CHAPTER 16
Ciara’s POV:
The vibration of the luxury Jeep’s steering wheel was still humming in the palms of my hands, a phantom sensation that matched the frantic, erratic thumping of my heart.
I had driven from Tribeca to my Upper East Side apartment like an absolute maniac, weaving through Manhattan traffic with tears of pure, unadulterated fury blurring the neon brake lights in front of me.
I was driving on one foot, my bare left sole pressing against the cold rubber of the gas pedal while my chest heaved with a suffocating weight.
How could she? How could Helisa do this to me?
The image was burned into the back of my eyelids, branded there like a searing iron.
The shadow of the hallway. The curve of that chocolate-brown knit dress.
And Helisa—my brilliant, untouchable, gorgeous boss—pressing her body against the intern from Harlem, her hands tangled in those box braids, devouring her mouth with a reckless, primal hunger that I had spent three entire years praying she would direct toward me.
I slammed my palm against the steering wheel as I idle at the private entrance of my building, the leather interior of my car smelling of my signature Chanel No.
5, expensive leather, and the bitter, stale tang of the red wine I had chugged to survive that agonizing dinner.
I was a fool. A complete, textbook idiot.
I had spent the last three years of my life building E-Tech by Helisa’s side, sacrificing my weekends, my sanity, and my own emotional well-being to be her rock, her confidante, her ultimate protector.
And yet, the very moment it came to her heart, I was treated like an absolute afterthought. A footnote in her grand design.
I cut the engine, grabbed my clutch purse, and practically threw myself out of the vehicle, limping aggressively across the pristine marble of my building's lobby on one single emerald-green stiletto.
The concierge looked up, his eyes widening at the sight of a top-tier corporate executive hobbling in disheveled splendor, but one lethal glare from my eyes made him look right back down at his desk.
I lunged into the elevator, my fingers violently stabbing the button for the penthouse suite. The silver doors began to slide shut, offering the sweet promise of isolation—the chance to lock myself in my dark room and let the tears finally fall.
But just as the doors were inches from sealing, a manicured hand thrust between them. The safety sensors triggered, and the heavy metal doors groaned, sliding back open to reveal the one person I couldn't bear to look at.
Helisa.
She scrambled into the elevator cabin, completely out of breath, her sleek low bun slightly coming undone, her silk button-down wrinkled from the chase. And there, clutched tightly in her right hand like a bizarre, tragic trophy, was my missing emerald-green stiletto heel.
"Ciara, please!" Helisa gasped, the heavy silver doors closing behind her, sealing the two of us inside the moving metal box.
The elevator began its smooth, silent ascent, but the air inside the cabin instantly turned into a pressurized vacuum of raw emotion.
"Please, just stop running for one second and talk to me! I am begging you."
"Get the fuck away from me, Helisa," I hissed, pressing my back against the mirrored wall of the elevator, my hands curling into tight fists. I couldn't even look at her face; my eyes locked onto the green leather of the shoe in her hand. "I don't have a single damn thing to say to you."
"Ciara, listen to me, I am so incredibly sorry," she pleaded, stepping closer, her dark eyes swimming with a frantic, desperate panic I had never seen in her corporate office.
She looked completely undone, her voice cracking as she held the shoe out toward me like an offering.
"It’s not what it looks like. I swear to you, it was a mistake, it just happened so fast—"
"Profuse apologies don't erase what I saw, Helisa!
" I shouted, my voice echoing violently off the mirrored walls of the elevator.
The sound was deafening, raw with a pain I had suppressed for thirty-six months.
"Do not stand there and insult my intelligence!
I saw the way you were kissing her. I saw your mouth on hers.
I saw your hands on her body! You are completely infatuated with that intern, and I am no fool! "
"Ciara, please—"
"No! Shut up!" I snapped, the tears finally spilling over my eyelashes, hot and stinging as they tracked down my foundation. "You think I’m blind? I see how you look at her. I’ve watched you change your entire itinerary just to be in the same room as her. And tonight... tonight you bring her into your sacred space, under the guise of a corporate strategy dinner, just so you could get your hands on her. You’re pathetic, Helisa.
