I stared at the screen.
Jovi: I saw you.
Jovi: Can we still call each other best friends?
My fingers refused to move.
Across the street, the black SUV disappeared into the traffic.
She hadn’t accidentally seen us.
She had followed us.
Every laugh.
Every look.
Every second Vance and I had spent together…
She’d been watching.
Then Vance notices my silence.
“What is it?”
I turned the screen toward him.
He read the messages once.
His expression didn’t change.
But something cold settled into his eyes.
“Interesting.”
”She was here?” I asked.
“No.” His answer came immediately.
“Jovienne doesn’t follow people.”
I frowned.
“Then how—”
”She sends other people.”
”Get in,” Vance said quietly.
“This changes nothing.”
”Are you sure?”
”No.”
His gaze stayed on the road where the SUV had disappeared.
“It changes one thing. She’s already making her move.”
The car pulled away from the Lexington Club.
For several minutes, neither of us spoke.
Finally Vance broke the silence.
“You surprised me tonight.”
I paused, looking back at him.
“Good.”
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips.
“Yes. It is.” He looked past me, at the glittering facade of the club, and the smile vanished.
“Remember this. Pretending takes energy. I’d rather spend mine winning.”
He gave me a curt nod.
“Tomorrow will be interesting,” he said, louder now, for the valet’s ears.
“I’ll be ready,” I replied, sliding into the car.
The door closed, and I was alone with the hum of the engine and the memory of two things: his stunned face when he first saw me, and the real laugh we’d shared.
Small victories, but they felt enormous.
When I got home, Zane was waiting.
“You’re late,” he said.
“It was a long dinner.”
”With him.”
”Yes.”
He ran a hand through his hair.
“What’s going on, Nerissa?
This isn’t like you.”
”You don’t know what I’m like anymore,” I said, walking past him to the kitchen.
“You haven’t looked at me in years.”
He followed me.
“That’s not true.” His voice cracked.
I turned to face him, still feeling the buzz of the night, the black dress like armor against his scrutiny.
“Isn’t it? When was the last time you really looked at me? Actually saw me?”
He opened his mouth, then closed it.
His eyes traveled over me now, really looking, for the first time in maybe years.
And I saw confusion there.
The woman before him was familiar but different.
Stronger.
Sharper.
“You cut your hair?” he asked, noticing what Vance had noticed immediately.
“Just styled it differently.”
He shook his head slowly.
“You look…”
”Different?” I supplied.
“Beautiful,” he said quietly, and there was genuine surprise in his voice.
Like he was noticing for the first time.
The word should have warmed me.
Instead, it just made me sad.
That it took me dressing up for another man for him to finally see me.
“You never used to wear that color lipstick.”
”I do now.
It makes me feel stronger.”
He shook his head slowly.
“You’re changing.
Because of him.”
”I’m changing because of you,” I said, my voice quiet and clear.
“You made sure the woman I was couldn’t live here anymore. So I’m becoming someone who can.”
He flinched.
Good.
He should have been shaken.
“I don’t know you right now,” he said, and for the first time, he sounded afraid.
Not angry.
Afraid.
Of losing me.
“You haven’t known me in years, Zane. You’ve just been looking at an outline and filling in the blanks with who you needed me to be.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but no words came.
I walked past him, toward the guest room.
“Nerissa,” he said, his voice rough.
“What happens now?”
I paused at the door but didn’t turn around.
“Now,” I said softly, “you get to watch what happens when the person you took for granted stops standing still.”
I closed the door between us.
I didn’t lock it.
The click of the latch was enough.
I stood in the dark guest room, the black dress feeling less like armor now and more like a skin I was still growing into.
Outside, I heard nothing.
No footsteps.
No tears.
Just the silence of a man who no longer recognized the woman he married.
My phone buzzed in my clutch.
My Partner: Rest.
Tomorrow, the real work begins.
I didn’t reply.
I stood by the window, watching the city glow, and wondered what tomorrow would bring.
He thought tonight was the change.
He had no idea what was coming in the morning.
My phone buzzed again.
This time it wasn’t Vance.
It was the company group chat.
Someone had leaked tomorrow’s executive announcement.
237 unread messages.
My thumb moved before I could stop it.
The first message filled the screen.
Wait…
isn’t Ms. Sullivan married?
I never got to read the second.
Another notification appeared.
Unknown Number: Congratulations on the promotion.
Let’s see how long you survive it.