Chapter 2

Mr. Sterling laughed heartily. Before he could say anything, Asher intervened in a calm tone. "Dating between HQ and the local branches is perfectly fine. One of you would just need to transfer out of state."

I looked at Julian with genuine amusement. I wondered who would be the one transferring---him or Mia?

Julian sneered. "What about you, Chloe? Do you have a candidate in mind?"

"Actually, yes. I'm putting in my transfer request first thing tomorrow. You can consider this dinner my farewell party!"

The table immediately buzzed with questions about where I was going, but I kept it mysterious. "You'll find out soon enough."

Julian's expression softened slightly. He wiped his hands with a napkin and pulled out his phone.

A second later, my phone buzzed on my lap. It was a Snapchat message from him.

"That's enough. Don't push it."

"Mr. Sterling was just joking. Did you really have to ruin the mood?"

I let out a quiet scoff and didn't bother replying.

Once the dinner ended, everyone began to disperse.

Julian, who hadn't been drinking, naturally offered to drive Mia home.

I was left standing on the curb, shivering in the freezing wind.

I watched his taillights vanish into the traffic. I opened my Uber app, only to see that there were ninety people ahead of me in the queue.

Damn it.

Suddenly, a sharp cramp and a rush of warmth hit my lower abdomen---my period had arrived early in the freezing cold. I clutched my stomach, wincing in pain.

Just as I was about to walk toward a nearby coffee shop to wait, a sleek black car pulled up to the curb and honked twice.

The window rolled down, revealing Asher's face. "Get in."

"It's fine, Mr. Vance. I ordered an Uber."

"The wait times around here are brutal. Unless you want to freeze to death out here until midnight, get in the car."

I glanced at my app again. He was right. I gave up and climbed into the passenger seat.

Once inside, a sudden wave of panic hit me.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Vance... I might need to pay for your car detailing later. I... I think I might have made a mess."

I shifted uncomfortably, trying to hover slightly off the leather seat. Sensing my embarrassment, he raised an eyebrow.

"Don't worry about the car. If you really feel bad, you can buy me dinner next time to make it up to me."

I nodded frantically. The heater in the car was running high, and warmth slowly returned to my frozen fingers and toes. Asher sat quietly next to me, focused on reviewing some reports on his tablet.

As expected of executive leadership---always working, even at this hour. I sat there awkwardly until his voice broke the silence.

"Did you mean what you said tonight?"

"About what?"

"Your transfer request. Where do you want to go?"

I took a breath and answered honestly. "Yes. I want to transfer back to Miami."

I wasn't lying. After three years of this exhausting, secret relationship, I was tired. I wanted to settle down.

My parents had been begging me to move back closer to them. I was their only daughter, after all. But every time I brought it up, Julian would make excuses to delay it.

Just last week, he had promised to fly down with me to meet my parents. But after I bought the flight tickets, he called me at the last minute to cancel, saying something urgent had come up.

And the time before that, it was the exact same excuse. I bought the tickets, and he suddenly had a "critical meeting" he couldn't miss, leaving me to fly back alone.

I couldn't even count how many times I had gone home by myself. Every time I saw the disappointment in my parents' eyes, the guilt ate me alive.

The truth was, Julian didn't care.

If a man really cares, he will make time, no matter how busy he is.

Asher didn't say anything more after that.

When we arrived at my hotel, I quickly opened the door to get out.

Before I closed it, he leaned over and reminded me,

"Let me know the day you're flying out. I have some business in Miami anyway. You can give me a status update on the way."

I nodded, slightly confused. What did I need to update him on?

But since he was my superior, I simply agreed. "Will do."

When I got back to my room, Julian wasn't there. I quickly washed my clothes and cleaned up. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. It was a delivery driver holding a bag.

But I hadn't ordered anything.