Adira's POV
I didn't wait for an appointment.
Jayden Craig might command boardrooms and command headlines, but this was my company, my life and he had crossed a line.
I stormed into his headquarters, ignoring the startled receptionist, ignoring the sleek design meant to intimidate. His assistant tried to stop me outside his glass office.
"He's in a meeting, Ms. Williams"
"Not anymore," I snapped, pushing the door open.
He was at the head of the table, mid-sentence, executives hanging on his every word. Calm. Controlled. That infuriating half-smile tugged at his lips when he saw me.
"Excuse us," he told them smoothly. "This won't take long."
They filed out, murmuring, leaving the two of us in silence.
I slammed the folder onto the table. "Explain this."
Jayden didn't flinch. He glanced at the papers, then back at me. "I see you've been reading."
"Don't play games with me," I hissed. "Three years ago, when I was drowning, when I thought I'd lose everything it was you. You hid behind D.A. Capital, behind Craig Holdings. Why? Why would you do that?"
He leaned back, studying me with those steady, maddening eyes. "Because you deserved the chance to succeed. And I wasn't going to let short-sighted investors decide your future."
My pulse thudded in my ears. "You should have told me."
"If I had," he said quietly, "would you have taken the money?"
The answer caught in my throat. He was right. My pride would have rejected him on principle. I hated depending on anyone.
I turned away, pacing, my chest tight. "You don't understand what this feels like, Jayden. To work every day to prove I can stand on my own two feet, only to find out I wasn't standing alone at all. That someone was... pulling strings."
"I wasn't pulling strings." His voice was sharper now. "I wasn't controlling you. I was backing you. There's a difference."
I faced him again. "Then why hide? Why not let me know?"
For the first time, his gaze flickered. Something unspoken in it.
"Because," he said finally, his voice low, "it wasn't time."
I swallowed hard. My anger was still there, hot and raw, but beneath it was something else. A pull. The same pull I'd felt at the gala, at the summit.
I hated it. I hated that part of me wanted to trust him.
"Stay out of my company," I said, even though my voice trembled. "Stay out of my life."
He didn't move, didn't protest. Just let me walk out, my heels echoing like thunder.
But as the elevator doors closed, his voice replayed in my head.
It wasn't time.
And I had the sinking feeling that when the time finally came, I wouldn't be ready for what I'd hear.
Jayden's POV
She was fire. Even in anger, she was the fiercest thing I had ever seen.
I let her rage. I let her leave. Because this wasn't the moment to tell her everything.
Not yet.
But soon, Adira would know.
That I hadn't just been her silent investor.
I had always been hers.