Chapter 2 - The Parasite in Pearls
Sophia Reynolds was not a woman who understood when a game was over; she only understood when she was winning. By the third day of my absence, she had already installed herself in the executive lounge on the sixty-fourth floor of the Moretti Tower, draped in an ivory cashmere wrap that matched the expensive interior.
She knew Vincent was unraveling. Every employee in the building walked on eggshells. The CEO had not slept in seventy-two hours; his stubble was rough, his ties were discarded, and his office smelled of burned espresso and tension.
"Vincent, darling," Sophia purred, stepping softly into his office without knocking. She set down a porcelain cup of herbal tea beside his laptop. "You're killing yourself over a ghost. Claire walked out because she’s dramatic. She always was, even back in college. Remember how she threw a tantrum when Liam asked me to the winter formal? She plays the martyr so you'll chase her."
Vincent slowly raised his head. His dark eyes were bloodshot, rimmed with purple bruises of insomnia. For the first time, he didn't look at Sophia with the easy nostalgia of their shared youth. He looked at her through the lens of cold daylight.
"Get out, Sophia."
Sophia's rehearsed smile faltered, but she pressed forward, leaning against the edge of his desk so the crescent-moon pendant slipped out of her blouse. "I came here to support you. The board is meeting downstairs right now. Marcus is telling everyone that Claire left because of your instability. If you walk into that boardroom alone, looking like this, they’ll vote for Marcus to take the interim CEO seat. Let me come with you. Let the press see that you have a unified front, that Claire was just... an unfortunate distraction."
"An unfortunate distraction?" Vincent’s voice dropped to a lethal register. He stood up slowly, towering over her. "Claire built the architecture for our logistics software from our dining room table while I was bleeding seed capital. Claire took care of my mother while she died of cancer. Claire sat twenty feet away from me on our seventh anniversary and watched me pour you wine while I lied to her face."
"She ordered a cake to mock you!" Sophia snapped, her mask slipping into raw venom. "She humiliated you in public! And what about that picture from the clinic? If she's really pregnant, she’s using that baby as leverage to extort you! She's always been calculating, Vincent! Ten years ago she acted so innocent, but she knew exactly how to make Liam hate me after he realized—"
"Liam didn't hate you because of Claire," Vincent interrupted, his voice terrifyingly calm. "Liam hated you because you slept with his fraternity brother three days after you stole him from Claire. You told me ten years ago that Liam broke your heart. But last night, I called Liam."
Sophia froze. The color drained from her lips so fast she looked like a statue carved of lard. "You... you called Liam?"
"I asked him why he left town after graduation," Vincent said, walking around the desk until he was inches from her face. "He told me everything, Sophia. He told me how you forged Claire's handwriting on a note telling him she never loved him. He told me how you stalked his apartment. And then he asked me a very simple question: 'Did she do the same thing to Claire's husband?'"
Sophia swallowed hard, backing toward the double doors. "Vincent, that was a decade ago! We were kids! What we have now is real! You bought me that apartment! You bought me this necklace!"
"I bought you that necklace because you told me it reminded you of our childhood summers," Vincent hissed. "Take it off."
"What?"
May you like
"Take it off and get out of my building before I have security throw you onto the pavement like the trash you are."
Trembling with rage and humiliation, Sophia unclasped the gold chain with shaky fingers and dropped it onto the floor. "You think she'll take you back?" Sophia sneered, her eyes gleaming with malice as she backed through the doorway. "Claire is done with you, Vincent. She didn't cry. She didn't yell. When a woman claps for your betrayal, she doesn't want an apology. She wants you dead."
