Chapter 1

The first time Callum Rowe forgot my name, three hundred people applauded.

I stood at the edge of the ballroom in a black dress I had bought during a lunch break, holding the speech I had written for him. Across the stage, Callum smiled beneath the Rowan Aero logo while investors lifted their champagne glasses.

“Tonight,” he said into the microphone, “we celebrate the woman who carried us through the worst year in company history.”

My fingers tightened around the folder.

For one stupid second, I thought he meant me.

The rescue-drone recall. The federal inquiry. The lawsuit from Oregon. I had slept on the office couch for forty-three nights, rebuilt the crisis plan, and saved his publicly traded company from losing its federal contracts.

Then Callum turned toward Mara Vale.

She stepped into the spotlight in a silver dress, one hand pressed to her mouth as if the honor had overwhelmed her.

The applause rose.

Callum took a velvet box from his pocket. “Mara, Rowan Aero owes you more than I can say.”

The box opened.

Inside was a sapphire brooch.

My grandmother’s sapphire brooch.

The same one his assistant had picked up from my apartment that morning because Callum said the clasp needed repair before our appointment at the county clerk’s office.

Our nineteenth appointment.

The one where we were supposed to complete the marriage license application he had postponed for two years.

Two hours ago, he had canceled again.

Urgent board matter, his text had said.

Mara leaned forward. Callum pinned the brooch to her dress with a tenderness that made the room go quiet.

My phone buzzed in my clutch.

Callum: Don’t wait up. Board dinner after this.

I looked from the message to the stage.

Then I laughed.

A woman beside me glanced over. “Are you all right?”

“No,” I said. “But I’m about to be.”

I walked out before dessert.

In the coatroom, the attendant handed me Callum’s overcoat by mistake. I knew because our marriage license paperwork was still in the inside pocket, folded around the pen he had never used.

Nineteen times, I had carried those papers.

Nineteen times, he had found a reason not to sign.

I took the papers out, placed the coat back on the counter, and asked for mine.

“Ms. Hart?” the attendant whispered. “Mr. Rowe said you’d be riding home with him.”

I looked toward the ballroom doors. Another wave of applause shook the chandeliers.

“No,” I said. “Mr. Rowe is busy.”

Outside, rain glazed the hotel steps. I called Priya Sen, the one CEO in the industry Callum refused to speak to.

Priya answered with a smile in her voice. “Natalie Hart. Either you dialed the wrong number, or Rowan Aero finally got too small for you.”

“I want the Seattle position.”

“The one Callum tried to block?”

“Yes.”

“And your confidentiality agreement?”

“I won’t bring Rowan’s confidential files to Northline,” I said. “But Rowan doesn’t own my experience. And it doesn’t get to erase my name from work I created.”

Priya was silent for a beat.

Then she said, “Pack light. We move fast.”

Behind me, the ballroom doors opened.

“Natalie?”

Callum’s voice cut through the rain.

I turned.

He stood under the awning, stage lights still on his face, Mara’s perfume still on his hands.

For once, I didn’t walk toward him.

His eyes dropped to the papers in my hand. “Why do you have those?”

“You left them in your coat.”

His jaw tightened. “I told you we’d handle it next week.”

“You told me that last month.”

“Natalie.”

“And after the Portland hearing.”

“This isn’t the place.”

“And after your father’s memorial.”

His face changed at that. “Don’t use that.”

“I didn’t,” I said. “You did.”

He glanced over his shoulder. Through the glass doors, people were still celebrating the woman wearing my brooch.

“You’re upset,” he said. “I get it.”

“No, you don’t.”

“Mara had a hard year.”

“So did I.”

“She was the public face of the recovery.”

“I wrote the recovery plan.”

His mouth opened.

Nothing came out.

I looked at the phone in my hand.

He followed my gaze. “Who were you calling?”

“Priya Sen.”

His expression went flat. “That’s not funny.”

“I accepted her offer.”

“Natalie, stop.”

Once, I would have.

Tonight, I folded the papers and put them in my purse.

“I’m done stopping.”

A black car pulled up to the curb. The driver stepped out with an umbrella.

“Ms. Hart? Northline sent me.”

Callum’s face went white.

I got into the car before he could say my name again.

As the door closed, Priya’s message appeared on my screen.

Welcome to the other side.