Behind the broken vows

Chapter 5: SECRET

Amelia Rose had learned many things during the seven years she had spent away from Ethan Blackwood.

She had learned how to smile when her heart was breaking, how to stand on her own when the world seemed determined to push her down, and how to walk away from people who made her feel as though she were never enough.

Most importantly, she had learned that survival sometimes meant keeping the truth buried.

But nothing had prepared her for standing in front of the one man she had spent seven years trying to forget.

Ethan watched her with those cold, unreadable eyes. His expression gave nothing away, but Amelia knew him well enough to recognize the anger hidden beneath his calmness.

Once, those eyes had looked at her as though she were the most precious thing in his world.

Now, they regarded her like an enemy who had returned to claim something that did not belong to her.

"You haven't answered my question," Ethan said.

Amelia forced herself to meet his gaze. "Which question?"

His jaw tightened.

"Why are you here?"

She swallowed the painful lump in her throat.

"I'm here for work.”

A humorless smile touched his lips.

"Work?"

"Yes, Ethan. Work. You know, the thing people do to earn money."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Still hiding behind sarcasm, I see."

"And you're still confusing arrogance with intelligence."

Amelia immediately regretted the words, not because they were untrue, but because speaking to him like this brought back memories she had tried desperately to bury.

There had been a time when they could argue for hours about the smallest things. Ethan would pretend to be offended by her sharp tongue, she would laugh until he pulled her into his arms and demanded an apology she never intended to give.

Those memories belonged to another lifetime.

The man standing before her now was not the boy who had once promised to love her forever.

This Ethan wore expensive suits, carried himself with unquestionable authority, and looked at her as if her very presence offended him.

He had become everything the Blackwood family had wanted him to be Powerful,Untouchable and Cold.

"Your employment history says you returned to the city three months ago," he said.

Amelia's stomach tightened.

She had not expected him to investigate her so quickly.

You went through my records?"

"I make it my business to know who enters my company."

"Your company?" she repeated.

"Blackwood Holdings owns the building where your design firm is currently negotiating a contract."

Amelia stared at him.

She had known that the building belonged to a wealthy investment group, but she had not known the Blackwoods were behind it. Her small design firm had spent weeks preparing a proposal for the renovation of the company's executive headquarters.

The contract was supposed to be the biggest opportunity of her career.

And now she was beginning to understand why her meeting had suddenly become so complicated.

"You're telling me that Blackwood Holdings is the client?" she asked.

Surprised?"

"Perhaps you should have researched your client before accepting the meeting."

"I did. The name on the proposal was Blackwood Holdings. I didn't know you would be personally involved."

"Would that have changed your decision?"

Amelia hesitated.

He noticed.

"Interesting."

"Don't flatter yourself," she replied. "I came here because I earned the opportunity. I didn't know you would be standing on the other side of the table."

"Then fate has a terrible sense of humor."

" someone forgot to tell me that my professional life would become a battlefield.”

Ethan stepped closer.

"Your personal choices made it a battlefield seven years ago, Amelia. Don't pretend you are the only person who suffered."

The words struck harder than she wanted to admit.

Amelia remembered the last time she had seen him before leaving the city the promises they had made, the future they had imagined, knowledge that she could not explain everything without making the situation worse.

Desperately wanted to tell him the truth.

But wanting to tell someone the truth and being able to do so were two entirely different things.

"You think I don't know that?" she whispered.

Something shifted in Ethan's expression.

It was brief, almost invisible, but Amelia caught it.

The anger seemed to give way to something else that hurt.

Then it disappeared.

"Your presentation is scheduled for tomorrow morning," he said. "Nine o'clock. Boardroom on the thirty-second floor."

She blinked.

"What?"

"You wanted the contract. You'll have an opportunity to present your proposal."

"You just spent the last ten minutes questioning my reasons for returning."

"And now I'm giving you the opportunity to prove that your professional abilities are worth more than your personal history."

Amelia lifted her chin.

My abilities have never depended on my personal history."

"Excellent. Then you shouldn't have any trouble convincing the board."

He turned toward the door.

"Ethan."

He stopped without looking back.

"Are you going to judge my proposal fairly?"

The silence stretched between them.

When he finally turned, his face had become unreadable again.

"Fairness has nothing to do with business, Amelia

“ Results do."

Then he walked out.

The door closed behind him with a quiet click.

Amelia remained where she was, her hands trembling at her sides.

She had survived seven years without him rebuilt her life piece by piece, learned to trust herself again, promised herself that she would never allow the past to destroy her future.

