Samantha notices it first during a strategy review meeting.
Ryan zones out.
He's reading a report, but his eyes don't move. His fingers tap a rhythm on the table. And when she asks a question, he answers two beats too slow.
Later, in the hallway, she touches his arm. "What's going on?"
He blinks like he just remembered she exists. "Sorry. Just distracted."
"That's not you," she says. "Talk to me."
But he doesn't.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBuMpe7LJOu
Not yet.
That night, Samantha is at home when a private number calls her phone.
The voice on the other end is calm. Controlled. Female.
"You don't know me. But you're with Ryan now, right? Or... close enough?"
Samantha's breath catches. "Who is this?"
"Someone who's known him longer than you. Just ask him about Isabel."
The line goes dead.
Ryan shows up at her door an hour later.
He looks tired. Worn down. Not by work—but by memory.
"I should've told you before," he says. "But I didn't think it'd find its way to you."
"What is it?" Samantha asks, crossing her arms.
Ryan leans against the railing, jaw tense. "A long time ago—before the firm, before I took over—I was engaged."
She blinks. "Engaged?"
He nods. "To someone named Isabel. She was... wild. Fire and gold and too much for me, honestly. I didn't know how to handle her, so I tried to fix her instead of love her."
"What happened?"
"She left me," he says. "Because I was trying to turn her into something she wasn't. Because I didn't know how to be honest with myself back then. Because I wanted control more than connection."
He pauses.
"She crashed her car a year after. She's alive. But not the same. Her sister—the one who called you, I'm guessing—blames me for everything."
Samantha's quiet for a long time.
Then: "Did you ever love her?"
"I thought I did," Ryan says. "But no. I think I just loved the idea of saving someone. And now I'm scared I'll ruin what I have with you... trying to be someone perfect instead of real."
Samantha walks over. Looks him dead in the eye.
"I don't need perfect, Ryan. I need present."
And she takes his hand.
"We face it together. All of it. Or not at all."
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