Mirabel walking into the office after hours. Janelle sitting at her desk, legs crossed, pretending to be unbothered but she's clearly been waiting. She's hurt. She's guarded. And Mirabel? She's tense… but softer than usual. Maybe for the first time in a long time, she's here not as a boss, not as a player, but as the woman who broke Janelle… and might still love her.
The office was quiet. Too quiet.
Mirabel closed the door behind her and leaned against it for a second, watching Janelle.
She didn't look up from the papers on her desk. "Didn't think you'd actually come."
"I said I would." Mirabel's voice was low. Careful.
"You say a lot of things," Janelle replied, flipping another page she wasn't really reading. "Then send your little playthings to remind me how disposable I am."
Mirabel stepped forward slowly. "You think that's what I was doing?"
Janelle finally looked up, eyes sharp. "Wasn't it?"
Silence.
Mirabel moved around the desk, stopped in front of her, and then sat gently on the edge, facing her. "You were never disposable, Janelle. I gave Naya to you because I thought… if I couldn't be there, she'd keep you steady. I didn't think you'd fall."
Janelle's lips twitched bitterly. "Maybe I needed to fall. Maybe I wanted you to see that you can't own me and expect me to just stay loyal while you're out doing god knows what."
Mirabel reached for her hand, softly. "So is this revenge? What you're doing with Aster, and Kade? Is it your way of punishing me?"
Janelle stared at her hand in silence… then whispered, "No. It's my way of surviving."
Mirabel's expression softened. Her fingers brushed Janelle's cheek. "Then stop surviving… and come home."
Janelle's breath caught in her throat. "Home?"
"To me."
---
To be continued