💔 Chapter Eight: Undone
1331 Words
AVA
Monday mornings were hard enough without waking up to your name trending on social media.
The second I stepped into Blackwood Enterprises, I felt it—the shift. Eyes flicked toward me, voices hushed the moment I walked past. My phone hadn’t stopped buzzing since sunrise, and I knew why.
Because someone had leaked a photo.
Not just any photo.
Us.
Me. Damien. The gala. The dance.
The way he looked at me like I was the only woman in the world.
I pushed the elevator button, trying to ignore the tightness in my chest. Maybe it wasn’t that bad. Maybe it would blow over.
But when the doors opened and Celine stood inside—grinning like the devil herself—I knew it wouldn’t.
“Rough morning, sweetheart?” she purred.
I stepped in, keeping my spine straight. “Do you want something, Celine?”
“Oh, just to offer my condolences. Must be exhausting waking up to a PR scandal. Tsk.” She leaned in slightly. “Though I do have to say, you photograph well. You and Damien make quite the scandalous pair.”
I stayed silent.
Because the last thing I wanted was to give her the satisfaction of a reaction.
“I heard HR is having an emergency meeting,” she continued, examining her manicured nails. “Upper management is… reevaluating things. Office relationships tend to complicate workflow. Especially when someone rises a little too quickly, don’t you think?”
My stomach twisted.
“Be careful, Ava,” she whispered, just before the doors opened again. “You climbed fast. But the higher you go, the harder you fall.”
She stepped off with a smile. I was still standing frozen when the elevator reached the executive floor.
Damien was already in his office.
I could feel him through the glass, standing at the window, back tense, jaw sharp. His suit jacket was draped over the chair, sleeves rolled up. His phone sat facedown on the desk, a folder open beside it.
He didn’t look up when I walked in.
But I closed the door behind me anyway.
“We need to talk,” I said quietly.
He turned. His eyes were dark, tired, unreadable.
“I’m handling it,” he said.
“Handling it?” I echoed. “People think I slept my way into this job.”
His gaze snapped to mine. “You didn’t.”
“Doesn’t matter. They believe I did.”
“I’ll issue a statement. Shut it down.”
I stared at him, stunned. “You think a statement is going to fix this?”
He stepped closer. “I said I’ll protect you.”
I shook my head. “I don’t want protection, Damien. I want the truth. Who took that photo? Who leaked it?”
His silence was answer enough.
“You think it was her,” I whispered.
“Celine’s always had a taste for sabotage. She wants what she can’t have. And when she can’t have it, she destroys it.”
I folded my arms, trying to hold myself together. “Then why is she still here?”
He looked at me, then away. “It’s complicated.”
“No,” I said, voice rising. “It’s not. You’re the CEO. If she’s a threat, fire her.”
His jaw ticked. “She’s on the board.”
I blinked. “What?”
“She holds shares. Her father was one of the founding investors. If I fire her without cause, I trigger a lawsuit. She’s protected by policy.”
I sank into the nearest chair, my stomach churning.
“So I just have to endure this? The rumors? The hate? Watching her walk around this place while she tries to ruin me?”
Damien moved to the desk, pulled out a folder, and handed it to me.
“What’s this?”
“Your promotion offer. I was going to wait until the end of the quarter. But maybe this changes things.”
I stared at the title: Director of Strategic Communications.
“Why?” I asked, voice raw. “Why give me this now?”
“Because you’ve earned it. And because if they want to talk, let them talk about how fast you rise—because you’re good. Not because of me.”
I looked up at him.
“You think this is going to make it better?” I asked.
“I think it’ll remind everyone who you are.”
I swallowed hard. “And who’s that?”
He leaned across the desk, eyes locking with mine.
“Someone who deserves more than gossip. Someone who doesn’t break under pressure. Someone who scares the hell out of me, Ava.”
I couldn’t breathe.
He stepped around the desk, slowly. “You want me to back off. Keep things professional. But I can’t pretend anymore.”
“Damien—”
“I’m not good at this,” he said quietly. “I don’t know how to want something without ruining it. But I know this—letting you go would be the biggest mistake of my life.”
Something cracked in me then. Maybe it was the walls I’d built. Maybe it was just exhaustion. But for a moment, I let myself believe him.
Even though believing him might break me later.
I nodded slowly. “Okay.”
His eyes softened. He looked like he wanted to come closer, to reach for me.
But then his phone buzzed.
He glanced down.
His entire expression changed.
I stood. “What is it?”
He didn’t answer.
He handed me the phone.
A text. From an unknown number.
You lied about Isabelle.
Ask Damien what really happened.
Or better yet—check the police report.
---
DAMIEN
The past always finds a way back.
I watched Ava’s face shift as she read the message. Her hands trembled slightly.
“Who’s Isabelle?” she asked.
I didn’t answer fast enough.
“Damien.” Her voice sharpened. “Who is she?”
I took a breath. “Someone I knew. A long time ago.”
She waited.
“She worked for me. She was ambitious. Smart. Like you.”
“Did you sleep with her?” she asked, voice flat.
“Yes.”
Her face cracked. “And?”
“She wanted more. I didn’t. I thought I made that clear. But she didn’t take it well.”
I paused.
“She disappeared.”
Ava blinked. “Disappeared?”
“One day she didn’t show up. Police got involved. But there was no evidence of a crime. She just… vanished.”
She stared at me like I was a stranger. “And you never told me this before?”
“I didn’t think it mattered.”
She stood slowly, that storm building in her eyes again. “You didn’t think it mattered that another woman in your life vanished without a trace?”
“I wasn’t involved,” I said firmly. “The cops cleared me. No charges. No proof.”
“But the rumors are still out there,” she whispered.
I couldn’t deny it.
“You said you break people,” she said. “What did you do to her, Damien?”
“Nothing. I swear it.”
But my voice sounded hollow even to my own ears.
---
AVA
I walked out of his office and didn’t look back.
I didn’t stop until I reached the stairwell, my lungs burning, the folder still in my hand.
Director of Communications. A dream title.
Tainted by secrets.
I couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe.
I needed space. Answers. Anything but the weight of his lies pressing down on me.
I took the stairs all the way to the parking garage and stepped into the evening air like it could save me.
I didn’t know who sent that message.
But I knew one thing:
Someone wanted me to know the truth.
And I was finally ready to find it.
---
- Writer
