But who could say no to the boy she'd secretly loved for four years, the one who carried her out of a burning building on his back and then confessed his feelings right there in her hospital room?
I'd been naive enough to believe that everything we'd been through together could conquer anything.
I forgot that shared history could never compete with the one who got away—the girl a man kept on a pedestal in his heart.
And if I couldn't compete, then I was done trying.
That night, I slept like a rock in Marcella's guest room.
The next morning, I went to work as usual.
Love was gone, but the career I'd built with my own two hands? That was something I refused to lose.
I'd barely sat down when the internal line rang, summoning me to a meeting in the CEO's office.
I pushed open the conference room door.
Queenie was sitting in my seat—the vice president's chair.
She looked at me and smiled. A slow, deliberate smile.
Barret slid a thick stack of documents across the table toward her.
That was my core project proposal. Three months of late nights. Countless cups of black coffee. Every ounce of strategy I had.