Chapter 4
425 Words
Selene
“I should’ve worn black,” I muttered, collapsing onto the couch in Lana’s apartment like the day had sucked the life out of me.
Lana raised an eyebrow from the kitchen island, holding two glasses of red wine. “You wore red. That’s power.”
“It felt like war.”
She handed me a glass. “Was it?”
I took a long sip before answering. “It was… controlled fire. Like standing across from someone who once drowned you and pretending you can breathe just fine.”
She gave a soft wince. “So… how’d it go?”
“He looked good.”
Lana blinked. “Wow. I was not expecting that answer.”
I laughed, a sharp, bitter sound. “Neither was I. That’s the problem.”
The truth was, Xander Voss had always been magnetic. Even when I hated him, part of me still burned in his orbit. He was a liar a mistake, a memory I’d buried beneath ambition and anger—but none of that stopped my heart from stuttering the second I saw him again.
“I was professional,” I said. Cold. Direct. I didn’t give him an inch.”
“And yet you’re sitting here like your soul got punched.”
I hated how well she knew me.
"I set the glass down, fingers tight around the stem. “He asked me if I was here to destroy him. Or just to make sure he’s still bleeding.”
Lana leaned forward. “And what did you say?”
“That this was just an interview.”
“And is it?”
My throat tightened. I didn’t answer.
Because I wasn’t sure anymore.
Some part of me wanted closure. Another part wanted vengeance. But buried under both was the piece of me that used to believe in the way he held me. Along the way, he said my name like it meant something. Like I did.
But I’d seen him with her. I’d heard the silence where truth should’ve lived.
I couldn’t let myself forget that.
“I need to keep this about the story,” I said, more to myself than to her. “I need to finish this, publish it, and move on.”
Lana didn’t look convinced. “You think walking back into a fire means you won’t catch the heat?”
“I won’t burn again.”
She sighed, handing me the rest of her wine. “Sure, babe. Just try not to lie to yourself harder than he did.”
- Writer
