Nova sat by the window window of her penthouse, her fingers wrapped around her glass of wine which she had barely touched. The city glistened under the night sky, but she could not focus on any of it, she was still thinking about her last encounter,
Dominic's voice, his eyes and the way the control he had cracked just small little but when she challenged him.
She let out a shallow exhale, her breath fogged up the glass on the window in front of her,
She thought it would feel like a victory, she thought it would be a step closer to the revenge that she had been plotting for years, And yet, she could not shake the memories, there was a little something about the way he looked at her, something that brought back a fragment of herself that once cared for him, but she wouldn't let herself go there, her phone vibrated with a soft buzz, which snapped her out of her thoughts, She picked it up and glanced at the message,
Victor;
"There's a change of plans, I won't be able to make it tonight, Something came up suddenly, I'm sorry."
Nova had a scowl on her face, tonight was Dominic's party and it was a high-profile business gathering meant to secure his latest investors, She was not going to miss it for any reason, It was a chance for her to push the advantage she had, another chance to remind him that she was no longer the woman he casted out, but now she would be going there alone, the idea of her going there alone left her with a particular odd feeling which she did not want to examine too closely.
A second message arrived before she could reply to the first,
Victor;
"Just be careful, okay?, Don't lose yourself in this."
Nova set the phone down.. thinking to herself, "Careful.."
That was the only thing she could not afford to be,
Few Hours later, the ballroom of the Lakeshore Hotel filled with soft music and shimmering lights, there was laughter which echoed under the high chandeliers, their glasses clinked, and the smell of expensive and ambition filled the air.
Nova walked through the entrance, her dress was a shade of deep emerald green, every head turned as she walked past, her expression remained so calm, and her movements were graceful.
But that was when she saw him.
That was when she saw Dominic.
A Tall, effortlessly handsome man in a perfectly fitted suit, his dark hair brushed lightly against his forehead, His expression just as unreadable as ever, but his green eyes, as always, sharp enough to cut through glass.
And at his side, she stood.
Alicia.
His fiancée.
She clung onto his arm, her smile was radiant, and her eyes glistened with something that Nova recognized instantly, something that seemed like possessiveness, It showed with the way Alicia leaned in close, and the way her grip on Dominic's sleeve always tightened whenever someone new approached him.
Nova kept her face neutral, though the sting she felt was sharper than she would have ever expected.
She moved about the room with ease, offering out polite smiles, exchanging greetings and accepting compliments that had barely registered to her, Her heart beat in her chest with a rhythm that was unsteady.
She wasn't the woman that she once was, she had to remind herself of that, and yet, when her gaze caught Dominic's from across the ballroom, something inside her flickered, it flickered just slightly, but it flickered just enough.
His gaze shifted first,
As the evening stretched on, every encounter and every glance shared, She wasn't sure when it started, or when the pull between them became something she could no longer dismiss, But she realized on thing, that the game they were playing was no longer just about business, it was about something more, and the line she swore never to cross was already beginning to blur.
As the night pressed on, the illusion of perfection wrapped around the ballroom, Nova stood by the grand staircase, her fingers grazed the side of her glass and her eyes drifted one more time, drifted again to where Dominic stood.
He looked as composed as always, but she could see the flickers of emotion beneath his stoic expression, His shoulders felt stiff and His smile feigned, never reaching his eyes, And Alicia, his Fiancée kept on clinging to him, laughing a bit too loudly, forcing her claim of him with every subtle movement, and he seemed more like an ornament than a partner.
Nova took a sip of her drink, trying very hard to steady her pulse,
This wasn't why she came.
She didn't come here to feel and she didn't come here to care,
Her plan was supposed to be simple, to humiliate him, and outshine him, to remind him of the woman he had discarded, But now, in this very moment, watching him from across the crowded ballroom, she realized her heart had betrayed her.
She turned away.
The guests attention shifted, A conversation drew Alicia's attention, in that moment, Nova barely noticed that the distance between herself and Dominic collapsed, One moment she was moving through the crowd, and the next, she felt his stare just a few steps away.
"Nova."
She heard her name from his lips, and it was quieter than she had expected,
She looked up carefully with a blank expression, "Dominic, "
They both stood awkwardly at the edge of the balcony, the buzz of the party faded out, and the music softened, and for a long moment, neither one of them said a word.
Then finally the silence broke,
"Why are you really here?" he asked quietly, his voice was low enough that only she could hear,
Nova's lips curved into a half-smile, "I was invited, the same as you."
"You know that's not what I mean," His eyes looked through hers, the frustration was clear but it was filled with something else, Something that felt softer, "This isn't just business to you, is it?.. Don't lie to me."
Her heart tightened, She hated the way she felt when she heard his voice, like he could still reach some parts of her she thought was buried.
"I'm here only because I can be here," she replied, "I'm here because I'm no longer the girl you ignored anymore."
He swallowed hard, and his expression was unreadable, "You think I don't know that? You think I haven't noticed every second of it?"
She was caught aback, she caught off guard by the firmness in his voice,
"Do you ever think about it?" he asked suddenly, "do you ever think about the way things ended?"
