Natalie sat opposite her. Kashi reached for her coffee. For several seconds, neither woman spoke, the office was quiet enough for the faint hum of the air conditioning to carry between them. Beyond the windows, afternoon sunlight stretched gold across the city.
Natalie broke first. "I want to know exactly what you're doing."
Kashi took a sip.
Mm, still warm. Chaos had sent it over less than an hour ago from her favourite coffee shop, Café Café. Ridiculous name. Excellent coffee.
Insufferable man.
"Kashi."
Her attention drifted back to Natalie.
"Mm?"
Natalie's fingers tightened around the handbag on her lap. "I said I want to know what you're doing."
"I heard you." Kashi took another sip. "And you're still talking."
Natalie inhaled through her nose. "There may have been…" She paused, apparently searching for the least offensive version of history. "A slight misunderstanding between us in the past."
Kashi nearly inhaled her coffee.
She caught herself, lifting the back of one hand to her mouth as she swallowed. Good God. Thank the Lord she hadn't spilled it. Chaos had sent this fresh.
Kashi glanced into the cup.
She wondered what he was doing. Probably working, or smoking and looking hot, or working while smoking and looking hot.
"…and I understand that emotions were high at the time," Natalie continued, "especially considering the circumstances surrounding Damian and me—"
Oh, right. Shit.
She was still here.
Kashi lifted her head, expression brightening. "Sorry. Continue."
Natalie stared at her.
"No." Kashi reconsidered. "Actually, don't. You've been in my office for several minutes and somehow still haven't reached the point." She set the cup carefully onto its saucer, found her abandoned heel beneath the desk and slipped it back on. "Quit beating around the damn bush, Natalie. What do you want?"
Natalie's jaw tightened. "Are you doing this for revenge?"
Kashi's amusement disappeared.
Natalie shook her head, almost solemn. "The ports were important to Damian. He worked for years to keep those operations flourishing. He invested time, money— everything— and then you suddenly came back and took it all away in one night."
Kashi's brow narrowed at her.
"You withdrew Grey's access. You forced him into a minority position. You took control of something you know matters to him."
A muscle beneath Kashi's eye twitched.
The lion, the witch and the fucking audacity of this bitch.
Natalie's voice softened. "Was it because of me?" Kashi remained perfectly still. "Is that what this is?" Natalie asked. "Are you doing this to get back at me?"
Kashi looked down at her coffee, she released a slow breath. "Are you stupid?"
Natalie recoiled. "Pardon?"
"I asked if you were stupid, Natalie."
Colour climbed into Natalie's cheeks. "There's no need to insult me."
"Oh, there absolutely is." Kashi rose.
Until now, she had kept it civil. She had left Natalie exactly where she belonged, in that irrelevant little corner of Kashi's past where Damian lived.
Apparently, Cinderella had decided happily-ever-after was getting boring.
Fine.
Kashi could play wicked stepmother for an afternoon.
"You walked into my office without an appointment," Kashi said, rounding the desk, "took time out of my working hour and sit there nagging me about your dearly beloved husband—who happens to be my ex-fiancé— because you somehow convinced yourself I reorganised a multimillion-dollar commercial agreement because I'm still madly in love with Damian Grey."
Natalie faced her now, frustration breaking through the careful composure she had arrived wearing. "Why are you back in our lives?"
Kashi's expression changed by a fraction. "Our lives?"
"You left." Natalie stepped closer. "You disappeared after everything happened. It's been more than a year. You wanted nothing to do with us, and now suddenly Grey Enterprises is losing assets connected to Saints. Damian is sitting across from you in meetings again. You're involved in our lives again." She shook her head. "So yes. I'm asking why."
"Why?" Kashi's mouth curved, there was nothing pleasant about it. "Do I need a reason to simply crush someone after giving them hope?"
Natalie went quiet.
Kashi took another step. "You seem confused about something, Natalie." Her heels clicked softly against the floor "You won." Natalie's brows drew together.
"Didn't you?" Kashi continued. "That's the story everyone adored. The sweet little nobody stole the cold heiress's fiancé. Love conquered wealth. Damian chose you. Society applauded. Champagne flowed. Everyone went home feeling terribly inspired."
Natalie's face tightened. "I never asked anyone to humiliate you... a-and when I fought back, it was because I needed to defend myself from your wrath." Her voice hardened. "I loved him, Kashi."
"And?"
The answer was immediate. Cold. Natalie faltered.
Kashi tilted her head. "Did you expect me to argue?"
"No, but—"
"You love Damian. Wonderful. Congratulations. Have him." Kashi spread her hands. "What exactly do you want from me? A wedding gift? An anniversary card? Perhaps I should send flowers every year commemorating the glorious day you rescued me from marrying him."
Natalie's lips parted.
"You got the man," Kashi continued. "You got the marriage. You got your beautiful little love story." Her expression cooled. "And I left you alone."
Natalie swallowed.
Kashi stepped closer. "So tell me—" Her voice lowered. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" Natalie went rigid. "Did winning make you stupid?"
"Kashi—"
"Did your husband not warn you about me?"
