Chapter 2
Not politely.
Actually smiling.
They were standing beside a balcony overlooking the city when Nathan finally asked, “How are you doing?”
She looked at him.
“With what?”
He gave her a look.
“Claire.”
She exhaled.
“I'm fine.”
Nathan nodded.
“That's usually what people say when they're not.”
“You don't know me well enough to make that assumption.”
“True.”
He leaned against the railing.
“Then I'll ask differently. Are you happy you left?”
Claire watched the lights stretching along the streets below.
“I don't know yet.”
Nathan didn't rush to fill the silence.
She appreciated that.
Finally, she said, “I thought leaving would feel powerful.”
“And?”
“It mostly feels like someone took away the future I spent four years imagining.”
Nathan's expression softened.
“Maybe you didn't lose your future.”
She turned toward him.
“Maybe you lost the version that required you to keep waiting.”
Claire looked away quickly.
Because sometimes the truth was harder to hear when it was spoken kindly.
Across the ballroom, Adrian Cole had just arrived.
He wasn't supposed to be there.
He had flown back from Zurich that afternoon after the acquisition negotiations stalled.
For three weeks, he had refused to believe Claire was serious.
At first, he had given her space.
Then he had sent flowers.
Then messages.
Then expensive earrings she had once admired.
Everything had been returned.
He told himself she needed time.
He told himself she was embarrassed.
He told himself she would eventually realize how much they had built together.
But when his assistant mentioned that Claire had attended the Halston Foundation dinner alone, something uncomfortable stirred inside him.
He had expected her to be at home.
Waiting.
Thinking.
Missing him.
Instead, she was standing on a balcony in a dark green dress, laughing with Nathan Mercer.
Adrian stopped walking.
His gaze narrowed.
Nathan was standing close enough to hear her over the music.
Claire's head was tilted toward him.
And she was smiling.
Not the careful smile she had worn at business dinners when Adrian introduced her as his fiancée.
Not the patient smile she gave him after another canceled anniversary.
A real smile.
Adrian hadn't realized how long it had been since he'd seen it.
Then Nathan said something.
Claire laughed again.
And Adrian felt something ugly twist in his chest.
He crossed the ballroom.
“Claire.”
She turned.
Her smile faded.
“Adrian.”
His eyes moved from her to Nathan.
“Mercer.”