Elena's POV

"Mom, look! It's got some sparkles in it!"

Leo held a rock up so close to my face that I had to lean back to actually see it. It was gray, plain, a little wet from sitting in the grass all night, and I loved it more than anything in the world because he loved it.

I turned it over in my fingers like it was made of gold. At six years old, he still believed the world was full of magic hiding in plain sight.

"That's a good one, baby. Where'd you find it?"

"By the fence. It was calling my name."

"Rocks don't talk, Leo."

"This one does."

I didn't argue with him. I zipped his backpack, smoothed down his hair, and handed him his shoes one at a time while he hopped on one foot trying to put them on himself. My hands were steady doing all of it, but my stomach had been doing slow, nervous flips since five in the morning.

Monday mornings had always made me anxious. But today, the anxiety sat heavier in my chest, pressing against my ribs every time I looked at my reflection.

Today wasn't just any Monday. Today was the first time I would attend an executive meeting since I became the senior vice president of the marketing department at Voss Global.

I stood in front of the mirror, smoothing invisible wrinkles from my charcoal-gray blazer for what had to be the tenth time. My hair was neatly pinned back, my makeup subtle and professional, and my heels clicked softly against the hardwood floor as I continued getting ready.

I looked like a woman who belonged in executive meetings.

If only I could convince my heart of that.

Six years ago I was a scared, broke, twenty-two-year-old with a positive pregnancy test and no plan, and today I worked with one of the biggest companies in the city with a title that meant something. Nobody handed me this.

I clawed my way here with a sacrifice of late night and missed birthday parties and one impossible choice at a time. Therefore I'm allowed to be proud of that, even if pride still felt like a coat that didn't quite fit right.

"You're gonna do great, Mom."

Leo said with a mouthful of cereal, so casual, like he wasn't the reason I found the strength to keep going on the days I wanted to quit.

I kissed the top of his head and told him I loved him three times before he rolled his eyes and told me to stop, which was our routine.

My phone buzzed on the counter while I packed Leo's lunch. Daniel's name lit up the screen, and I smiled before I even opened the message.

“Good morning Elena. How are you guys doing? Just wanted to check up on you guys. Please don't let Leo be late to school today just because I wasn't there to wake you up. Just kidding, See you soon.”

I typed back a quick thank you and told him we are on our way to school, my hands nervously shaking around the edges of my phone.

Daniel was my best friend and also a children's doctor who happened to be working in Leo's school. He had been a great help ever since we became neighbors seven years ago most especially during my pregnancy time. He helped in carrying heavy loads, boxes, groceries I couldn't carry on my own, and fixed Leo's bike without being asked. He once showed up with soup when I and Leo had a flu at the same time and he had never for once made either of us feel like a burden he hadn't signed up for.

I dashed out of the house with Leo after some endless minutes of preparation and drove to his school.

Getting to his school, we both walked towards Daniel's office at the main entrance.

Daniel was already crouched by the cubbies when we entered his office. He wore blue scrubs covered in a cartoon animal print. On his feet were clean black Crocs with superhero charms. His thick black hair was cut short on the sides and styled neatly on top.

He looked up and smiled the moment he saw us, standing to catch the office door before it closed

"Look at you," he said warmly, closing the door behind us with a click. "Senior VP, even the hairstyle and everything says it all."

"It's the same hair as yesterday Daniel,” I reminded him.

"It's a power hairstyle today. Don't argue with me."

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, as your lordship pleases.”

He smiled and pressed his hand briefly on my shoulder. “Are you nervous?"

"Terrified. But don't tell anyone."

"Your secret's safe with me." He replied jokingly before he knelt down to Leo's height and held out a fist for him to bump. "And you, my man. I heard there's a rock situation happening. I need details later okay?"

Leo beamed and promised him a full report. Daniel ran his hand through his hair before straightening up and looked at me with a softness in his eyes.

"You've got this, Elena. Whatever they throw at you, don't let them win okay?”