Natalie's mouth tightened. "I'm not afraid of you."
Kashi's smile returned. "Oh, sweetheart. I didn't ask if you were." The words landed softly. Kashi walked past her towards the windows. The city glittered beneath them.
"You mistook my silence for defeat," she said. "You mistook my absence for surrender. And somewhere along the way, you apparently mistook my decision to ignore you for evidence that you had become untouchable." She turned. Natalie stood near the desk, shoulders squared.
Kashi almost admired it. "Have your senses dulled that badly simply because the Saints heiress chose not to acknowledge you?"
Natalie's eyes hardened. "You think everyone is beneath you."
"Yes." Kashi folded her arms. "Especially irritating people who walk into my office and waste my time."
"You're proving my point. Nothing has changed."
Kashi's expression sharpened.
Natalie saw it and pushed anyway. "You stand there acting as though Damian was beneath you. As though none of it mattered. But I remember what happened."
The room cooled.
"I remember the threats. I remember what you said to me. What you did. The way you treated people because you were angry." There, an old blade. Natalie had finally found it.
"You can stand there now and act amused," she continued, "but you weren't amused then."
Kashi's jaw set.
"You were furious because Damian chose me and you couldn't stand it."
Kashi said nothing. Natalie stepped closer, confidence building from the silence. "You made my life miserable because you couldn't accept that someone chose me over you."
Something old stirred beneath Kashi's ribs.
Humiliation. Headlines.
Laughter behind champagne glasses. People who had bowed to her for years suddenly discovering courage because someone else had wounded her first.
Natalie mistook the silence for a hit. "Maybe you've convinced yourself you're above all of it now. Maybe you've convinced everyone else too. But I know what you were like."
Kashi's mouth curved.
Natalie should have stopped, she didn't. "You hurt everyone around you."
"Yes." The answer caught her off guard. Kashi pushed away from the window. "I did."
Natalie blinked.
"I was cruel to you." Kashi approached slowly. "I hated you. I humiliated you when I could. I said things specifically because I knew they would hurt you, because at the time, hurting you made me feel better."
Natalie stared at her.
"Was that what you wanted to hear?" Kashi stopped several feet away. "For what was mine, I'll give you one. I treated you badly when you didn't deserve all of it, but so what? You were a nobody."
Natalie's expression shifted. The softness vanished from her face.
Kashi smiled. "A little firefly aiming for the sun." Her head tilted. "What did you think would happen? Mm?"
Natalie's fingers tightened around her bag.
"You don't get to take what happened a year ago and use it as permission to march into my office today demanding explanations about my company."
"The ports affect my husband."
"Then your husband should have negotiated better."
Natalie's hand curled at her side.
Kashi shrugged. "Business can be terribly upsetting."
"You did it deliberately."
Kashi almost laughed. "What did you think happened? I tripped over a port and accidentally acquired controlling interest?"
"That's exactly what I mean. You enjoy hurting people."
"No" Kashi's gaze hardened. "I enjoy winning."
Natalie's face twisted. "And you wonder why Damian chose me."
There it was. The thing Natalie had actually brought into this office. Not the ports. Not Grey Enterprises.
Kashi laughed.
Natalie's expression changed immediately, not the reaction she had expected.
Kashi turned her head, briefly covering her mouth. "Oh, God."
"What's funny?"
"You." Kashi collected herself. "Natalie, listen to me very carefully." She stepped close enough that Natalie had to lift her chin. "I do not want your husband." Natalie held her gaze. "I don't dream about him. I don't wonder what might have been. I don't lie awake mourning the great love story stolen from me by the innocent girl in the cream dress."
Kashi's gaze travelled pointedly over said cream dress. "Though excellent commitment to the aesthetic."
Natalie's nostrils flared.
"Damian made his choice. You." Kashi sighed. "I made mine." Chaos flashed through her mind. I educated myself on your lore. Her traitorous mouth almost curved. Ridiculous man. "And mine no longer has anything to do with either of you."
Natalie studied her. "Then why take everything back?"
That wiped away the amusement. The question beneath all the others.
"Because it was mine." Kashi's voice became quieter.
Natalie's expression shifted. "He worked for those assets too."
"And he was compensated for his work."
"You make everything sound so cold."
"I'm discussing corporate assets, Natalie. Would you prefer poetry?"
Natalie snatched her handbag from the chair, then stopped. "You know, for someone who acts as though everyone else is beneath her, you're very good at pretending you're innocent."
Kashi's gaze narrowed.
"You've hurt people," Natalie said. "Don't stand there pretending you're innocent."
"Yes." Kashi sighed. "I've also killed a few." She looked mildly disappointed. "Doesn't anyone keep accurate records?"
Natalie's confidence evaporated. "Wha—what?"
Kashi looked genuinely amused now. "What are you stunned for?" She stepped closer. Natalie instinctively stepped back and her smile deepened. "I'm Kashi Saints, love."
She reached past Natalie, picked up her coffee and took a sip, still warm, lovely.
Kashi regarded her over the rim. "Now." She lowered the cup. "Unless you've come to discuss something that actually concerns me…Get out of my office."