We Dated For Two Years
1516 Words
Lana’s POV
Bad idea.
Every step toward Forbes Tower felt like proof of it.
I should’ve turned around downstairs.
Should’ve gotten back into my car.
Should’ve let Damon hate me for failing him instead of walking back into this part of my life again.
But Damon was sitting in a cell.
And every other door had already slammed shut in my face.
So here I was.
The lobby was quiet enough to make my heels sound too loud.
I headed toward the front desk already preparing myself for security questions.
None came.
The receptionist looked up immediately. “Good morning, Miss Siegel.”
I slowed slightly.
Before I could answer, security stepped aside.
The elevator doors opened.
Just like that.
No call upstairs.
No hesitation.
It was like they already knew I was coming.
My stomach tightened.
The elevator ride felt too short.
By the time the doors opened again, my pulse had started doing stupid things.
And then—
“Miss Siegel?”
I looked up sharply.
Clara.
For a second, I forgot why I was here.
Three years disappeared too easily around this building.
She stood quickly from the reception desk, smoothing her skirt once before walking toward me.
“Wow,” she said softly. “It’s really you.”
I blinked at her. “You work here?”
A tiny awkward pause crossed her face.
“Yeah.”
Of course she did.
I hired her myself for Zade three years ago.
Back when she used to sit outside my office organizing his disasters before I even realized they were disasters.
Funny.
I almost smiled.
Almost.
Clara glanced toward the closed office doors behind her before stepping closer.
“Before you go in…” Her voice lowered carefully. “There’s something you should know.”
My chest tightened immediately.
“What?”
She hesitated just long enough to annoy me.
“Mr. Forbes experienced some memory complications a few years ago.”
I stared at her.
Memory complications?
Please.
“He may not remember you.”
A laugh nearly escaped me but I noticed there was no sign of amusement on her face.
“You’re serious?”
Clara looked uncomfortable now. “I just thought you should be prepared.”
Prepared for what?
For Zade Forbes suddenly forgetting two years of our lives?
The man who once remembered the exact coffee order I changed twice in one week?
Yeah. Right.
I gave her a tight smile. “Thanks for the warning.”
Then I walked past her before she could say anything else.
The office doors opened quietly and there he was.
Of course he was standing by the window.
Because apparently this man had always enjoyed looking dramatic without trying.
He turned the second the doors closed behind me.
Everything in my chest tightened painfully.
God.
Three years and he still looked—
No.
Absolutely not.
I shut that thought down immediately.
His gaze settled on me calmly with no reaction at all.
That bothered me more than it should have.
I crossed my arms tightly. “You’re hard to get a meeting with.”
“Miss…”
The pause hit harder than expected.
“…Siegel.”
His voice hadn’t changed.
I hated that I remembered that instantly.
I stared at him. “You seriously don’t remember me?”
Nothing moved in his face.
Not confusion.
Not shock.
Nothing.
“My memory from certain years is unreliable,” he said calmly. “I apologize if that’s upsetting.”
Upsetting?
I almost laughed in his face.
Instead I stepped closer. “We dated for two years.”
Silence.
“You lived in my apartment for six months.”
Nothing.
“You broke my kitchen chair because you thought standing on it to change a lightbulb was somehow smarter than using a ladder.”
A pause.
Then—
“I’m sorry.”
That hurt.
Not because I wanted him back.
Not because I missed him.
But because being forgotten felt humiliating in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
I folded my arms tighter across my chest. “You proposed to me in Greece.”
Still nothing.
Jesus Christ.
I searched his face harder, looking for something. Anything. A crack, Recognition.
Guilt?
But he just watched me quietly like I was explaining someone else’s life to him.
Maybe Clara wasn’t lying.
That thought hit strangely hard.
I looked away first.
Stupid.
This was stupid.
I didn’t come here for this.
I forced myself to straighten. “Forget it.”
His gaze stayed on me.
Dangerous thing, that silence.
It always used to make me talk more than I intended.
Not today.
I walked toward his desk and dropped the folder in front of him.
“My brother was arrested yesterday.”
Business.
Focus on business.
“The company accounts are frozen. Investors are pulling out. Lawyers won’t touch the case.” I kept my voice steady. “I need help getting him released before the investigation destroys what’s left of my company.”
Zade opened the folder slowly with a calm ease.
I hated that too.
His eyes moved over the paperwork without expression.
The silence stretched.
Then—
“You’re not the first person to approach me regarding this situation.”
My brows pulled together slightly.
“What?”
“A woman came to see me yesterday.”
Something cold slid slowly down my spine.
“She seemed very concerned about you.”
No.
“She mentioned your brother’s arrest before it became public.”
The room suddenly felt too still.
No.
“She said you’d eventually come here.”
My throat tightened.
“Maya?” I heard myself ask.
Zade looked up finally.
“There it is,” he said quietly. “That was her name”
I stared at him.
No.
No way.
Maya wouldn’t—
My thoughts stopped there because I physically could not finish them.
Not now. Not here and definitely not in front of him.
I shoved the feeling down hard enough it almost hurt.
Later.
I’d deal with it later.
Right now Damon mattered more.
Zade closed the file carefully.
“I can help you.”
I let out a slow breath.
Finally.
“But there are conditions.”
Of course there were.
He opened a drawer and slid a contract across the desk toward me.
I looked down at it briefly before looking back up.
“What is this?”
“An agreement.”
“That clears up absolutely nothing.”
A faint shift touched his expression.
Almost amusement but it was gone too fast to be sure.
“You’ll understand everything after signing.”
I stared at him in disbelief. “You want me to sign something I haven’t read?”
“I want your cooperation.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No,” he agreed calmly. “It isn’t.”
God, I hated him.
Especially now.
I flipped through the first page quickly.
Employment terms.
Confidentiality clauses.
Temporary arrangement language.
There was nothing alarming.
My eyes lifted back to him. “And Damon?”
“The charges disappear.”
I went still.
Just like that.
“As if they never existed?”
“Yes.”
That kind of power should’ve scared me more than it did.
Instead all I could think about was Damon sleeping in a cell.
Zade leaned back slightly in his chair. “There were additional charges I chose not to file.”
I looked up sharply.
“What?”
“Your brother made more mistakes than the police currently know about.”
Cold anger curled slowly through me.
“And you’re telling me this because?”
His gaze held mine evenly.
“I couldn’t bring myself to completely destroy a young man’s future.”
The laugh that escaped me was sharp enough to cut glass.
“Wow.”
One brow lifted slightly.
“How generous of you.”
Silence.
I looked him dead in the eyes.
“Real ironic,” I said quietly. “Considering you destroyed mine.”
Something flickered across his face but it vanished before I could read it..
I looked back down at the contract before I could think too hard about that.
Damon was sitting in that cell, our accounts were frozen and our lawyers were disappearing.
Every road leading right back here.
Maybe I’d already lost before walking into this office.
I picked up the pen slowly and signed the first page. Then the second and third.
I didn’t read the rest. Didn’t have the energy at that point.
I just needed Damon out.
That was all that mattered.
I slid the contract back toward him.
“There.”
He looked down at my signature quietly.
Then he pushed the finalized papers back across the desk toward me.
“Congratulations,” he said calmly.
I frowned slightly and looked down.
My eyes moved across the bold lettering near the bottom of the page and stopped.
For one full second, my brain refused to process it.
Then it hit hard.
My head snapped back up toward him.
“This is a goddamn marriage contract.”
- Writer
