CHAPTER SIXTEEN: CATALYST
1210 Words
MORRISON
I should have walked away the moment she confessed. Instead, I brought her deeper in.
Walking side by side with Quinn, I found myself wondering why I was going all out for her.
This is the same woman who rejected me, chose another man over me, even when I literally begged her to allow me to show her just how much she meant to me.
Perhaps I was the second choice and backup plan, and I allowed myself to be just that.
“Did you hear what I said?”
Her thin voice snapped me from my wandering world.
“I am just thinking of the better way to follow this up,” I lied.
I took a turn to the left side of the building, which housed the VIP area, and she followed quietly. I didn’t ask what she said earlier, and she didn’t reiterate either.
We arrived at one of the rooms where she would stay for the meantime. It was at the far end of the hallway, highly luxurious. A 5-star.
“Why are you doing all these for me? Helping me?” she asked.
“Am I? I replied.
Quinn turned and walked slowly to the window, drew the curtains and stood.
I seized the opportunity to look at her closely under the dim light. She was ever calm, like nothing had happened. Her skin and frame were ever glowing; she never changed.
“We’re not running,” I said, “we finish what I started.”
Her words suddenly hit me. I had not thought of it when she said it. But now, it stirred my curiosity. What had she started?
Could it be that Quinn planned all of these? But to what extent, and what did she seek to achieve?
“Quinn,” I called.
She turned to me without saying a word.
“Who are you?” The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
“Who am I?”
“If you want this to end well for both of us,” I said calmly, “I will want to know your plan and mission.”
She stared at me with a smile on her face. I could see it. Like she enjoyed seeing me feel that way.
“And is that why you are asking who I am?” she giggled. “Do you know me to be more than who I am?”
I ran my fingers through my hair. “When we stepped out of the car—”
“I said we will not run but finish what I started,” she cut in confidently.
“And what do you mean by that?”
She held my gaze for a second, “You want to hear the truth?”
She paused.
“I set this whole thing in motion.”
There it was again, that look of certainty. Like she was ten steps ahead and I just had to catch up.
For a moment, I thought I misheard her. But the look in her eyes didn’t change. There was no apology.
“What?” I asked, quieter now.
“I made you come back.”
I let a quiet, humourless laugh, dragging a hand down my face. “You made me what?”
“The message. Remember?” she said.
When Jasper won in court, I gave up. There was nothing more I could do; he had the power. The resources and the people. And now, legal backing.
I decided I would not fight a lost battle but establish myself to reach the apex. And so, I left everything behind and left to begin it afresh.
But that night, when I received that message from an anonymous fellow, it revived the painful memories I thought I had left behind.
It was then that I realized I had not truly moved on. I just managed to bury the hatchet, and now, a flood had washed it open.
I decided to return to fight for what truly belongs to me.
“You sent that text?” I asked.
Quinn let out a quiet laugh. She didn’t deny it. She just stood, steady and unshaken.
“You used me.”
“I only helped you fight for what belongs to you. Don’t mention.”
“Why?”
She left the window and walked closer, calmly. Each step, calculated. She stopped just in front of me and looked me in the eye. I didn’t flinch. She took a step backward.
“When I found out he was seeing someone else…”
She paused.
“I was angry and needed immediate revenge,” she continued, “and so, I looked for what to leverage that would bring him down.”
“And you decided to use me,” I said, looking at her.
“No. The company,’ she paused to see my reaction, “he values it and will do everything to protect it. So, I brought you back.”
“Did you plan that night too?” I asked.
“That was just a coincidence. I didn’t. What were you doing there?”
I exhaled. “When I came into town, the memories of everything I passed through hit me. I drove to the Finns’ estate—”
“To say hello to him?”
“No. I don’t know why I was there. But I just wanted to behold the sight of the house, and possibly, him. The desire to get revenge overwhelmed me from the moment I saw those documents.”
“And then you found me,” she added.
Those words. It reminded me of the day I met her. Years ago, before Jasper took her away from me.
That night, she had been standing under the soft glow of warm lights in the street when I offered her a lift. She obliged, and we got along fine.
We exchanged contacts, and subsequently, I made my intentions known.
“Give me some time to think about it.”
Those were her words. The time turned into days, weeks, then months. But she never gave a reply.
Till I met her with Jasper at the company’s eatery that blessed afternoon. They chatted like a couple already.
I was so broken. When I asked her, she said,
“I like him. I choose him.”
And that was the end. Jasper took her away from me and proceeded to take the company too.
“You haven’t changed,” I said to her when I snapped out of my thoughts.
Her head tilted. “I have.”
“No,” I replied, my gaze hardening. “You just stopped pretending.”
I took a step closer, then another, until there was no space left between us. Her breath didn’t hitch, and her eyes didn’t drop.
Her revelation should have been enough reason to be furious, to have her thrown out and end this before it got worse. But something more dangerous stopped me. Control.
“You brought me back into this,” I said quietly, “so let me make something clear to you.”
Silence.
“You don’t get to walk away from this game you started.”
My voice dropped.
“Because I am finishing it.”
- Writer
