Skin to skin

Chapter 003

Chapter 003: The Vows We Break

The invitations were heavy, cream-colored cardstock with gold-foil lettering that felt like lead in Beauty’s hands. The Board of Directors requests the honor of your presence at the marriage of Sarah Elizabeth Sterling to Julian Thomas Vance.

She hadn't planned on going. She had written out a polite, corporate refusal note three times. But as the lead architect on the Sterling-Vance merger project, her absence would have caused more whispers among the board than her presence ever could. So, she went.

The cathedral was a gothic masterpiece of cold stone and stained glass. Beauty sat three rows from the back, blending into the sea of dark designer suits and expensive perfumes.

When the heavy oak doors opened, Sarah walked down the aisle. She was a vision of old-money perfection, draped in a couture lace gown with a train that swept the marble floor. She looked triumphant.

But Beauty only looked at Julian.

He stood at the altar in a flawless black morning suit. His posture was rigid, his jaw set so tightly the muscle ticked. As Sarah reached his side, he took her hand. It was a calculated, fluid movement. A performance for the hundreds of cameras waiting outside.

"Do you, Julian Thomas Vance, take Sarah Elizabeth Sterling to be your wedded wife?" the minister’s voice echoed through the vaulted ceilings.

There was a fraction of a second—a tiny, agonizing pause that the rest of the congregation likely mistook for solemn emotion. But Beauty knew better. In that silence, Julian’s eyes flicked toward the back rows. He couldn't see her through the crowd, but he looked anyway.

"I do," Julian said. His voice was completely flat. Empty.

When the minister pronounced them husband and wife, the applause erupted. Julian leaned down and pressed a polite, calculated kiss to Sarah’s lips. It was a business deal closed. A legacy secured.

Beauty stood up with the rest of the guests, slipping out into the cold afternoon air before the recessional even finished. She walked away from the church as the bells began to ring, the sound vibrating painfully in her chest.

Three Months Later

The project was moving at a brutal, frantic pace. The Sterling Group’s money had flooded the accounts, and the high-rise foundation was finally being poured.

Beauty lived at the construction site. She traded her emerald silk dresses for steel-toed boots, jeans, and a white hard hat. It was easier to bury herself in blueprints and concrete poured at 5:00 AM than to think about the empty apartment waiting for her at night.

"Ms. Vance—sorry, Ms. Vance's assistant called," her site foreman corrected himself quickly, clearing his throat. "The CEO is doing a walkthrough of the upper deck structures today. They just arrived."

Beauty’s hand tightened on her clipboard. "They?"

"Mr. Vance and his wife. She's on the committee for the building's aesthetic design now."

Before Beauty could process the information, the sound of laughter echoed down the concrete corridor. Julian walked into the raw, unfinished space. He wore a crisp suit under a safety vest, looking completely out of place among the dust and exposed rebar. Beside him, Sarah was laughing, holding onto his arm, her manicured hand contrasting sharply with the yellow hard hat she wore perched on her styled hair.

"Julian, darling, the ceilings in the lobby simply must be higher," Sarah was saying, her voice echoing. "The Sterling foundation demands a grander entrance."

Julian looked up from his tablet, his eyes scanning the space until they landed on Beauty. He froze. The polite, attentive smile he had been wearing for his wife completely vanished.

"Ah, Ms. Vance," Sarah said, noticing her husband's distraction and stepping forward. Her smile was sweet, but her eyes were sharp, calculating. "We were just discussing the lobby. Julian says you're the best architect in the city, but I think we need a few... adjustments to your vision."

Julian didn't look at his wife. His dark eyes were locked onto Beauty’s face, taking in the smudge of dust on her cheek, the tired shadows under her eyes, and the absolute distance she had placed between them.

"The structural walls are already set, Mrs. Vance," Beauty said, her voice dropping into a cold, professional register that cut through the cavernous room. Hearing herself call another woman Mrs. Vance felt like swallowing glass, but her face remained a perfect, unreadable mask. "Altering the lobby height now would compromise the integrity of the entire tower. The design stands."

Sarah’s smile stiffened. She turned to Julian, her hand tightening on his arm. "Julian, tell her. Surely your board has the power to change a few walls."

Julian looked down at his wife's hand on his sleeve, then back at Beauty. The silence between them stretched, heavy with the memories of a storm, a quiet entryway, and a promise that had been broken for the sake of survival.

Julian looked down at his wife's hand on his sleeve, the silence in the unfinished concrete room stretching thin as he tried to find his voice.

"Ms. Vance is right," Julian said finally, his voice clearing the tension like a sudden draft. He looked at Sarah, offering a tight, professional smile that didn't reach his eyes. "The structural walls are set. We can look at adjusting the interior finishes later, but the core design stands."Sarah’s expression hardened for a fraction of a second before her flawless social mask smoothed it away. "Of course, darling," she said sweetly, though her grip on his arm tightened. "You know the logistics best."

With a brief nod to Beauty, Julian turned and led Sarah back down the concrete corridor, the sound of their retreating footsteps finally fading away.

Later that evening, the heavy oak doors of the Vance estate clicked shut, sealing out the damp city air. The grand house was quiet, a stark contrast to the chaotic noise of the construction site and the constant scrutiny of the boardroom.

Sarah unpinned her hair, letting it fall over her shoulders as she walked into the dim warmth of the master bedroom. Julian followed a moment later, removing his suit jacket and tossing it onto a nearby chair. The perfect neatness he maintained all day seemed to fracture the moment they were behind closed doors.

"You defended her design today," Sarah said softly, stepping into his space. Her eyes searched his face, looking for any sign of the distance he had kept between them all afternoon.

Julian looked down at her, the exhaustion of the corporate warfare catching up to him all at once. He didn't answer with words. Instead, he reached out, his hands finding her waist as he leaned down to close the distance between them.

When his mouth met hers, it was a deliberate, intense kiss—a sharp attempt to drown out the lingering shadows of the day and the heavy silence that had followed him from the high-rise tower. Sarah responded instantly, her hands sliding up to his shoulders, pulling him closer as the quiet of the bedroom wrapped around them, leaving the battles of the outside world at the door.

The urgency between them shifted from emotional relief to physical desire. Julian’s hands moved from her waist, urgently unbuttoning her blouse while Sarah worked at the remaining buttons of his dress shirt. Shedding the rest of their clothes, they moved together onto the bed. Julian guided himself inside her, the intense physical connection consuming them completely as they sought escape from the day's stress. Every movement was filled with the built-up tension of the past few hours, bringing them closer together until they finally collapsed against each other in the quiet room.