I nodded and thanked him before we both walked Leo right up to his classroom. He held the classroom door until Leo was safely inside talking to a friend.

Then escorted me back to the parking lot, unhurried, like he had nowhere better to be, even though I knew for a fact he had a lot of work to do in his office.

"Call me when you settle down at work. I can't wait to hear how everything went."

"I will. Promise."

Then I entered my car and drove to the meeting place with my knuckles a little tight on the steering wheel.

By the time I parked outside the meeting building, my palms were damp against the steering wheel.

The building stretched high into the sky, all steel and glass, reflecting the morning sunlight so brightly I had to squint.

I straightened my blazer, squared my shoulders, and walked inside like I belonged there, even though my heart was racing in my chest.

The lobby buzzed with quiet conversations and hurried footsteps.

Near the elevators stood one of our company's executives, already waiting.

"There you are," she said with a smile. "I was beginning to think you'd changed your mind."

"I considered it."

She laughed as the elevator doors slid open. We rode up together, and she started briefing me about the meeting, the quarterly targets for the project to be discussed and the company we are to partner with on the project.

By the time the elevator doors opened on the executive floor, my heart had slowed to something almost normal, and I thought, for one minute.

Maybe, I could actually do this.

We both walked toward a big double door at the end and now she was already talking about the representative of the other company.

"The representative from the other company is apparently attending in person."

"Really?"

She nodded. "He became CEO after his father's health deteriorated. Brilliant, ruthless and practically impossible to meet. He rarely attends meetings himself.”

I nodded along, only half listening because I was busy running through my own notes in my head one at a time.

"He doesn't do a lot of these meetings personally," she said, "so it's a big deal that he's here today."

"Got it,” I finally replied and forced a smile.

"No pressure." She laughed before pushing one of the heavy doors open.

"After you."

Through the frosted glass, before I even stepped inside the room, a voice cut through the low hum of conversation in the room, easy and low.

“So you mean we are to partner with Voss Global on this project?”

There was a brief pause. Then, the voice continued.

"And where the hell is their representative for this meeting?"

Every muscle in my body froze that I stopped in my tracks. The sound of that voice sent a violent chill racing down my spine.

No, it can't be.

My pulse pounded so loudly I could barely hear anything else.

I knew that voice.

Elena's POV

My whole body went still, my breath catching once again because I hadn't heard that voice for a long time and some part of me had spent every single day praying I would never again.

I pushed the door open before my legs could talk me out of it.

The room buzzed with quiet noise. Papers shuffling, low voices, someone muffling something I didn't seem to hear.

A long table stretched out ahead of me, filled with people wearing sharp suits that barely looked up as I walked in.

For one second the room simply held me the way any new face gets held, polite and brief.

Then my eyes found the head of the table, and every other sound in the room drifted away.

It was him.

Adrian Kane.

He sat there like he owned the place, his dark hair was shorter than I remembered, jaw sharper, shoulders wider under a suit that seemed sow just for him.

It seemed like softness had been stripped out of his face and left something colder behind.

My whole body went numb in a second, and immediately I forgot how to move my own legs.

“I'm sorry for the late arrival.” I finally said. “My name is Elena Hart and I'm the representative of Voss Global for this meeting.”

Everyone in the room nodded and finally my legs obeyed my bidding.

I don't remember crossing the room. I just knew I was already sitting on a chair, and someone slid a folder to me while my hands were folding themselves on the table like they don't belong to me anymore.

I kept my eyes down and my face still, on anything that wasn't the man at the end of the table.

“Breathe. You've got this,” I thought to myself.

"Let's get started," someone said, jolting me back to the present and the meeting commenced as though nothing had just changed at all.

As the meeting went on, I nodded whenever it was necessary and gave a response when questions were thrown at me.

But inside, my chest was tight and every few seconds my eyes dragged themselves back up the table, pulled by something stronger than sense.

And every single time I looked at him, he was already looking at me.

