Capítulo 2
You said you wanted to die with me. I'll make sure it happens.

“Elara!”

Caleb finally reacted, rushing onto the stage, shouting my name.

But he cradled Cassandra in his arms, soothing her.

He snapped the knife handle with brute force, then stripped off his jacket and wrapped it around Cassandra's hand.

Only after all that did he finally turn to look at me.

His eyes were an utterly complex mess of emotions.

“Escort CEO Hayes home.”

It was the first time he'd called me CEO Hayes. As the words left his lips, he continued.

“Effective immediately, freeze all of Elara Hayes's positions and authorities within the group. Without my explicit permission, she is forbidden to step foot on company grounds.”

The man who had just declared he'd be with me until death.

He froze all my power in less than three minutes.

He shielded his genius prodigy, not sparing me another glance.

A searing pain in my temple blurred my vision.

It hurt a thousand, ten thousand times more than any blade piercing flesh.

I was sent home by bodyguards.

It wasn't until midnight that I heard a sound in the entryway.

Caleb stood before me, bringing with him Cassandra’s lily scent.

“Elara, you were too impulsive today.”

I didn't answer him, simply pushing the prepared document across to him.

The words "Partnership Termination Agreement" seemed to sting his eyes.

“Elara, I told you, unless it's a matter of life or death, we’ll never separate. I won't go back on my word.”

I slowly looked up, my voice calm, almost mechanical.

“Watching you protect another woman with my own eyes – is that your proof of keeping your word?”

“I spent five years in prison for you. Can't you still trust my feelings for you?”

Caleb pressed closer, and I retreated step by step until my back hit the cold glass of the floor-to-ceiling window.

A chill seeped through my thin nightgown, into my skin.

Outside, the empire we built together, illuminated, sparkling like a galaxy.

He pinned me tightly between him and the glass.

His warmth and the window's coldness assaulted me from both sides.

“Elara, trust me.”

He kissed me fiercely, urgently, like he was devouring me. His hand slid under my nightgown.

His burning palm pressed against my cold skin, moving with irresistible force, tracing upwards over my shoulder blades, finally stopping at my ear, pressing me against the glass, forcing me to look down.

“Elara, look at them. We created this, every person, every shimmering light. It's all ours.”

“Don’t make a scene, okay?”

This was his way of comforting me.

Pinning me against the glass, making me watch as everything I created was humiliated by him.

What if it were Cassandra?

I gazed at that dazzling sea of lights, remembering the night we brought down our biggest rival.

I attended that gala, drank until my stomach bled, and almost lost a limb.

Meanwhile, Caleb spent the entire night with Cassandra, because of a single FaceTime call from her.

When I left the hospital, dawn was almost breaking.

Back then, he said I was an unconquerable rose, and Cassandra was a lily needing protection.

He said his visits to Cassandra were like my battles for the company—all for business.

So, releasing that video of my humiliation at the company anniversary—was that also for business?

“Get her out.”

This was the last chance I gave him.

Caleb held me tight.

“I’m sorry, Elara.”

“I didn't think she'd get hold of that video.”

“But you shouldn't have made a scene at the anniversary. Poor handling will be bad for you.”

“Don’t worry, by tomorrow, she'll be gone from this city.”

He pressed me against the floor-to-ceiling window in a frenzy.

The scent of raw passion filled the entire room.

I closed my eyes, the throbbing in my temple slowly subsiding.

The familiar scent filled my nostrils again.

I remembered thirteen years ago, through the visitation glass, he told me:

“Elara, wait for me for five years. Five years from now, I'll make everyone who looked down on you grovel at your feet.”

Perhaps, I should trust him one more time.

After all, in our despair, we were once each other’s only anchor.