Chapter 2

The world around me seemed to tilt, and for a terrifying second, I thought I might collapse right there, amidst the grieving relatives and the freshly turned earth. A wave of nausea swept over me, and my stomach churned violently. I gasped, struggling to catch my breath, the air thick with the scent of lilies and sorrow. Jaren's arm wrapped around my waist, steadying me, his touch a gentle anchor in the storm of my emotions.

I blinked back the tears, forcing my voice to be steady, even. My hands still trembled as I typed out a response to Daniella.

Actually, you can tell Mr. House that the "Relationship Protocol" is officially terminated. Effective immediately. And for the record, you can handle all his personal matters from now on. Permanently.

I added, with a bitter satisfaction, Consider this my official notice of termination of our relationship. As per protocol, I expect a documented confirmation. You understand procedures, don't you, Daniella?

I hit send. My finger lingered on the screen, a vicious satisfaction mingling with the familiar ache in my chest. The pain was still there, a dense knot of humiliation and grief, but now it was sharper, edged with a desperate, burgeoning anger. I felt a stinging warmth on my cheek as a single tear escaped, tracing a path through the grime and salt on my face.

A black car, sleek and silent, pulled up to the curb. My ride. Jaren had arranged it, as he had arranged everything else. It was almost a relief to climb inside, to be shielded from the prying eyes, the sympathetic glances that felt like daggers. I hated this feeling of powerlessness, this suffocating helplessness. It was a sensation I vowed to never feel again.

The next few days passed in a blur. I went to Liam' s small apartment, the one he'd kept even while traveling, and packed his few belongings. Each item, a worn climbing rope, a dog-eared travel guide, a faded photograph, was a fresh wound. I carefully boxed them, sending them back to our small hometown, to the quiet house where our parents had raised us. It felt like I was closing a door, sealing off a part of myself, brick by painful brick.

Finally, there was only one place left to go. The penthouse. Callen's penthouse. Our penthouse, I used to think. The place where I had spent eight years, a ghost in his opulent mansion.

I took a deep breath, the familiar scent of expensive leather and aseptic cleanliness hitting me as I stepped out of the private elevator. The silence was deafening, the vast space feeling colder and more sterile than ever before. My heart hammered against my ribs, a nervous drumbeat. I just wanted to get my things and leave. Permanently.

As I pushed open the bedroom door, I froze. Callen was there. He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, a silhouette against the city lights, his back to me. He' d just showered, his dark hair still damp, clinging to his nape. The expensive bathrobe he wore hung loosely, hinting at the powerful physique beneath. A jolt of the familiar, a phantom limb of affection, shot through me. My hand instinctively reached out.

Before I could complete the gesture, a soft, womanly voice purred from the bathroom, startling me. "Callen, darling, could you pass me my silk wrap? I can't find it."

My blood ran cold. The voice was unmistakable. Daniella.

Then, she emerged. Daniella Fischer, in my red silk wrap, the one Callen had bought for me last Christmas. Her eyes met mine across the cavernous room, a predatory gleam in their depths. Her lips, usually so prim, were swollen, a faint bruise blooming just above her collarbone. A hickey. A fresh, angry red mark. My red silk wrap, my hickey.

A choked sound escaped my throat. The anger, sharp and hot, that had been simmering beneath the surface, exploded. I wanted to scream, to tear the silk from her body, to lash out at Callen for this ultimate betrayal. But I just stood there, paralyzed, the air thick with unspoken accusations.

"Oh, Kinsley," I managed, my voice dripping with ice. "I'm so sorry. Did I interrupt something? My mistake." I watched her, her eyes wide, her posture stiff, a flicker of something triumphant in her expression. The silk wrap clung to her curves, a cruel mockery.

I turned to leave, needing to escape the suffocating scene, to breathe. But Callen's voice, sharp and laced with anger, stopped me. "Kinsley! Where do you think you're going?" He spun around, his face a mask of annoyance. "Don't be dramatic. It's not what you think."

My mind reeled. Not what I think? The dead brother, the denied loan, the icy protocol, and now his assistant, in my damn bathrobe, with a fresh hickey that could only have come from him. How much more could I endure? A familiar script unwound in my head: the carefully constructed apologies, the subtle shifting of blame, the promises of change that never materialized.

But then, my eyes landed on the hickey again, stark against Daniella's pale skin, and the rage surged, eclipsing all pain. "Not what I think?" I scoffed, a dark, humorless laugh bubbling up. "Oh, I think I know exactly what I think, Callen. And it's not a misunderstanding. It's a betrayal." My gaze flickered to Daniella's neck. "Unless, of course, Daniella's been attacked by an especially amorous mosquito."

Callen's face darkened, a flush creeping up his neck. Daniella, sensing his discomfort, suddenly crumpled to the floor, her voice a theatrical whisper. "Oh, Mr. House, I'm so sorry... Kinsley, please, don't be angry. It was... an accident. A moment of weakness." She looked at me with wide, tearful eyes, a picture of fragile remorse.

I just stared at her, my blood boiling. The feigned innocence, the calculated vulnerability. She was a master manipulator.

"Kinsley, apologize to Daniella," Callen commanded, his voice cold, final. "She's been through a lot today. She's invaluable to me, and you're out of line."

My breath hitched. Invaluable. Out of line. The words hit me like a physical slap, burning my ears. After eight years, I was "out of line." And Daniella, the woman who had systematically destroyed my relationship with him, who had just been caught in my bathrobe, with his hickey, was "invaluable." It was too much. The air felt thick, suffocating me. My heart hammered, a frantic bird trapped in a cage. My lungs burned, desperate for air. Apologize? To her? What a joke.

"Apologize?" I finally managed, my voice a dangerous whisper. "I don't think so." The words were like a shield, protecting the last shred of my dignity.