A Slow Convergence
558 Words
Xavier didn’t bother pretending this was about strategy anymore.
He sat alone in the boardroom, the skyline stretching behind him like a kingdom he ruled by right. Yet it all felt meaningless without the prize he’d never stopped chasing.
He tapped his pen once against the polished surface of the table. A rhythmic, controlled movement. The only thing about him that still looked calm.
His phone vibrated. Warren again.
You can still walk away from this, the message read.
He didn’t bother replying. He had no intention of walking away.
Three years of regret had taught him that much.
He opened the file Gregory Vance’s team had sent over. The financials were solid, the merger mutually beneficial. But none of that mattered.
The only thing that mattered was the line at the bottom of the organizational chart:
Executive Assistant – Ariana Jones.
He let out a slow breath, feeling something loosen in his chest and then coil tight again.
She was real. She was within reach.
And he would not be denied.
---
In New York, Ariana tried to focus on the spreadsheet open on her monitor, but the numbers kept blurring together.
She rubbed her eyes. Another late night. Another battle with memories she’d never really won.
Gregory’s voice carried from his office, warm and patient as always. He was on the phone with someone from Williams Corp, she realized absently.
Williams Corp.
Her heart stuttered. She knew that name as well as she knew her own.
She swallowed hard, telling herself she was being paranoid. Williams was a common surname. It didn’t mean anything.
Except that the chill crawling over her skin insisted it did.
She was still staring blankly at the screen when Gregory stepped into her doorway.
“Ariana? You look pale.”
She forced a smile. “Just tired.”
“Maybe take the afternoon off,” he offered kindly. “You’ve earned it.”
She shook her head. “I’d rather stay busy.”
Gregory studied her, then nodded. “Let me know if you change your mind.”
When he left, she curled her hands into fists.
Busy was the only way she survived.
Busy was the only way she didn’t remember how it felt to be wanted so completely it bordered on destruction.
---
Xavier sat in his office, going over every detail of the merger.
He didn’t care about the cost.
He didn’t care about the fallout.
He only cared about the moment she’d be forced to look him in the eye again.
He imagined the moment with ruthless clarity:
Her eyes going wide. Her voice catching.
The way she’d try to pretend she hadn’t once been his.
He would savor every second.
---
That night, Ariana lay awake staring at the ceiling.
Sleep didn’t come easily anymore. Not when she could feel the past inching closer, breathing down her neck.
She turned her phone over in her hands, fighting the urge to look him up. To see if he was still the man she’d loved—and feared.
You’re free, she reminded herself.
But the lie felt thinner by the hour.
---
And miles away, Xavier closed the folder, a grim satisfaction settling in his gut.
By the end of the month, Williams Corp would own Vance Holdings.
And Ariana Jones would have nowhere left to hide.
---
- Writer
