Chapter 2

Callum was in my apartment when I came home to pack.

He had no key. Not officially. But Rowan Aero owned the building, and Callum had never confused access with permission.

I opened the door and found him standing in my living room, still in last night’s tuxedo shirt, his bow tie hanging loose around his neck. My suitcase sat open on the floor.

His eyes moved from the suitcase to me. “You didn’t come back last night.”

“I stayed at a hotel.”

“You hate hotels.”

“I hate being walked in on more.”

He looked toward the door, as if noticing for the first time that he had let himself in.

“I was worried.”

“No,” I said, folding a sweater into my suitcase. “You were inconvenienced.”

His face tightened. “That’s not fair.”

“Fair is an interesting word from you.”

“Natalie, I came here to fix this.”

“Did you bring the marriage paperwork?”

He froze.

There it was.

The pause.

The one I had trained myself not to see.

I turned to him. “You didn’t.”

“I had to leave the gala early. The board pulled me into a crisis call.”

“After I left?”

“Yes.”

“What crisis?”

He rubbed a hand over his face. “Mara was embarrassed.”

I stared at him.

He heard it a second later. The absurdity. The softness he reserved for everyone except me.

“Mara was embarrassed,” I repeated.

“She didn’t know the brooch was yours.”

“You knew.”

“I thought my assistant bought it for the gala.”

“For Mara.”

His mouth tightened. “Yes.”

“It was my grandmother’s.”

His eyes flicked up.

Good.

At least he remembered I had a grandmother.

“She wore it the day she became partner at her firm,” I said. “I brought it because I thought yesterday mattered.”

“I’ll get it back.”

“No.”

“No?”

“She can keep it.”

“Natalie.”

“I don’t want anything back after it’s been used to replace me.”

His face hardened. “Nobody replaced you.”

I laughed once.

Not loudly. That was why he hated it.

“Then what was last night?” I asked. “A clerical error?”

“She handled press.”

“I handled federal exposure.”

“She stood in front of cameras.”

“I kept you out of congressional testimony that would have destroyed you.”

His eyes sharpened. “Don’t exaggerate.”

“Ask Jonas.”

“What?”

“Ask your legal director who built the Oregon response, who found the supplier defect, who wrote the board statement, and who told you not to let Mara say ‘operator error’ on television.”

Callum stared at me.

“He won’t lie for you,” I said. “Not about that.”

His phone rang.

Mara Vale.

He didn’t answer.

For one foolish second, something bruised inside me noticed.

Then the phone stopped.

A text appeared.

Mara: The board wants to know what to say about Natalie. Reporters are asking why she left with Northline’s driver.

Callum’s grip tightened around the phone.

I reached for my coat.

“Don’t go,” he said.

I kept walking.

“Natalie, wait.”

I stopped at the door. “For what?”

“For me to understand.”

“You had four years.”

His eyes reddened.

“I can make this right.”

“No,” I said. “You can make it public. You can make it expensive. You can make it dramatic. But you can’t make it right.”

He stood. “If you walk into Northline, you make yourself my competitor.”

I looked back at him.

For the first time that morning, I smiled.

“Good.”

Downstairs, Priya’s car was waiting.

I was halfway across the lobby when Jonas Reed stepped out of the elevator.

Rowan Aero’s legal director was usually clean-shaven, controlled, impossible to read. This morning, his tie was crooked and his face looked like he had not slept either.

“Natalie,” he said.

“I already sent my resignation.”

“I know.”

“Then if Callum sent you to stop me, don’t waste your breath.”

“He didn’t send me.”

Jonas held out a sealed envelope.

“What is this?”

“Copies.”

“Of what?”

His eyes moved toward the security cameras.

Then back to me.

“Everything they’ll claim Mara did.”

My fingers went cold around the suitcase handle.

Jonas lowered his voice.

“When Rowan realizes what you took with you, they won’t just call you ungrateful. They’ll call you a thief.”

I looked at the envelope.

Then at the elevator behind him, where Callum would appear any second.

Jonas pushed it into my hand.

“So don’t go to Seattle empty-handed.”