Chapter 2

Emilia POV:

"Emilia, darling, did you see him?" Mrs. Henderson' s syrupy voice cut through my thoughts, pulling me back to the present. She squeezed my arm, her eyes wide with starry-eyed admiration. "Cameron Vinson! He's even more dashing in person. And so successful, they say he made billions after that messy scandal years ago."

She leaned in conspiratorially. "And he's still single, you know. Imagine. A man like that, still unattached after all this time. Perhaps he' s looking for someone genuine, someone not from that cut-throat world."

I bit back a sharp retort. Genuine? Cameron Vinson wouldn't know genuine if it slapped him across the face. And single? I scoffed internally. He was single because it suited him, not because he was pining for some long-lost love. My love, specifically. The love he had systematically dismantled and then used as kindling for his own ambition.

I remembered then, a decade ago. The classified documents, planted like venomous seeds in my hotel room. The gigolo, a hired prop in his elaborate stage play. The FBI raid, the flashing cameras, the screaming headlines. My algorithms, the intellectual property of my very soul, stolen and repackaged as his genius. All to secure a merger with Senator Abbott' s firm, the father of his current fiancée, Hailee Abbott. He didn' t just ruin my career; he assassinated my character, leaving me for dead in the public square.

"He's certainly... successful," I said, my voice flat, devoid of any genuine emotion.

Mrs. Henderson, ever the romantic, didn't catch the nuance. "See? I knew you' d agree! Who knows, perhaps fate has a funny way of bringing people back together."

Fate, I thought, was a cruel joke orchestrated by Cameron Vinson.

He stood taller now, his shoulders broader, his confidence radiating even from across the room. He had filled out in all the right places, a man sculpted by power and privilege. The boy I married, the one who promised me the moon, was long gone. In his place was an empire builder, a predator in a tailored suit.

Mrs. Henderson chattered on. "He hasn't forgotten you, I bet. You were quite the talk of Wall Street back then. So brilliant! Maybe he' s come back to set things right."

Set things right? He'd have to invent a time machine and undo the last ten years of my living hell for that. The thought was so absurd, I almost laughed.

"I doubt it," I murmured, turning to make my escape. The ginger ale tasted like ash in my mouth. I wanted out, away from his gilded presence, away from the well-meaning but clueless chatter.

But as I moved towards the exit, his voice, deep and resonant, cut through the clamor like a physical blow.

"Emilia."

It wasn't a question, but a command. A familiar authority that sent ice through my veins. My muscles locked. I froze, my back to him, every nerve ending screaming in protest.

The chatter around me died down. Heads turned. I could feel their eyes on me, dissecting my thrifted dress, cataloging my discomfort.

Then, the heavy tread of his expensive shoes on the marble floor. Closer. Closer.

I could feel his gaze on the back of my head, sharp and dissecting. He was taking in my faded existence, my reduced circumstances. I imagined the subtle disdain in his eyes, the confirmation that his choice to abandon me had been the right one.

He stopped just a few feet behind me. The air grew heavy, electric with unspoken history.

"Emilia," he repeated, his voice closer now, a silken cord wrapping around me. The sound of my name on his lips was a violation.

I turned, slowly, forcing a neutral expression on my face. My eyes met his. They were still that piercing shade of blue, but colder now, calculating. A flicker of something I couldn't quite decipher crossed them as he scanned my face, my hair, my simple dress. A ghost of a smile touched his lips, barely there, but enough to make my stomach churn.

"Cameron," I replied, my voice clipped, devoid of any warmth. "What a surprise."

Before he could respond, a saccharine voice chimed in, "Cameron! Darling, there you are!"

A woman, impossibly beautiful in a shimmering gown, glided towards him. Her arm snaked around his, possessive and confident. Hailee Abbott. His fiancée. The daughter of the man whose firm he' d merged with, sealing my fate.

She offered me a bright, plastic smile. "Oh, Emilia! It's been ages, hasn't it? Cameron talks about you all the time." Her grip on his arm tightened. "He feels so terrible about how things ended for you. He truly does." Her eyes, however, were sharp, assessing, and utterly devoid of sympathy. They held a glint of triumph.

Cameron winced almost imperceptibly, a muscle twitching in his jaw. Hailee, undeterred, continued, "He even keeps a photo of you, you know. From your Wall Street days. Says he likes to remember the 'good times' before everything went... awry." She emphasized "awry" with a malicious sweetness. The implication hung in the air: He mourns the loss of what you once were, not you yourself. And now, I own him.

The surrounding crowd, always eager for gossip, murmured with renewed interest. Their eyes darted between Hailee's glamorous presence, Cameron's slightly uncomfortable facade, and my own, undoubtedly less impressive, one.

Cameron, regaining his composure, simply handed me a sleek, black business card. The weight of it in my hand felt heavy, like a threat.

"Emilia," he said, his voice dropping to a lower, more intimate timbre, "if you ever need anything. Anything at all. My resources are at your disposal." It wasn't an offer; it was an order. A subtle reminder of his power, of my supposed helplessness.

The card felt like a piece of the past, a twisted echo of command. He used to leave notes like that, brief instructions or demands, on my desk. Each one a tiny brick in the wall he built around me, trapping me in his narrative. Now, it was just a card, but the feeling was the same: You are mine to command. My thumb pressed into the card, my nail leaving a crescent indentation on the expensive paper.

"Thank you, Cameron," I said, a brittle smile on my face. My voice was calm, almost serene. "But I don't need charity. I'm doing quite well, actually."

Then, without another word, I turned and walked away, leaving him and his fawning fiancée in the shimmering ballroom. I didn't look back. The card remained clenched in my hand, a useless, infuriating token of a past I desperately wanted to erase.