No more lies, no more secrets, Hazel. Just me and you.”
I nod, spilling tears against his shirt. “Just me and you.”
EPILOGUE
HAZEL
Five years later…
Our daughter draws smiley faces on everything.
Coffee cups, notepads, napkins, the margins of Dominic’s quarterly reports—even the back of Marcus’s hand when she catches him not paying attention.
Bethany is three years old now, and she’s already figured out that a silly smiley face can make anybody’s day better.