And I am an idiot forever believing I mattered to you. "
The elevator gave a soft, high-pitched ping, the digital display flashing the number fifty. The silver doors slid open, revealing the quiet, dimly lit foyer of my lavish apartment floor.
I didn't give her a chance to respond. I spun around on my single heel and stormed out of the elevator, my bare foot slapping against the plush, expensive carpet of the hallway as I made a beeline for my door.
Helisa didn't hesitate; the frantic sound of her footsteps followed right behind me, the stray stiletto clicking against the floorboards as she refused to let me go.
I reached my double-oak doors, my hands shaking so violently I could barely function.
I fished my keycard out of my clutch, swiping it against the electronic scanner with an aggressive, jagged motion.
The light flashed green, the lock clicked open with a heavy mechanical groan, and I threw the door wide, stepping into the dark, expansive luxury of my living room.
Before I could even swing the door shut to lock her out, Helisa slipped inside behind me. The heavy wood door clicked shut, the automatic deadbolt engaging with a definitive, terrifying thud that sealed us together in the dark.
The silence lasted for a fraction of a second before the dam completely broke.
"Get out of my apartment, Helisa! I want you gone!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, turning around to face her in the center of my living room. The floor-to-ceiling windows cast the cold, blue light of the Manhattan skyline across her face, making her tears look like liquid silver.
"I am not leaving until you let me explain myself!
" Helisa screamed back, her professional, composed demeanor completely burning to ashes.
She threw my green stiletto onto my velvet armchair, her hands flying up into her hair in absolute frustration.
"You are being completely drastic, Ciara! You’re spinning this out of control! "
"Drastic?!" I let out a sharp, hysterical laugh that turned into a sob.
My hands flew to my ears, ripping off my heavy, diamond-encrusted statement earrings.
I hurled them directly at her chest with every ounce of strength I had.
Clack! Clack! They bounced off her silk shirt, clattering uselessly onto the floorboards.
"I QUIT, HELISA! Do you hear me? I fucking quit!
I am resigning from E-Tech, effective immediately!
I am completely done with you, done with the firm, and done with being your emotional punching bag! "
Helisa’s dark eyes went completely wide, her breath catching audibly in her throat as the word quit echoed through the high ceilings of my room.
She froze, her arms dropping to her sides, her face turning a pale, ghostly shade of shock.
She couldn't believe I was taking it this far.
She thought this was just an office squabble, a minor tantrum.
But she didn't understand—I was dead serious.
"Ciara... no," Helisa whispered, her voice suddenly dropping into a low, trembling register, the anger completely vanishing, replaced by a terrifying vulnerability.
"You can't quit. You can't leave E-Tech.
You can't leave me. We built that place together.
You are the executive vice president. I need you. "
"You don't need me for anything besides logistics!
" I yelled back, my chest heaving as the raw, unfiltered truth of my existence poured out into the space between us.
"I am so sick and tired of your bullshit, Helisa! I am so tired of being relegated to the back-page of your life! I have spent three years giving you my absolute best—my youth, my time, my devotion—and this intern from Harlem just walks into the building in mere days, and already she’s on the front-page!
She gets your attention, she gets your desire, she gets your passion! "
I stepped into her personal space, my face inches from hers, the scent of her woodsy perfume making my eyes sting even worse. I poked my finger hard against her collarbone, emphasizing every single word.
"I wanted that, Helisa," I whispered, my voice breaking completely, revealing the deep, bleeding wound I had been hiding.
"I yearned for it. I stood in that hallway tonight and I watched the way you kissed Miley Palmer.
I watched the way you held her like she was the only woman left on earth.
And all I could think was... why can't she kiss me like that?
Why have you been avoiding my lips for three years?
Why do you recoil from my warmth, my love, my embrace?
Why do you push me away every single time I try to get close to your heart, yet you fully accept a girl you barely even know?
What does that intern have that I don't have, Helisa? Tell me! What am I missing?"