Victor
The restaurant is elegant and private. Just the kind of place where business gets done quietly and no one asks questions.
Victor sits across from Harrison Ross. Juliet is next to him. Eleanor sits at the head of the table like she owns the space. She probably owns part of it.
Harrison cuts his steak methodically. He's a big man with gray hair and cold eyes that have built empires and destroyed people without blinking.
"Victor, we need to talk about your future," Harrison says. Not as a question. As a statement. As a fact.
Victor's spine goes rigid.
"My company has thirty percent invested in Kane Industries," Harrison continues. "That's significant capital. Significant trust. But right now that trust is being tested."
Eleanor nods like this was all planned. Like she called Harrison and said her son needed managing.
"What are you saying?" Victor asks though he already knows.
"I'm saying you need to stabilize your personal life if you want my continued support. The market doesn't trust instability. The market doesn't trust men who destroy their marriages on live television."
Juliet smiles across the table. Not at Victor. At her father. Like they're sharing a joke at Victor's expense.
"Juliet has suggested that perhaps a fresh start would help," Harrison says. "She's from a good family. She understands business. She understands our world. Perhaps moving forward with someone more appropriate would show the market that you're capable of good judgment."
The word appropriate hangs in the air like poison.
Victor looks at Juliet. Really looks at her. Sees her for what she is. Not a woman interested in him. A tool. A calculated move in a game he didn't know he was playing.
"I appreciate the suggestion," Victor says carefully. "But my personal life is mine to manage."
"Is it?" Harrison leans back. "Because from where I'm sitting, your personal life is costing me money. Your stock price is down. My investment is down. My patience is down. So either you stabilize your situation or I pull my capital. And if I pull, others will follow. You'll be bankrupt within months."
The threat is clear. The trap is sprung.
Victor looks at his mother. She's smiling like this is exactly what she wanted. Like she orchestrated every second of this.
"I'll consider it," Victor says because what else can he say.
Dinner ends. They make their way to the parking garage. The air is cold and smells like concrete and car exhaust.
Juliet touches Victor's arm as they walk. A practiced move. A move she's probably done a hundred times.
"My father is right, you know," she says softly. "Moving forward would help both of us. We could announce something. Give the press a story about stability and new beginnings."
Victor stops walking.
"Juliet, I'm not interested in being your publicity stunt."
"It's not a stunt." She moves closer. Her perfume is cloying. Everything about her is calculated to be appealing but it just feels fake. "I've always cared about you, Victor. I could make you happy. I could give you what you need."
She kisses him before he can respond.
Her lips are soft. Her technique is practiced. Everything about it is exactly what you'd expect from a woman who planned this moment weeks ago.
Victor doesn't kiss her back but he doesn't pull away fast enough.
The flash happens in slow motion but feels like it's happening at lightspeed.
A camera. A photographer hiding behind a concrete pillar. Victor finally pushing Juliet away but too late. The image already captured. The moment already frozen.
"Damn it," Victor mutters.
Juliet is already checking her phone like she expected this. Like maybe she even arranged it.
"My father has a friend in the press," she says. "The story will be sympathetic. About moving forward. About healing. It's actually perfect timing."
Victor walks away without responding. Gets in his car and drives home to the empty penthouse.
He doesn't sleep.
By morning the headlines are everywhere.
"Billionaire Moves On With Heiress."
"Kane Industries CEO Spotted With Stunning Socialite."
"Is This Love's Second Chance?"
There's the photo. Him and Juliet. Her kissing him. His hand near her waist. To anyone looking at it, it looks like they're together. Like he's already moved on from Nora.
His phone explodes.
Calls. Texts. Emails. News outlets wanting quotes. Business partners asking questions. The whole world suddenly interested in his love life again.
Owen sends one text: "You're destroying yourself."
Just that. Just six words. But they hit like a punch.
Victor calls him back immediately.
"Don't call me," Owen says. "I can't... I can't watch you do this."
"Owen, it wasn't what it looked like. The photographer was hiding. Juliet kissed me. I didn't—"
"It doesn't matter what happened. Everyone believes what they see. And what they see is you moving on from your wife with another woman. A woman whose father controls your company. A woman your mother clearly approves of."
Owen's voice cracks. "Nora saw this, Victor. If she's paying attention at all, she saw this. And now she knows you've replaced her."
"I haven't replaced her. I would never—"
"But she doesn't know that. All she knows is what the headlines say. That you destroyed her and now you're happy with someone else."
The line goes dead.
Victor sits on his bed in the penthouse and he feels something break inside him. Something final. Something that can't be fixed.
He needs to find Nora. Needs to explain. Needs to make her understand that nothing with Juliet means anything. That no one means anything except her.
He opens his laptop and searches her name.
Nora Kane. Nora Hartley. Just Nora.
Nothing comes up except the articles about the gala. Nothing recent. Nothing about her location. Nothing about what she's doing or where she is or if she's alive.
He expands the search. Searches for credit card charges. Hotels. Flight tickets. Anything that would tell him where she went.
Nothing.
It's like she's been erased from the world. Like she never existed at all.
He tries calling her again. The number is still disconnected.
He drives to her aunt's house in Connecticut. Pounds on the door. The aunt opens it with fear in her eyes like she's expecting bad news.
"Where is Nora?" Victor demands.
"I don't know. She called me once from the airport. Said she was leaving. That she needed time. She hasn't contacted me since."
"Do you know where she went?"
"No. And if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
She closes the door in his face.
Victor stands on the porch of a stranger's house and he understands with perfect clarity that Nora is completely gone.
She's not in New York. Not with her aunt. Not anywhere he can find.
She disappeared because of him. Because he humiliated her. Because he let his mother poison him. Because he kissed another woman and the whole world saw it as him moving on.
And now she's out there somewhere and he has no way to reach her.
No way to explain.
No way to apologize.
No way to fix what he's broken.
Victor sits in his car and pulls up the search results again. Scrolls through every mention of Nora Kane and there's nothing. Nothing recent. Nothing that tells him she's alive or okay or breathing anywhere on this planet.
She's completely disappeared.
And the terrifying part is that he has no idea if she's ever coming back.