Chapter 2 2

The car ride home was suffocating. Sophia stared out the window, watching the city lights blur into streaks of gold and white against the dark sky. Elliot sat beside her, his jaw clenched and his hand gripping his phone like a lifeline. He hadn't said a word since they left the gala, and the tension between them hummed like a live wire.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. "Are you going to tell me what that was about?"

He didn't look at her, his gaze fixed on the screen of his phone. "It's nothing you need to concern yourself with."

Sophia laughed bitterly. "You've got to be kidding me. You dragged me away like I was some misbehaving child, and now you're just going to brush it off?"

His silence was maddening, and she turned to face him fully. "Who is Ethan to you, Elliot?"

His shoulders stiffened, but he didn't answer.

"Fine," she said, crossing her arms. "Don't tell me. But don't expect me to sit quietly while you act like I've done something wrong."

The car pulled up to the building, and Elliot stepped out without a word, leaving the driver to assist Sophia. By the time she reached the penthouse, he was already pouring himself another drink at the bar, his tie loosened and his jacket discarded.

"Are you planning to ignore me all night?" she asked, wheeling herself into the room.

He turned, his expression unreadable. "What do you want me to say, Sophia? That Ethan is trouble? That you shouldn't trust him?"

"I want you to tell me the truth," she said, her voice rising. "Because right now, it feels like you're the one I can't trust."

His eyes darkened, and for a moment, she thought he might lash out. But instead, he downed his drink in one gulp and set the glass down with a sharp clink.

"Ethan and I were... close," he said finally, his voice tight. "In college."

"Close?" Sophia repeated, her heart pounding.

He hesitated, running a hand through his hair. "We were more than friends, if that's what you're asking."

The room seemed to tilt, and Sophia gripped the arms of her chair to steady herself. She hadn't been expecting that. "You... were in love with him?"

Elliot laughed bitterly. "Love? No. I don't do love."

His words cut deeper than she cared to admit, but she pushed past the sting. "Then what was it?"

"It doesn't matter," he said, turning away from her. "It was a long time ago."

"It matters to me," she said firmly. "Because he clearly still matters to you. And judging by the way he looked at you tonight, I'd say the feeling is mutual."

Elliot froze, his back to her. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and almost vulnerable. "Ethan was... complicated. We were complicated. And I ended it because it couldn't work. Not with the life I was building."

Sophia studied him, her anger ebbing into something softer. "So you shut him out, just like you shut everyone out."

He turned to face her, his expression hardening again. "Don't try to psychoanalyze me, Sophia. You don't know what it's like."

She raised an eyebrow. "To be broken? To feel like you're not enough? Believe me, Elliot, I know exactly what that's like."

His jaw tightened, and for a moment, she thought she saw something flicker in his eyes-regret, maybe, or pain. But it was gone in an instant.

"I'm going to bed," he said, his voice clipped.

Sophia watched him walk away, her chest tight with frustration and something else she couldn't quite name. She wanted to be angry with him, but beneath the cold exterior, she saw a man who was just as lost and broken as she was.

And that scared her more than anything.

The following morning, Sophia woke to the sound of Elliot's voice. It was low and urgent, and it took her a moment to realize he was on the phone in the adjoining room. She stayed still, straining to hear the conversation.

"...No, I don't care what it takes," he was saying. "I want it handled. Discreetly."

There was a pause, and then his voice dropped even lower. "Ethan Lane is not a problem I'm willing to entertain right now."

Sophia's stomach sank. What was Elliot hiding? And why did it feel like Ethan was just the beginning of something much darker?

She waited until she heard him leave the apartment before making her way to the study. If Elliot wasn't going to give her answers, she would find them herself.

As she rifled through the papers on his desk, her hands shook. She hated snooping, but the nagging feeling in her gut wouldn't let her stop. And then she saw it-a file with Ethan's name on it.

Her breath caught as she opened it, scanning the pages. Bank statements, emails, photographs. Elliot hadn't just kept tabs on Ethan-he'd been actively trying to erase him from his life.

But why?

Sophia's heart raced as she realized she was standing on the edge of a secret so big, it could destroy everything.