THE NEXT DAY
Cathie sat unmoving before her laptop, the screen glowing uselessly as the hours slipped past. Her hands lay limp at her sides, trembling from exhaustion, her gaze fixed on nothing at all. No matter how hard she tried, her mind refused to leave the events of the previous day, the meeting she had hoped would pass quietly, the careful introduction of Rowan as her fiancé, and the way everything had unraveled so effortlessly.
Her father, Dylan Valente, loved her deeply. Of that, she had never doubted. But his disappointment had been unmistakable. To him, she had chosen yet another relationship over the one man he genuinely believed was right for her, the only man he had ever trusted to take care of his daughter. And now, that trust had shattered completely.
It hadn’t even been