Earlier when I walked in, his face went blank with confusion, like a half-remembered song.

But the second time our eyes met, the recognition landed like a slap on his face and his jaw became tight, his gaze flat and cold.

The kind of look that dropped the temperature of the whole room.

Seeing this, I quickly looked back at the folder and didn't look up again.

I have sat through hot meetings before. I have voiced my opinion even when men twice my age underestimated me on sight.

But none of that prepared me for forty-five minutes meeting with him. So I couldn't pretend that my heart wasn't trying to climb out of my chest.

Finally the meeting ended, chairs scraped back and voices rose into chatter. I stood up quickly, the folder clutched to my chest, already looking for the fastest way to the door.

"Elena." Adrian's called out from behind. Low and flat, pitched just for me to hear under the noise of everyone leaving.

I stopped two steps from the door and turned slowly to where his voice came from.

Running would have made it strange as it felt. So I didn't even allow myself to think of it.

After turning to face him, I realized he was still seated, watching the room empty with a patience that made my skin crawl.

Finally the last person left and the door clicked shut behind me. Now it was just the two of us with a very long table between us with tension sitting heavy in the air.

"Adrian."

His name came out of my mouth more carefully than I meant it, like it was something breakable.

He stood up, buttoned his jacket, every movement controlled in a way more dangerous than shouting would have been.

"So you work for Voss Global now. What a small world."

"Well, yes I do and I didn't expect you to be here."

"Would it have mattered?"

I didn't answer, because I honestly didn't know, and because answering felt like handling him something I wasn't ready to give.

He walked around the table slowly, closing the distance one step at a time, and I made myself stay still, meeting his eyes anyway.

Up close, he looked like someone carved out of something darker and cold.

"I heard that you are married," he said, turning the word over like he was testing it. "So you disappeared because you wanted to settle yourself down."

"I don't owe you an explanation."

"No. You don't." His voice stayed calm, but something underneath it had gone jagged. "You left without saying goodbye and built a whole life somewhere and I don't even worth a phone call."

The words hit harder than I expected with a strange, twisted echo of a truth he didn't understand at all.

My face became hot, anger and grief tangling together until I couldn't tell which one was driving my next words.

"Why should I? How does that even concern you?"

“Because—" He stopped halfway, his jaw tightening like some old argument was dying behind his teeth.

"You know what? Never mind.."

"Good.” I replied immediately, my voice shook, just slightly, and I hated that he could probably notice it.

Something flickered across his face, fast and unreadable, it was gone before I could name it.

For one second he looked like he wanted to argue, but then his face closed over like a door shutting, the cold, controlled CEO settling back into place like armor.

"Well, this is a business relationship now," he said. "Let's make this work."

"Sure. Because that's exactly what I want."

"Good. We understand each other."

I turned toward the door without answering any further, relief flooding through me so fast that it nearly buckled my knees.

Before I even reached the door, my hand was already reaching for the handle.

Three more steps and I would be in the hallway, out of this room, out of the reach of those gray eyes. I had almost made it.

"One more thing.” Adrian said from behind.

I stopped with my hand on the handle, my spine straight but I didn't turn around.

He didn't move from where he was, but his voice dropped lower in a way that put every nerve in my body on alert.

"Why are you back here Elena?" he asked.

The floor tilted slightly as the question landed, and for a moment I hoped it would open and swallow me whole.

I turned back to him slowly, my hand still frozen on the handle, mouth already open to give an excuse I didn't have yet.

Behind me, he was looking at me with an expression I couldn't read, not accusation exactly, not yet.

"Tell me, why on earth did you join Voss Global?" he asked, his voice raising a little now.

Elena's POV

My mouth opened before my brain could finish building the lie, and somehow the right words came out anyway.

"Is there any reason why I should tell you about my private life now?" I replied and even managed a small, tired laugh, the kind that suggested this whole conversation was mildly annoying wasting both of our time.

