"Gaia, I think I owe someone an apology," he said, his voice taking on a reflective quality that seemed to come from somewhere deep inside him.
Gaia blinked, confusion replacing hope on her features. "I'm sorry? I don't understand how that relates to what I just said."
James continued as if speaking to himself, working through thoughts that had been tangled for far too long. "I thought everything was going so well. Too well, maybe. When I discovered the truth, when I learned about the betrayal, it came as such a shock that I didn't know how to handle it. When I confronted this person and the person admitted to everything, my world just crumbled."
His voice grew quieter, more introspective. "The next thing I did was leave. Every encounter after that, every memory, was wrapped in pain and disappointment. I grew to hate. I committed acts I'm not proud of, treated said person in ways that go against everything I was raised to believe. I hated myself for it."
Gaia stood frozen, completely lost as James continued his monologue.
"Despite all of that hatred, I still loved. I still cared. Sometimes I wonder if walking away was the right decision. With all the forces trying to tear us apart, should I have stayed and fought? Should I have gritted my teeth through the pain and tried harder, the way this person tried for us? Or was it that I just didn't love as much as I thought I did?"
He paused, his eyes focusing on something beyond Gaia's shoulder.
"I put this person through so much. I changed said person. And now I wonder why I let said person to suffer like that? Why I let my pride and anger poison everything good we had built together?"
Gaia opened her mouth, then closed it again, completely at a loss for words. "I... I mean... I'm not sure what you're trying to tell me."
James waved his hand dismissively, his smile becoming more genuine. "It's fine. Of course you wouldn't understand. What I'm trying to say is that I'm in love with someone else. No matter what happens, no matter what obstacles we face, I will always choose her. She owns my body and soul, and I need her back."
The words flowed more clearly now, as if speaking them aloud was freeing something that had been locked away inside him.
"She's conceited, selfish, arrogant, and even more, an outrageous woman that I have discovered I cannot live without. That's probably not the confession you wanted to hear, Gaia, I'm not the man for you."
Gaia's face fell, the last of her hope extinguishing like a candle in the wind. She had taken the greatest risk of her professional life, and while James was being kind about it, the rejection was absolute.
James glanced at his watch, and his expression shifted to one of determined resolve. "By now, she should be arriving. I need to find her and tell her I'm sorry. I need to tell her..."
He looked directly at Gaia, his eyes blazing with the intensity of a man who had finally found his purpose.
"I love you!"
"NO!!" The word erupted like thunder from a hidden corner of the room.
Both James and Gaia spun around, and Victoria emerged from behind a decorative pillar, her eyes wide with shock and fury. Her elegant evening gown flowed around her as she stepped fully into view, every line of her body radiating barely controlled emotion.
Victoria had received James's invitation with mixed emotions. Part of her had wanted to throw it away, to protect herself from further heartbreak. Another part of her, the part that had never been able to fully let go of James Mitchell, had insisted she attend. She needed to see him succeed, needed to witness this triumph even if it meant torturing herself with what could have been.
Arriving at Clause, she had been struck by how familiar everything felt. She had visited this building countless times when it was just James's dream, had walked these halls with him as he planned and schemed and hoped. Now it was real, concrete proof of his vision made manifest.
She had greeted his parents warmly, accepting their enthusiastic congratulations and trying to ignore the way his mother kept asking when she and James would set a wedding date. She had intended to stay in the background, to observe from a distance and then slip away unnoticed.
Instead, she had found herself stumbling upon a conversation that felt like a knife to her heart.
Gaia was the first to recover from the shock. "Ms. Sharp," she managed, her voice professionally polite despite the circumstances.
Victoria paid her no attention. Her entire focus was on James as she strode across the space between them, her heels clicking against the floor like a countdown to an explosion.
Without a word, she grabbed James's arm and began pulling him toward the elevators.
"Victoria, what's going on?" James asked, stumbling slightly as she dragged him along. "Why are we going to my office?"
Victoria remained silent until they reached his private office on the upper floor. She pushed him inside and locked the door behind them, her breathing sharp and erratic. Her whole body trembled with barely contained rage and something deeper, more desperate.
She turned slowly, lifting her head to glare at him with such intensity that James actually took a step backward.
"How dare you?" she began, her voice low and dangerous.
"Victoria, I can explain..."
"How dare you?!" she screamed, her composure finally shattering completely.
Victoria rushed at him, her fists pounding against his chest with all the fury of months of suppressed emotion. James barely felt the physical impact, he was stunned by the raw pain emanating from her.
"How dare you make me fall for you and then go ahead and love someone else?" Each word was punctuated by another blow to his chest. "Just because I said I wanted you to be happy with someone else doesn't mean you should actually do it!"