BOUND BY ONE NIGHT

Chapter15

Lavender POV

By the time I reach my apartment, exhaustion clings to my bones like a second skin. My heels are in my hand, my hair is a mess, and my heart feels like it’s been wrung out over and over again. The door shuts behind me with a soft click, but the silence inside is deafening. I set my shoes down, and press my forehead against the cool wood for a moment, letting the reality of the day settle in.

It’s done, the deal. The reason I let myself be pulled backward into his orbit. The reason I saw him again. The reason my heart feels like cracked glass. It’s over, with shaking fingers, I remove my blazer and toss it over the one chair I own. My tiny apartment looks emptier than usual, four walls that don’t feel like a home, just a hiding place. Two steps and I’m already in the kitchenette.

I grab a glass of water and gulp it down, hoping it can wash away the tight ache in my throat. Helping him was a mistake, I should never have gone. And yet… when his hand brushed mine earlier, even by accident… even after everything… my entire body felt the truth I am trying to deny. I still want him.

I sink onto the couch, clutching a pillow like it’s the only thing keeping me from falling apart, maybe he’ll call, maybe he’ll say thank you, maybe he’ll say… anything. But my phone is silent. Completely, painfully silent. Of course it is. Why would he reach out? He already looked relieved when I said I was leaving. He said “goodbye” like it cost him nothing.

I swallow a bitter laugh, one night, one mistake. And I’m the one who carries every consequence. Hours blur together, the sun has begun to set when a knock suddenly rattles my door. My heart leaps into my throat immediately.

Alex? The thought is foolish, reckless, but it surges through me too fast to stop. I smooth my hair, and try to steady my breathing before opening the door. The woman standing there isn’t Alex. She’s tall, poised, perfectly put-together in an expensive cream suit with a thin belt that looks like it costs more than a month of my rent. Her makeup is immaculate, her lipstick a sharp, calculated red. A smile curves her lips, but it isn’t kind.

It’s a warning. “Lavender Brooks?” she asks, her tone dripping politeness made of ice.

“Yes…” My voice wavers.

“I’m Clara. Cassandra Morgan’s personal liaison. She asked me to pay you a visit since…” Her eyes sweep over me, over my modest apartment, the peeling paint, the bare walls. “Well, you don’t exactly have access to the circles she frequents.” Humiliation burns up my neck.

“I don’t understand what this is about,” I say, though I already know. Her smile sharpens. “I think you do. You’re a smart girl, beautiful too, in a simple… unpolished way. Men like Alex sometimes find that novelty appealing.” The world tilts, and I grip the doorknob to stay steady.

She takes a small step inside uninvited, heels clicking against my cheap floor tiles like gunshots. “Here’s the thing, Lavender. You got what you wanted, didn’t you? One night above your station. I’m sure it was thrilling. But let’s get this clear, shall we?”

Her voice lowers, becoming venom. “You are not staying in his life.” My heartbeat stutters painfully. “I never intended to,” I whisper.

“But you helped him close that deal,” she continues as if I hadn’t spoken, “and now you’re thinking he might need you again.” She leans in, her breath brushing my cheek. “Hope is an ugly look on a woman like you.”

I flinch, she straightens, flicking imaginary dust off her sleeve. “Cassandra owns this city. She has the media, investors, and every socialite worth knowing eating from her palm. If you try, even once, to reach out to Alex, she will crush you.”

Her gaze hardens. “People will see you for what you are, a desperate girl from nowhere who tried to sleep her way into money. Headlines can be so creative when fed the right information.”

I can’t breathe. My fingers curl so tightly around the doorknob my knuckles turn white.

“What happened between you and Alex was a lapse in judgement,” she continues, voice silken but lethal. “For both of you. But he’s smarter now. He has Cassandra. He has his future. And you… you should just disappear back into whatever insignificant life you came from.”

With that final stab, she steps back, reclaiming her perfect smile.

“Good night, Miss Brooks. This visit was just a courtesy. Next time, it won’t be so polite.” She leaves. The elevator doors swallow her, and I collapsed. My knees hit the floor, and the tears come violently fast, shaking me from the inside out. Her words replay, each one designed to pierce precisely where I’m weakest.

Insignificant, nothing, hope is ugly on you. I press a hand to my stomach instinctively, a gesture I don’t even understand yet, but somehow feels protective. Grounding. I shouldn’t have gone back. I shouldn’t have let myself care.

Alex doesn’t know she came. He doesn’t even know where I live now. He doesn’t know anything, and he won’t. He made his choice. Silence is a choice. I drag myself up, every breath shuddering. I wipe my tears roughly and start moving, packing the few belongings I have. One bag. That’s all my life fits into. I can’t stay here. Not another night. Not when eyes might be watching. Not when whispers might start spreading.

Not when I’m still so breakable in love with a man who will never choose me. I pull on a coat and sling the bag over my shoulder. The room looks hollow, like it was never meant for me at all. Before I step outside, my phone, forgotten and facedown on the couch, lights up silently.

Alex Robinson, Calling…

But I’m already gone.