Page 36 of Outcast’s Return

But then we had started exchanging emails, and from then on, it was too late. I never meant for it to become as intense as it did, but I welcomed the evolution of our conversations into something deeper. I began to feel like I could tell him anything, and he would treat my words with care. I felt safe unloading onto him. His own words invigorated me and gave me a calm clarity. He made me understand what I wanted to do with my skills. He made me feel capable. Useful. More than just some daughter of a powerful man. Fabien encouraged me to study finance. He made me understand myself.

He felt like home.

And I, simply and honestly, fell in love.

More years passed, and Clement hovered over us, unspoken, like a ghostly threat.

And then there was that email. A few words. A message sent across the ocean. And, in it, there was the one word that could destroy him.

And that was it. Years of something... gone.

I had broken his heart, but also my own. And the worst thing is that I never got the chance to tell him what he meant to me.

And then there were no more emails. No more words. I thought I wouldn’t see him again. Never talk to him again.

How things can change in an instant.

Now, a lifetime later, we’re stuck together. I’m alone with the man I had made vulnerable and then broke. A man who hates me. A boy who I once loved, now a man who I fear has the ability to ruin me.

And we’re trapped together for seven long, horrible, heartbreaking days.

DAY TWO

12

FABIEN

I slip into my driver’s seat and slam the door. I sigh and rub my temples.

I think I’m in shock. Bewildered. I have made it through the first night with the woman and I somehow didn’t completely lose it. She’s still up there, in the penthouse directly above my head, in the bed we’re forced to share.

That was one fucking long night.

I’m exhausted from the raging storm. From all that I’ve had to internalize with seeing her again.

I’m just fucking... spent.

Stop it.

I need to forget about Jolie Auclair. She shouldn’t have this power I’m giving her. I’ve fought so, so damn hard to focus on my career and my life, and I’m not risking all of that now just because she’s in my bed.

Just one week, and then I’ll never see her again.

Right now, I need a problem to solve.

And I know what.

* * *

I drive out of the private parking lot of the apartment building and head downtown. I pull up outside an art gallery and take a long look before I step out.

I’m banned from entering this place, but there’s no security to stop me.

Foolish.

I walk straight on in.

It’s still morning, and the gallery is technically closed, but there is already a group inside. I know who they are. I know why they’re here.