The Deception Of Desire

Chapter 7: Broken Heart

I wasn’t even supposed to go out. After the week I had, my plan was to crawl into bed, maybe cry into my pillow like a teenager, then wake up pretending I was fine. But Mariam cornered me at my desk just as I was packing up. I guess she noticed my mood had not been the usual me.

“Drinks. Tonight. Non-negotiable.”

She had that look. The one that said she’d drag me by my edges if I dared refuse. So i went with her.

Two hours later, I was slouched in a booth downtown, neon spilling across our table, tequila burning a trail down my throat. Mariam raised her glass with a grin.

“To survival,” she said.

I clinked mine against hers, swallowed hard, then the words tumbled out before I could stop them. “He’s engaged.”

Mariam blinked. “Who’s engaged?”

“Danny.” My voice cracked. “Danny Carter.”

The glass slipped from her hand onto the table. “No. You’re joking.” "Engaged engaged? Like ring and wedding plans engaged?"

I shook my head, laughing bitterly. “Engaged. To Olivia Brown.”

Her eyes nearly fell out of her head. “Olivia Brown? Manhattan Olivia? Trust-fund, fashion-line, socialite-of-the-year Olivia?”

“The one and only.”

The words came out rougher than I intended. "He told me After he kissed me."

"He what?"

The story spilled out. The late night office. The fight about timelines and judgment and Adrian's motives. The way Danny had looked at me like I was everything he wanted and nothing he could have. The kiss that tasted like six years of regret.

Mariam listened without interrupting, her expressions shifting from surprise to anger to something that looked like heartbreak on my behalf.

"He kissed you and then told you he's marrying someone else?"

"He told me he chose wrong. That he's been promised to her since London. That he didn't have a choice."

"There's always a choice."

"That's what I said." I finished my shots and signaled for another. "But apparently, when your family business depends on certain connections, marriage becomes a merger."

"So he's marrying her for money."

"For survival. For expectation. For everything except love."

Mariam dropped back into the booth like someone had just shot her. “No way. I always thought—Bola, come on. You and him… it’s always been... obvious.” i’m so sorry

"What was obvious?"

Something in me broke at her words.The tears started rolling, I felt the tears before I could stop them. Hot and humiliating, six years overdue. I pressed my palms against my eyes, shaking my head. Too much alcohol, not enough self-control.

"That he'd choose me this time? That I was worth more than business connections and family obligations?"

"You are worth more than that."

"Am I? Because I've spent six years telling myself I was over him. That London was just young love and bad timing. That I'd moved on and grown stronger and didn't need anyone."

“Six years of me convincing myself I was fine. That I was over him. But the second I see him again… all those cracks I buried start splitting wide open.”

The wine was making everything sharper. The hurt, the anger, the crushing realization that some part of me had been waiting for Danny to come back and choose me properly this time.

"But seeing him again, working with him, feeling that connection still there..." I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand. "God, Mariam…,

“I thought I was done with him. I thought London was the end. I thought I buried this. I thought I was done grieving for something that never really existed." But now, knowing he’s hers? Knowing I’ll never…” I trailed off. The words dissolved in my throat.

"It existed. You don't grieve fake feelings." Mariam responded "But it wasn't real for him. Not real enough to fight for. His loss."

"Is it?

Because from where I'm sitting, it looks like he gets the merger marriage and the family approval and the business connections. And I get to be the woman he regrets not choosing."

Mariam reached across the table, catching my hand in hers. “Babe. Listen to me. If he chose her, then he chose her. You don’t chase a man who doesn’t fight for you. That’s not your weight to carry.”

I sniffed, wiping my cheeks with the back of my hand. “So what, I just let it go? Pretend like none of this happened?”

She tilted her head, smirking faintly. “Or… you make him watch what he lost. You show him what it feels like to be on the outside looking in.”

I stilled.

Her grin widened. “Don’t act blind. Adrian Lowe has been circling you since day one. Flowers, dinner invitations, the way he throws you the spotlight. He doesn’t do that for just anyone.”

Adrian. My chest tightened. The blunt text he sent after the dinner—Next time, just us. His voice telling me he trusted me with the expansion.

I breathed out, shaky. “Maybe you’re right.”

Mariam lifted her glass again. “Of course I’m right. If Danny can’t make up his mind, then let Adrian show him what happens when someone else does.”

The tequila burned, but not half as much as the thought of never having Danny. If I couldn’t have him, maybe the only option left was to make him feel it.

Mariam was quiet for a moment, studying my face in the dim bar lighting.

"So What do you want to do?"

"About what?"

"About Danny. About Adrian. About the fact that you're stuck working with both of them on the biggest deal of your career."

"Well Danny thinks I should be careful with Adrian. Says men like him don't give without expecting returns."

"And what do you think?"

I thought about Adrian's flowers. His strategic compliments. The way he'd positioned himself as my champion while making it clear he expected something in return.

"I think Danny doesn't get to have opinions about my choices anymore."

"Bola..."

"No, Mariam. He made his choice. He chose Olivia Brown, her family's money and whatever security that marriage gives him. He doesn't get to kiss me and then warn me away from other men for my own good."

The anger felt better than the heartbreak. Something I could use instead of something that used me.

"So you're going to what? Date Adrian to spite Danny?"

"I'm going to stop letting Danny Carter dictate my decisions. If Adrian Lowe wants to take me to dinner, I'll go. If he wants to offer me partnership and power and everything I've been working toward, I'll consider it."

Mariam looked worried. "That's not like you."

"Maybe it should be. Maybe I've spent too long being the woman who walks away gracefully. Who protects everyone's feelings except her own."

"Bola, using one man to make another man jealous never ends well."

"I'm not using anyone. Adrian is interested. I'm available. Danny made his choice, and now I'm making mine."

But even as I said it, I knew Mariam was right to look concerned. She only wanted me to move on with Adrian if i wanted not out of spite.

The wine was talking, and the hurt was driving, and somewhere underneath the anger was a plan that felt more like revenge than strategy.

I didn't care. Danny had chosen wrong once, and then he kissed me and chose wrong again. This time, I was going to choose what was offered instead of waiting for what wasn't.

"Just... be careful," Mariam said finally. Her voice was soft, but her grip was firm.

Make sure you know what game you're playing before you start playing it."

"I know exactly what game I'm playing."

But walking home three glasses of wine later, I wondered if that was true. Or if I was just tired of being the one who always lost.