Chapter 3
The elevator doors slid open on the top floor, and I stepped out like a woman who belonged there.
I didn't, obviously.
My trench coat was wrinkled. My bare feet left faint prints on marble that probably cost more than my entire existence. The receptionist looked up from her desk, her perfect eyebrows climbing toward her hairline.
"Can I help you?"
No. Yes. Absolutely not.
I walked past her without answering. My purse bounced against my hip, the knife a comforting weight inside.
Room 1201, the file directory said. Corner office. Main conference room.
Two security guards appeared from nowhere, blocking the hallway.
"Ma'am, you need to—"
"I'm here to see my husband." The lie slipped out smooth as butter. "Well, ex-husband. He's expecting me."
They exchanged glances. Uncertainty flickered across both faces.
Damon's name carried weight here. Everyone knew who he was. Who I used to be.
That bought me exactly three seconds.
I shoved past them and ran.
My shoulder hit the conference room door at full speed. It wasn't locked. It flew open with a bang that rattled the walls, and suddenly I was standing in a room that smelled like leather and money and everything I'd lost.
Damon sat on a sleek gray sofa, one arm draped across the back, legs crossed at the ankle. Relaxed.
Confident. Next to him perched another man—fifty, balding, gut straining against his expensive suit.
Harrison Wright.
The lawyer I'd meant to seduce last night.
The lawyer who was supposed to save my daughter.
His thick fingers pressed a button on the intercom. "Security to Conference Room A. Immediately."
"No." The word ripped from my throat.
My hand dove into my purse. Metal handle, cold against my palm. I pulled out the knife and pressed it to my own neck before anyone could move.
The blade bit into skin. Not deep. Just enough to sting.
"Don't." My voice cracked. "Nobody move."
Damon's eyes narrowed. Amusement flickered in their cold depths, and I hated him for it.
"Skylar." He said my name like a parent addressing a toddler. "Put down the knife."
"Cancel the custody transfer." The words tumbled out faster than I could think. "Call the judge. Tell them you made a mistake. Tell them—"
"Or what?" Damon stood. Slow. Deliberate. "You'll kill yourself in my conference room?"
"If I have to."
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
The sound was casual. Dismissive. Like he'd seen this coming and was disappointed by the execution.
"Sweetheart." He walked toward me, hands in his pockets. "You really think this changes anything? You holding a blade to your own throat proves everything I told the court. Unstable. Irrational. Dangerous."
"Shut up."
"Where's Lily right now?" He tilted his head. "With her nanny. In my home. Safe from her mother's meltdowns."
"I'm her mother."
"Biologically." Damon stopped three feet away. Close enough that I could smell his cologne—that familiar blend of sandalwood and cruelty. "Functionally? You're a liability."
My hand trembled. The knife pressed harder. A warm trickle slid down my throat.
Blood or tears. I couldn't tell anymore.
"You took everything from me." The accusation came out strangled. "My career. My reputation. My daughter."
"You gave those things away yourself." His smile was polished, practiced. "I just helped the process along."
Harrison hadn't moved from the sofa. He watched us like a tennis match, dispassionate. Professional. This was entertainment to him.
"Mr. Wright." I turned desperate eyes toward the lawyer. "Please. I can pay you—I'll find a way—"
"You missed our appointment." His voice was flat. "I don't work with clients who can't show up on time."
"I went to the wrong room." The confession spilled out. "I made a mistake."
"Clearly."
Damon's hand shot out.
I didn't see it coming. One second the knife was against my throat. The next, my cheek exploded in pain and the blade clattered across hardwood floors.
The slap echoed through the conference room.
My face burned. My vision blurred. When I could focus again, I was on my knees, palm pressed against flooring that cost more than my pride.
"Iron." I tasted it. Copper pennies coating my tongue.
My cheek throbbed. I looked up at Harrison Wright—really looked at him—and my stomach curdled.
Fifty years old. Balding. Thick fingers. Soft jaw.
This was the man I'd planned to seduce.
This was the body I'd imagined beneath me.
A wave of nausea rolled through me. The absurdity of it all—my entire desperate plan hinged on charming this man, and I'd ended up in bed with someone else entirely.
I'd lost everything because I couldn't read a room number.
A sound. Loud. Shattering.
The conference room's frosted glass door exploded inward. Shards sprayed across the floor like diamonds, catching light from the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Security. They'd finally arrived.
But the man who stepped through the wreckage wasn't a guard.
He stood easily six-three, wrapped in a tailored charcoal suit that screamed wealth. His presence filled the room so completely that the air itself seemed to tremble. Piercing gray-blue eyes swept the scene before landing on me—kneeling, bleeding, broken—and something flickered in their depths.
Between his long fingers, he held a single cheap pearl earring.
My earring.
The one I'd lost in Room 1214.
He rolled it slowly, deliberately, gaze never leaving my face.
"Well." His voice was low, rough, laced with something I couldn't identify. "This is interesting."
I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe.
The stranger from last night stood five feet away, holding evidence of my mistake like a conductor's baton.
And he was looking at me like I was a puzzle he'd just decided to solve.
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