Yet a single conversation with Ethan Blackwood had left her feeling as though she had been thrown back into the worst night of her life.

“pressed her fingers against her forehead and took a slow breath.

She could not afford to fall apart now.

Not when so much depended on this contract and the money from the project could help her design firm expand and finally give her the financial security she had worked so hard to achieve.

And certainly not because of Ethan.

Her phone vibrated inside her handbag.

It was a message from Daniel, her business partner.

How did the meeting go? Did they confirm the presentation?

Amelia stared at the screen before typing a reply.

Tomorrow morning. Nine o'clock. We have the contract meeting.

She paused, then added:

There's a complication. Ethan Blackwood is involved.

Daniel's reply came almost immediately.

Amelia, are you serious? The Ethan Blackwood?

She closed her eyes.

Yes.

Three dots appeared on the screen, disappeared, and returned.

We need to talk before tomorrow. Don't make any decisions without telling me.

Amelia slipped the phone into her bag.

She already knew what Daniel would say. He would remind her how difficult the Blackwoods could be, how important the contract was, and how much she had sacrificed to reach this point.

He would also ask the one question she had spent years avoiding.

Why had she left Ethan without explaining anything?

She could not answer that question.

Not yet.

By the time Amelia arrived at her apartment that evening, the sky had darkened and rain was falling against the windows.

Her apartment was small but comfortable, with white walls, warm lighting, and furniture she had selected herself. Every corner reflected her love for interior design. Nothing was particularly expensive, but everything had a purpose.

It was a home she had created with her own hands.

A place where nobody could tell her who to love, where to go, or what sacrifices she had to make.

She kicked off her shoes and placed her handbag on the kitchen counter.

Then she stood perfectly still.

she could not stop thinking about Ethan's expression when he had asked why she returned.

He had looked at her as though he wanted to hear an answer.

Perhaps another part already believed there was nothing she could say that would change his mind.

Amelia walked into her bedroom and opened the bottom drawer of her wardrobe.

Beneath folded scarves and old notebooks sat a small wooden box.

She hesitated before lifting it out.

The box was simple, slightly scratched, and worn around the edges. She had carried it with her through three different apartments, two different cities, and every fresh start she had attempted to make.

She placed it on the bed and opened the lid.

Inside lay a faded photograph.

In it, a younger Amelia stood beside Ethan beneath a flowering tree in a quiet garden. He had one arm around her shoulders, and she was laughing at something outside the frame.

Ethan's smile was so genuine that looking at it hurt.

He had been twenty-four then, ambitious but still capable of dreaming about a future that had nothing to do with money or power.

She had been twenty, convinced that love could overcome anything.

Beneath the photograph lay a folded piece of paper.

Amelia carefully unfolded it.

The handwriting was Ethan's.

Whatever happens, whatever they say, remember this: I choose you. Even when the world stands against us,

Her eyes filled with tears.

She pressed the paper against her chest.

"I never stopped choosing you," she whispered into the empty room.

The words disappeared into the silence.

Her phone rang.

Amelia quickly wiped her eyes and answered without checking the number.

"Hello?"

"Amelia Rose?"

Her entire body went still.

She knew that voice.

It was deeper than she remembered, but she would have recognized it anywhere.

"Who is this?" she asked, although she already knew.

A short laugh came through the phone.

"Seven years, and you still pretend not to recognize people."

Amelia gripped the edge of the bed.

"What do you want?"

"To offer you some friendly advice.”

I don't need your advice."

"You might want to listen anyway. Stay away from Ethan Blackwood."

Her heart began to pound.

"Who is this?"

"Someone who knows what happened seven years ago."

Amelia could barely breathe.

"Tell me your name."

"Names aren't important. What matters is that some things should remain buried."

The line went silent.

Amelia stared at the phone.

Then another message appeared from an unknown number.

You should never have come back. She could not move.

The rain continued tapping against the windows, but the apartment suddenly felt too quiet.

Someone knew she had returned.

And someone was afraid of what might happen if the past came to light.

Amelia looked down at the faded photograph in her hand.

Seven years ago, she had left because she believed it was the only way to protect the people she loved.

She had promised herself that she would never return to the life she had abandoned.

But now she was back seemed the past had been waiting for her.

Amelia placed the photograph inside the box, closed the lid, and stood.

Tomorrow, she would walk into Blackwood Holdings and present her proposal.

She would not let Ethan humiliate her, would not let the mysterious caller to spoil her presentation and would not run away again.

Not this time.

Whatever secrets waited beneath the ruins of their broken vow, Amelia intended to discover the truth.

Even if the truth destroyed the last pieces of the life she had built.