"I hope you will refrain from asking questions that do not relate with this project. Thank you."

Adrian watched me for a long moment, his gray eyes moving over my face like he was reading it.

I stood perfectly still and let him look, because flinching would have told him everything I was trying to hide.

Something in his expression showed that he knew I was hiding something, but he nodded, slow and unconvinced.

"Of course," he said. "Good to see you Elena."

I didn't answer. Because it was the way round for me.

I simply walked out with my back straight and my head up, the way I had trained myself to walk out of every hard room.

I didn't allow my face to crack until I was inside the elevator with the doors sliding shut. My reflection in the polished steel looked calm. But my hands, pressed flat against my thighs, were shaking so hard I had to grip the strap of my bag just to make them stop.

Instead of going to my office, I went straight to the car garage and entered my car before I could breathe properly.

I placed my both hands on the steering wheel, my forehead resting against the cool leather as I counted one to ten.

After six years of careful planning, six years of distance and silence, building something safe. Now just one meeting had nearly knocked it all down in under an hour.

I pulled out my phone with my shaky fingers and called the only person who might understand without needing the whole story first.

Daniel answered on the second ring, already asking questions about how the meeting went but stopped the second he heard my breathing.

"Is everything okay? Why are you breathing like that? What happened?"

"Nothing. Just that I didn't expect the meeting to be that long." My voice cracked slightly on the second word.

"Elena. It's me. Try again. You know that your lies don't work on me."

I signed. Nothing really passes through him.

"Fine. Something came up at the meeting but we will talk about everything tonight when you come back, I promise."

I heard his hesitation sigh on the other end, weighing whether to push or not.

"I'm really okay, Daniel.”

"You don't sound okay. You sound like you're about to throw up in your car."

"I might." And that, at least, was true, and it came out with a small, watery laugh that surprised both of us. "Tonight. I'll explain tonight, I swear."

“Fine… But just know if you try to play smart with me, I'm going to end this friendship without second thought.”

Hearing this, a smile unexpectedly appeared on my lips, making me a little bit better.

“You won't have to do that,” I replied before hanging up the call.

I drove home silently, my mind racing through every version of a future where Adrian Kane found out the truth before I was ready for him to. By the time I pulled into my driveway, my hands had stopped shaking, mostly because I had nothing left to shake with.

Later in the afternoon, I went to pick up Leo at school. Before we even got to the car, he was already talking about a kid in his classroom who claimed to have seen a real live dinosaur bone in his backyard, and the sound of his voice did something to my chest that no amount of deep breathing had managed all day.

I kept nodding throughout our ride home, allowing him to finish the whole story and for that moment, Adrian Kane didn't seem to exist anywhere in the world.

"Can we have the orange chicken?" Leo asked, already climbing onto a kitchen stool the moment we stepped into the house. "The one with the crunchy part."

"Of course darling, we can have the crunchy orange chicken."

After the whole time of preparation we sat down and ate at the counter instead of the table, because that was our Monday tradition, and he told me about his rock collection expanding by two new members while I only half-listened and fully watched his face.

He had Adrian's exact eyes. I'd known that for six years, and had already made my peace with it somewhere around two years ago, but tonight it hit me differently, sharp and strange, like I'm seeing it for the very first time.

I placed him into his bed an hour later with three books instead of the usual two, not ready to let the day end yet.

"You're squishing me mum," Leo mumbled into his pillow, half asleep, as I hugged him one more time than necessary.

"I'm allowed to squish you. I'm your mom."

"That's not an excuse."

"Well, it's my favorite excuse."

He was asleep before I finished the sentence, and I sat on the edge of his bed for a long time, staring at him and listening to him breathe.

Just as I was about to leave his room, my phone rang and an unknown number flashed on the screen.

“Hello.”

I picked it up on the second ring, already wondering who the caller was. But instead of getting an answer, there was an eerie silence on the other end.

Finally a deep voice came through and said, “You should have stayed hidden forever.”