There are some mornings when the sun rises but everything still feels dark.
That was one of them.
Avery sat at the edge of her bed, staring at her reflection in the mirror. The weak morning light painted shadows across her face, exposing the bags beneath her eyes, the tight pull of her lips, and the dullness in her once bright gaze.
She was exhausted.
Not physically — though that too — but emotionally.
Drained.
She dabbed some foundation under her eyes, swept mascara across her lashes, and tugged her blazer tighter like armor.
A knock came on the door.
"You okay in there?" her mom asked gently.
Avery cleared her throat. "Yeah. I'm fine, Mom."
She wasn't.
But she had to be.
She leaned down and kissed Eden's soft cheek. The baby stirred but didn't wake.
"I'll be back soon, my love," Avery whispered. "Mommy has to go to work."
She stood up, squared her shoulders, and walked out the door.
---
The moment she stepped into the office, Avery felt her chest tighten.
Everything was the same — clean floors, hum of the printers, scent of fresh coffee. But she had changed. She wasn't just a working single mom anymore.
Now, she was a woman with a secret.
A secret that wore a billion-dollar suit, walked these halls like royalty… and didn't even recognize her.
Grayson Reid.
Her boss.
The father of her child.
And someone else's husband.
She passed his office on her way to the admin room and didn't dare glance at the frosted glass door. Her stomach twisted just hearing his voice echo down the hallway.
"Confirm that merger with Zurich and get back to me before two," he told someone on a call.
She walked faster.
---
At her desk, Avery buried herself in paperwork. Data entry. Emails. Filing. Anything to keep her fingers busy and her mind off the ache in her chest.
But it was hard.
So hard.
She could still hear him from a distance — giving instructions, laughing lightly during a call, clearing his throat as he walked by.
It was haunting.
And cruel.
She flinched when he passed her desk around midday. "Ms. Carter," he said in that low, polite tone, "great work on the Q1 reports."
She didn't look up. "Thank you, sir."
He paused for a second, as if something was on the tip of his tongue, then walked away.
And that was it.
No spark of recognition. No flicker of memory. Not even a strange look that said, Don't I know you from somewhere?
It made her feel invisible.
Like their night together never happened.
Like Eden never happened.
---
By the time lunch break came, Avery wasn't hungry.
She sat in the break room with a granola bar she never unwrapped, sipping warm water just to keep her throat from burning.
Two coworkers — Jamie and Carla — sat at a nearby table, giggling.
"I swear, he gets hotter every day," Jamie whispered.
Carla fanned herself. "That voice? That jawline? That bank account? Please. He's literal perfection."
Avery tensed.
"Too bad he's married," Jamie said.
Avery's stomach dropped.
"Married and loyal," Carla added. "I heard he doesn't even look at other women."
Avery stood up so fast her chair screeched.
She muttered an excuse and left the room before they could notice the tear sliding down her cheek.
---
She locked herself in the single-stall bathroom and leaned against the wall, covering her mouth with her hand.
The sob hit her like a punch.
Then another.
Then another.
She slid to the floor, legs folded, blazer wrinkled, hair falling into her face.
Grayson Reid.
Married. Successful. Adored.
He walked these halls with power while she walked with pain.
She'd been shattered by a man who didn't even remember the sound of her voice.
A man who'd kissed her skin, whispered promises in her ear… and then disappeared into a world she was never meant to be part of.
And now, every day, she had to pretend.
Pretend she didn't know what his lips felt like. Pretend she didn't know what his child looked like. Pretend she didn't flinch at the sound of his name.
It was eating her alive.
---
She made it through the rest of the day on autopilot.
When the clock hit 5:00, she practically ran out of the building, barely waiting for the elevator.
---
That night, she sat on the couch, holding Eden in her arms, watching cartoons play softly in the background.
Her daughter giggled suddenly, eyes bright, hands flailing.
Avery froze.
It was the laugh.
That little, airy, musical sound — it was his. Grayson's.
Exactly like the chuckle he let out that night in the hotel when she made a sarcastic joke. The way he grinned and looked at her like she was surprising.
And now, that laugh lived in Eden.
Avery's throat closed.
She held Eden tighter.
"Why did it have to be him?" she whispered, tears burning down her face.
Eden, unaware of her mother's heartbreak, leaned against her chest and yawned.
"You deserve better than a father who forgot us," Avery murmured.
---
Lexi called around 8:30.
"How was today?"
Avery didn't answer right away.
Lexi sighed. "He still doesn't recognize you?"
"No," Avery said. "And I don't think he ever will."
Lexi was quiet. "Are you okay?"
"No."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
Avery shook her head, even though Lexi couldn't see her. "I'm scared, Lex. Not of him. Of me. Of what I'll become if I keep swallowing all this pain."
"You won't become anything ugly. You're surviving. That's brave."
Avery's voice cracked. "It doesn't feel brave. It feels like drowning."
---
When the call ended, Avery placed Eden in her crib and sat on the floor beside it.
She stared at her daughter.
Her soft cheeks. Her tiny fingers. Her dark lashes that curled just like his.
Eden shifted in her sleep and made a soft sound — half sigh, half smile.
Avery choked on a sob and rested her forehead against the edge of the crib.
"I work for the man who left me broken," she whispered, voice trembling, "and he doesn't even know it."