Corner Office Confessions

Chapter 14: Old Wounds

Vivian didn't leave quietly. She lingered by the door, eyes sweeping over Nerisa with a kind of amused pity that made her skin crawl.

"An intern," Vivian said softly, like she was tasting the word. "How refreshingly simple of you, Nathan."

"Vivian." His voice carried a warning she'd clearly heard before and never once heeded.

"Relax. I'm not here to cause trouble." Her smile said otherwise. "I'm here about the Kessler merger. Daddy wanted me to remind you the board vote is in three weeks — and that certain... personal complications tend to make investors nervous."

The threat was thin but deliberate, and Nathan's expression hardened into something Nerisa hadn't seen before — the CEO mask slamming down so fast it was like watching a door close on the man she'd started to know.

"The merger will proceed on its merits," he said coldly. "Nothing else is relevant."

"We'll see." Vivian's gaze flicked to Nerisa one last time. "Good luck, sweetheart. You'll need it."

The door clicked shut behind her, and the silence that followed felt heavier than anything Nerisa had experienced in this office.

"Nathan—"

"I need you to keep some distance." The words came out clipped, distant, nothing like the man who'd held her on this same couch days ago.

"You're pushing me away because she showed up?"

"I'm protecting the company. And you." He wouldn't meet her eyes. "If the board thinks I'm compromised—"

"Compromised." She repeated the word like it burned. "Is that what this is to you?"

"That's not what I meant—"

"Then what did you mean?" Her voice cracked despite her effort to keep it steady. "Because it sounds like the second things got difficult, you're ready to fold."

He said nothing. And in his silence, Nerisa felt the ground shift beneath everything they'd built.