Chapter 9

Declan's words, his public dismissal, echoed in the cavernous hall, each syllable a hammer blow against my already fractured spirit. "Drafting assistant." "Professional jealousy." He had taken my work, my name, my dignity, and then he had twisted the knife, blaming me for daring to feel anything other than silent acceptance. The humiliation was a living thing, crawling under my skin, burning brighter than any fire. I felt flayed, exposed, stripped of every ounce of self-respect I had painstakingly tried to rebuild.

A primal scream clawed at my throat, but no sound escaped. Only a cold, hard resolve began to crystallize in the swirling haze of my rage. I wouldn't stand for it. Not anymore. Not ever again.

My legs moved before my mind could fully process the decision. I pushed through the stunned crowd, a singular, terrifying focus guiding my steps towards the brightly lit stage. I had to speak. I had to reclaim my voice, my truth, my stolen identity.

Just as I reached the edge of the stage, a hand, strong and unyielding, clamped around my wrist. Declan. His fingers bit into my skin, his grip a painful reminder of his power, his control. "Cayla, stop," he hissed, his voice low and urgent, laced with a warning. "Don't make a scene."

I twisted, trying to wrench my arm free. "Let go of me, Declan!" My voice was hoarse, raw with a mix of fury and fear.

He maintained his grip, his eyes scanning the confused faces in the audience. He forced a strained smile. "My apologies, ladies and gentlemen," he announced, his voice smooth and practiced, belying the tension in his grip. "Ms. Norris is clearly unwell. Overwhelmed by the excitement, perhaps."

Then, with a force that left me gasping, he dragged me away from the stage, pulling me through a side door and into a deserted hallway. My feet stumbled, barely keeping pace with his furious stride. My wrist screamed in protest, the delicate bones grinding under his relentless hold.

"Declan, you're hurting me!" I cried, my voice thin, edged with tears I refused to shed. The words themselves felt like a betrayal, a weakness I couldn't afford. My wrist throbbed, a searing pain that was almost a relief, a physical manifestation of the agony in my heart.

He finally released me, shoving me roughly against the cold marble wall. My back hit with a dull thud, rattling my teeth. He stood over me, his chest heaving, his eyes blazing with a cold, righteous anger. "What was that, Cayla?" he demanded, his voice a low growl. "Are you trying to ruin everything? Are you trying to destroy Kisha's career? Our firm's reputation?"

My eyes, burning with unshed tears, met his. "Ruin everything?" I choked out, the words catching in my throat. "You ruined everything, Declan! You stole my work! You publicly humiliated me! You called me a 'drafting assistant,' for God's sake! What else is there to ruin?" My voice was barely a whisper, thick with a pain so profound, it stole my breath. A single tear escaped, tracing a hot path down my cheek, but I quickly wiped it away, fiercely. I wouldn't cry for him. I wouldn't give him that satisfaction.

He stared at me, his anger slowly fading, replaced by a strange, unsettling quietness. He reached out, his hand gently touching my cheek, his thumb brushing away the tear. My body tensed, an instinctual recoil.

"Cayla," he murmured, his voice suddenly soft, almost tender, "you're overwrought. You're not thinking straight." And then, before I could react, before I could even process what was happening, he leaned in and kissed me.

It was a cold, possessive kiss. His lips were firm, unyielding, demanding. My mind went blank, shocked into utter stillness. My body froze, rigid with disbelief. A decade of yearning, of hoping, of aching for his touch, and this was it. A kiss born of manipulation, of a desperate attempt to silence me, to control me. He thought a kiss, a familiar gesture of intimate connection, would somehow fix this, would lull me back into submission. He thought it would make me forget the betrayal, the humiliation.

As his lips pressed harder against mine, the blankness in my mind dissolved, replaced by a surge of pure, visceral disgust. This wasn't love. This was a violation. This was him trying to reassert his ownership, to remind me of my place. My stomach churned. This wasn't the kiss I had dreamt of. This was a final, damning insult.

My hand flew up, a primal, unthinking reflex. Smack. The sound echoed sharply in the deserted hallway, clear and undeniable. His head snapped back, a crimson mark blooming on his pale cheek. His eyes, wide with shock, stared at me, unseeing.

"You're disgusting," I spat, my voice shaking, but firm. The tears flowed freely now, hot and angry, but they were not for him. They were for the decade I had wasted, for the woman I had allowed myself to become. "Get away from me."

He stood frozen, his hand instinctively touching his reddened cheek, his eyes still wide with disbelief. He had never expected me to fight back. Never expected me to retaliate. He had always seen me as docile, subservient, easily managed.

I turned my back on him, the last flicker of anything resembling affection or even pity for him extinguished. My steps were shaky at first, but with each stride, they gained strength, purpose. I walked out of the firm, out of that building, out of that city, feeling a monumental shift within me.

I pulled out my phone as I hailed a cab to the airport. Every file, every document, every email related to the Detroit project that I had stored on shared drives, on my firm laptop, on my personal cloud – I deleted them all. Every draft, every calculation, every meticulous detail of my stolen work. If he wanted to give Kisha credit, let her start from scratch. Let her build it herself.

The cab pulled up to the airport. I bought the first ticket out, a red-eye to Detroit. I walked through security, my eyes dry now, my mind clear. As I sat at the gate, waiting for my flight, I opened my phone again. Declan's number, Kisha's number, all of our shared firm contacts. I blocked them. Every single one. No calls, no texts, no emails. A final, decisive cut.

The plane took off, soaring into the night sky. Below, the glittering lights of New York City, a place that once held all my dreams, slowly faded into the darkness. I wiped away the last of my tears, a resolute silence settling over me. This was it. A new life. A clean slate. I looked out the window, towards the vast, unknown expanse ahead. And for the first time in a decade, I felt truly, terrifyingly free.