Zoe Quinn fell silent for a few seconds.
Tomorrow night…
Zachary Sinclair had said he was taking her to try on wedding accessories, but she could always push it back.
“Alright, I’ll go.”
“Great!
I’ll let the manager know.
See you at the club entrance tomorrow at seven fifty!”
After hanging up, Zoe rubbed her face and leaned against the headboard, staring up at the ceiling.
She still needed to go to her part-time job.
Perhaps keeping busy would stop her from dwelling on things she shouldn’t.
Outside the window, a sparrow hopped from branch to branch, letting out a series of cheerful CHIRPS.
Watching it, Zoe was suddenly reminded of an afternoon many years ago.
Silas Sutton had climbed a tree at the orphanage to retrieve her handkerchief that had blown away in the wind.
He had smiled so radiantly back then, saying, “Sprout, no matter where your things fly off to, I’ll chase them down for you.”
But in the end, he left anyway.
No explanations, no goodbyes.
He simply vanished from her life without a trace.
Zoe closed her eyes, clutching the ring tightly in her palm until the metal edges dug painfully into her skin.
Perhaps some promises were doomed to remain unfulfilled.
And some people were destined to stay only in memories.
Taking a deep breath, Zoe looked as if she had finally made up her mind to bid farewell to the past.
Then, she got up, sat in the chair by the window, picked up her embroidery hoop, and began working on her piece.
Perhaps it was some unspoken telepathy between former lovers, but somewhere in the unseen fabric of the world, both she and Silas had chosen to bury their heartache under a mountain of work.
In the Cosmos Group conference room.
An hour and a half into the meeting, Silas’s phone suddenly vibrated—BZZZ.
He paused so briefly it was almost imperceptible, then quickly returned to normal, continuing to listen to the presentation.
However, his close friend Sean Crane, who had been keeping an eye on him, noticed him discreetly pull the phone out under the table, glance at it, and tuck it back away.
It was a text from an unknown number.
Not from Zoe.
Silas’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, but Sean’s sharp eyes caught the light in his friend’s gaze dimming just a fraction.
The meeting dragged on for another forty minutes.
By the time the last department finished its report, everyone was exhausted, yet hardly anyone dared to show a sliver of slack.
Silas snapped his notepad shut and looked up.
“That concludes today’s meeting.
Dismissed.”
The executives looked as though they had just been pardoned, scrambling to their feet to leave.
Only one man, sitting not far from Ryan Rhodes, intentionally kicked his chair back with a loud CLATTER as he stood.
He cast a sidelong glare at Silas, his face etched with displeasure as he muttered under his breath to Simon Abbott beside him, “Mr.
Abbott, look at that arrogant prick.
What a joke.
He hasn’t done a damn thing for three years, and the moment he comes back, he throws his weight around and acts like he owns the place.
If it weren’t for veterans like you holding down the fort, his title as CEO wouldn’t mean shit.”
Simon, the logistics manager, nudged him with his elbow and hissed, “Shut up!
Let’s go.”
The man let out a highly reluctant scoff before finally turning on his heel and leaving the room with Simon.
Soon, only Silas, Sean, and Ryan were left in the conference room.
Ryan let out a long sigh of relief.
“Boss, you were fierce today.
Absolutely ruthless.
Those guys probably won’t be able to sleep tonight.”
Silas didn’t reply.
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, a sliver of exhaustion finally slipping onto his face.
The mask he had forced himself to wear all day had cracked just a bit in this quiet moment.
“Boss, do you want to go grab a bite?” Sean asked cautiously.
“We still haven’t eaten lunch.”
Silas shook his head.
“I’m not hungry.” He opened his eyes and looked at Sean.
“The issues within the company are worse than I imagined.
Management is lax, decision-making is arbitrary, and way too many projects are just burning through cash.
We have to correct this immediately.”
Sean and Ryan both lowered their heads.
They had tried their best over the past three years, but they simply fell short.
Cosmos Group’s operations were far too sprawling, and neither of them possessed Silas’s commanding presence or his ability to oversee the big picture.
“But it’s fine,” Silas said, standing up and straightening his suit.
“There’s absolutely no issue with starting the restructuring now.”
His voice was as calm as ever, but both Sean and Ryan could hear the ironclad resolve beneath it.
This was the boss they knew—once he set his mind on something, he would go all out and never stop until the goal was achieved.
The three of them walked out of the conference room and headed back up to the sixteenth floor.
Henry Grant was currently organizing the meeting files.
Seeing them approach, he hastily stood up.
“Mr.
Sutton, do you need anything else?”
“Go get something to eat first,” Silas told him.
“Just remember, when I come in tomorrow morning, I expect to see the meeting minutes along with the detailed data from every department’s presentation today.”
Sutton.” Henry nodded, swiftly packing up his things to leave.
The office was once again left with just the three of them.
“Boss, are you sure you don’t want to rest for a bit?” Ryan asked, his tone laced with concern.
Turning around, Silas slipped that mask of tranquility right back onto his face.
“I still have some documents to review.
You two head home first.”
Knowing there was no talking him out of it, Sean and Ryan nodded and made their exit.
As they reached the door, Sean glanced back.
Silas was already seated behind his desk, having booted up his computer, his eyes glued to the screen in deep concentration.
His profile was sharply defined, but his brows were knitted tightly together.
The office door clicked shut.
Silas stared at the monitor, his gaze entirely unfocused.
His fingers tapped against the desk unconsciously—TAP, TAP—rhythmic and mechanical.
After a long time, he finally pulled out his phone again, opened his contacts, and scrolled to the number saved under the name “Her.”
Should he give her a call?
Forget it.
He opened the messaging app and started typing.
He typed out a long paragraph, reading it over and over again, before ultimately deleting it character by character.
The way Zoe had looked at him at the school gates today had said it all.
She was disappointed in him.
If he sent this text, there was a chance her fiancé might inadvertently see it.
That young man who had opened the car door for her was gentle and considerate.
Anyone could tell at a glance that he was someone capable of giving her happiness.
Why should he do anything that might give her fiancé the wrong idea?
Silas turned off his phone, tossed it onto the desk, and buried his face in his hands.
In this solitary moment, he finally stripped away all his disguises, allowing himself to bare a fleeting second of vulnerability.
The office was dead silent, save for the faint HUM of the central air conditioning vents.
Outside, the sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows and spilled across his back, yet it couldn’t warm his freezing heart.
After an indeterminable amount of time, Silas lifted his head.
The cold, unyielding hardness had returned to his eyes.
He opened his inbox and began tearing through his emails.
Document after document, decision after decision, he threw himself completely into his work, using the relentless grind to numb the throbbing ache in his chest.
The sun set, and he didn’t look up.
The bright moon hung high in the sky, and still, he didn’t look up.
That night, the lights on the sixteenth floor of Cosmos Group stayed on well into the early hours of the morning.