Chapter 2

The office went quiet.

I looked up from my screen. Everyone was staring—not at me, but past me. Toward the glass doors.

Priya from HR walked in with a woman I'd never seen before. Blonde. Tall. Designer dress.

"Everyone, this is Sienna Kensington." Priya's voice was too bright, too rehearsed. "She's joining us as our new Senior Associate."

My chest seized.

I knew that face. I'd seen it a hundred times, tucked behind the credit cards in Callum's wallet like a secret he thought I wouldn't find. Younger in the photo, but unmistakable. The same perfect cheekbones. The same easy smile.

His ex-fiancée. The one who'd been in London. The one he'd told me not to worry about.

She was standing in my office. Holding my job.

Jenna grabbed my arm under the desk. "Wren—"

I was already moving.

The walk to Callum's office felt endless. People watched me pass. Whispers started before I even reached the hallway. I didn't care. My ears were ringing. My hands wouldn't stop shaking.

I didn't knock. Just pushed the door open.

He was at his desk, scrolling through something on his laptop. Didn't even look up.

"What?"

"Why her?"

Now he looked. His expression didn't change—not surprise, not guilt, nothing.

"Close the door."

I slammed it shut. "Why. Her."

He leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled. "She wanted this department. I accommodated."

"She wanted—" I laughed, but it came out wrong. Broken. "Just because she asked, you gave her my position?"

"It was never your position, Wren."

"I've been here five years. I flew to Lagos and almost died from a parasite infection covering a deal you couldn't send anyone else on. I worked sixty-hour weeks. I missed my grandmother's birthday twice. I did everything right—"

"And?"

The word hit me like a slap.

He stood up. Walked around the desk. Stopped right in front of me, close enough that I could smell his cologne—the same one that had been on my skin this morning.

"You want to talk about fair?" His voice was soft. Almost gentle. That made it worse. "You think you got this job on merit? With your state school degree and your coal town background?"

I couldn't breathe.

"You're standing in this building because I wanted to fuck you." He tilted his head, studying me like I was something disappointing. "That's it. That's the only reason you made it past the first interview."

My face was burning. I wanted to scream. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to disappear into the floor and never come back.

"So don't talk to me about fair," he said. "You never had the right."

He was right.

I hated that he was right.

Five years ago, I'd been a mess. Broke. Alone. Standing on a rooftop at my graduation party because I'd just walked in on my boyfriend Kyle with his tongue down my roommate's throat. In the coat closet. At a party I'd invited them both to.

I'd been crying so hard I didn't hear him come up the stairs.

Callum. Though I didn't know his name then. Just a stranger in an expensive jacket who sat down next to me and handed me a napkin without saying a word.

We talked until sunrise. About nothing. About everything. About how I wanted to be someone other than the girl from the coal town who never got picked for anything.

I went home with him that night. Thought it was a one-time thing. A rebound. Something to numb the hurt.

The next morning, I showed up for my interview at Ashford Partners. And there he was, sitting at the head of the table in a different suit, looking at me like we'd never met.

A week later, he cornered me in the elevator.

"Sleep with me," he'd said. Casual. Like he was asking about the weather. "I'm not looking for a girlfriend. Just someone to fuck when I feel like it."

I should have walked away. I knew exactly what I was agreeing to.

But I looked at him—this man who'd seen me at my lowest and hadn't judged, hadn't pitied, hadn't run—and I said yes.

That was the first mistake. Everything after was just consequence.

Now I was standing in his office while he told me I'd never earned anything. That I was just a body he'd wanted. That five years of working myself to the bone meant nothing because the starting line had always been his bed.

The worst part? He wasn't wrong.

I did get here because of him. I did stay because of him. And now I was losing everything because of him.

I turned around and walked out without another word.

Jenna caught me at my desk. "What happened? What did he say?"

I grabbed my bag. My hands were steady now. Strange how calm I felt when everything was falling apart.

"I'm done."

"What do you mean, done?"

I looked at her. My only real friend in this place. The only person who'd never treated me like I didn't belong.

"I'm quitting."