Corner Office Confessions

Chapter 7: The Photograph

Nerisa noticed the photograph again the next time she was in his office — the one turned slightly away, half-hidden on the shelf. Curiosity got the better of her.

"Who is she?" she asked, nodding toward it before she could stop herself.

Nathan's whole body went still. For a moment she thought she'd overstepped badly enough to end whatever fragile thing was building between them.

"My mother," he said finally, voice flat in a way that didn't match the tightness in his jaw.

"You don't talk about her."

"No." He turned the photograph further away, like even its presence was too much. "I don't talk about a lot of things."

Nerisa didn't push, though everything in her wanted to. Instead she crossed the room and sat on the edge of his desk, close enough that he had to look at her instead of the window.

"You don't have to tell me," she said quietly. "But I'm not going anywhere just because it's hard."

Something shifted behind his eyes — surprise, maybe, or the particular ache of being seen when you'd spent years making sure no one could. He studied her for a long moment, like he was deciding whether to trust the ground beneath him.

"She didn't protect me," he said finally, the words clipped and careful, like each one cost him something. "From him. My father."

He didn't say more. He didn't need to. Nerisa understood enough from the way his hands had curled into fists at his sides, the way his voice had gone hollow.

She reached out, slow enough that he could pull away if he wanted. He didn't.

Her hand covered his, and for the first time since she'd met him, Nathan Vance didn't look like he was carrying the world alone.