Chapter One
The email arrived at 6:47 AM, three minutes before Sophia Reed's alarm.
She stared at the subject line—RE: Kane Industries Acquisition Proposal—and felt her coffee go cold in her hand. The sender's name glowed on her phone screen like a warning: Dominic Kane.
Three years. Three years of silence, of building a life he knew nothing about, of telling herself she'd made the right choice. And now, with seven words in a subject line, he was back.
Sophia set down her mug with a trembling hand. Through the thin walls of her Brooklyn apartment, she could hear Mrs. Chen's morning news program and the rumble of the Q train passing beneath the street. Normal sounds. Safe sounds. The sounds of the life she'd carefully constructed, one paycheck at a time.
"Mama?"
She turned to find Bella standing in the doorway of their shared bedroom, her dark curls wild from sleep, clutching the stuffed elephant Sophia had bought at a thrift store last month. At two and a half, her daughter was all chubby cheeks and curious eyes—eyes that were an unmistakable storm-gray, the same shade as the man whose email now sat unopened on Sophia's phone.
"Good morning, baby." Sophia forced brightness into her voice, scooping Bella into her arms. "Did you sleep well?"
Bella nodded, then pointed at the phone. "Who's that?"
"Just work stuff." Sophia kissed her daughter's forehead, breathing in the scent of baby shampoo and innocence. "Nothing important."
But it was important. Everything about Dominic Kane was important, even when she wished it wasn't.
Especially now.
She settled Bella at their small kitchen table with a bowl of cereal and turned back to her phone. Her thumb hovered over the email for a long moment before she finally opened it.
*Ms. Reed,*
*I hope this message finds you well. I'm reaching out regarding a potential partnership between Kane Industries and Hartley & Associates. I understand you're now the senior project manager there.*
*I'd like to discuss this opportunity in person. Would you be available for lunch this Thursday at Marea? My assistant will send a calendar invite.*
*Best regards,*
*Dominic Kane*
*CEO, Kane Industries*
Sophia read it twice, searching for hidden meaning in the formal words. There was no acknowledgment of their past, no hint that he remembered the night they'd spent together in a hotel room overlooking Central Park. No mention of the morning after, when she'd slipped out while he was in the shower, leaving nothing but a note that said *This was a mistake.*
Maybe he didn't remember. Maybe she'd been just another conquest for Manhattan's youngest self-made billionaire, forgettable among dozens of others.
Or maybe—and this thought made her stomach twist—he was playing a game she didn't understand yet.
"Mama, more juice please!"
Sophia blinked, pulling herself back to the present. Bella was holding up her empty sippy cup, a milk mustache on her upper lip.
"Of course, sweetheart."
As she refilled the cup, Sophia's mind raced. She couldn't avoid Dominic forever. Hartley & Associates was a small firm, and if Kane Industries wanted to partner with them, she'd have to be involved. Her boss, Richard Hartley, would insist on it. This could be the account that finally gave her the financial security she'd been chasing since Bella was born.
But seeing Dominic again meant risk. It meant the possibility of questions she wasn't ready to answer, of a truth she'd kept buried for three years.
It meant he might look at Bella and see himself in her eyes.
Sophia's phone buzzed again. A calendar invite from *D. Kane's Office* for Thursday at 1 PM.
She stared at it for a long moment, then looked at her daughter, who was happily kicking her feet and humming a tuneless song.
*What choice do I have?* Sophia thought. She needed this job. Needed the stability, the health insurance, the chance at a better life for Bella.
She could handle one lunch. She could sit across from Dominic Kane, discuss business, and keep her secrets locked away. She'd done harder things in the past three years.
With a deep breath, Sophia clicked "Accept" on the meeting invite.
Thursday. Marea. One o'clock.
She had three days to prepare for the man who'd changed her life without ever knowing it.
Three days to build walls strong enough to keep him out.
And as Bella laughed at something on her placemat, Sophia prayed those walls would be enough.