Nova stiffened up, "I try not to," she whispered,
But it was just a lie, and they both knew it was a lie,
The air between them became thick and the space shrank, The flicker of something flashed in his eyes, and she felt an undeniable pull from him,
But she couldn't stop herself, her voice became low, "You have a fiancée," she murmured.
Those words hung in the air, like something either of them wanted to hear, but what happened next unraveled faster than they could have expected,
Dominic's hand brushed gently against her arm, it was barely a touch, But it felt like a shot of lightning to her,
Her breath caught,
His fingers trembled against her skin, and the nearness of him was overwhelming, And without a moments thought, he closed the distance,
His lips touched her lips in a kiss and it was neither soft nor gentle, It felt hungry, it felt wild, and it felt confused, her hands pressed against his chest, she wasn't pushing or pulling away, she just stood there, frozen.
And for another breathless second, the whole world dissolved, and at the same moment, they tore apart instantly, they both gasped and looked at each other with wide eyes, neither of them knew what the hell just happened.
Nova's heart thudded in her chest, She stepped back while staring into his eyes,
Before either of them could say a word, the voices around drifted toward them again and the spell they had been under had broken.
Nova turned away sharply, walking away from him without a seconds thought, and neither of them noticed the pair of eyes watching from a corner, it was Alicia, her hands at her sides were already curled into fists.
Nova kept on walking until she reached the far end of the corridor, her breath was shaky, and her heart slammed against her ribs, She layed a hand against the marble wall, the taste of his lips still lingered in her mind, it was haunting and it was impossible to ignore.
What had just happened?
It was not supposed to be this way, She was supposed to be the one in control, she had calculated every move and every word, She was supposed to make him pay for everything,
But not this,
Not a kiss that left her thought filled with chaos,
She shut her eyes, trying to breath and trying to focus, she was trying to push it all away, telling herself it meant nothing, And yet, deep down, a part of her knew that wasn't true.
Back inside the grand ballroom, Dominic was still frozen for several seconds, his heart was still pounding, he was barely able to register anything around him.
He ran his hand through his hair, his fingers slightly shaking,
What the hell did he just do?
The kiss came out of nowhere, like something primal out of his usual stoic demeanor, He could not recognize who he was in that moment, For years, he had mastered control over everything, over his business, over his emotions,
But with her… everything changed,
His eyes scanned the room, but Nova was gone,
He turned to find Alicia smiling up at him, it was a little too much and a little too forced,
"Are you alright?" she asked sweetly, but her eyes felt sharp and cold, as though they were searching for something
Dominic nodded, offering her a shallow smile, "I'm fine," he murmured.
But Alicia wasn't fooled,
She had already seen what happened, From the extreme end of the balcony, hiding in the shadows, she had watched the entire thing happen, The way shade in Dominic's eyes changed, The way his hand had touched Nova's, and the way their lips met as if they were pulled by gravity.
She was filled with fury, but she had managed to hide it,
"This wasn't part of the plan" she thought to herself,
Dominic was hers, He was supposed to belong to her and no one else,
She said nothing else as he went briefly to greet a guest, Alicia remained still, as her hands curled tightly at her sides until her perfectly manicured nails tore into her palms.
The image kept flashing in her head over and over again, the image of his lips on Nova's, and the softness in his eyes that had never once been shown towards her.
Her heart hardened and became colder, the jealousy she'd once had turned into something darker, If Nova Lin wanted a war, Alicia was ready to give her one.
Outside the ballroom, Nova finally caught her breath, She moved into the cold night air, letting the wind bruise her skin,
Her hands were still trembling, She hardly noticed when her phone began to buzz, She took it from her purse, eyes blurry until she saw a name on the screen,
Victor.
She let it ring on, She wasn't ready to hear the voice of reason, Not right now at least.
Somewhere deep inside her, Nova knew that all that happened this night could not be undone, The line between her and Dominic had been blurred, and no matter how much she tried to ignore it, nothing would ever be the same again between them, the game they were playing had changed, and neither of them had any idea what the cost would be.
The morning sunlight shone through the windows of Dominic's penthouse suite, But he could barely feel the warmth of the sun.
Alicia stood before him, her arms were folded across her chest, and her lips were pressed into a thin line,
"You're awfully quiet," she said softly, "That's not like you."
Dominic adjusted his shirt, and his expression remained unreadable, "There's nothing to talk about," he responded
Her laugh was short and brittle, "there's nothing to talk about? I saw you, Dominic, do you take me a fool?"
He gazed up at her, his eyes were cold as stone, "You're overthinking it."
"Overthinking?" Alicia's voice rose, she was starting to lose control, "I watched you kiss her."
Dominic's clenched his teeth, but he said nothing.
"I gave you everything," Alicia hissed while stepping closer to him, "My father's investment, I gave you my loyalty, And you.. " She swallowed hard with her voice cracking, "You're throwing it all away because of her."
He exhaled slowly, with his voice in an even tone, "It was nothing, It won't happen again."
Those words felt hollow even as he said them,
Alicia's eyes shimmered for a second and then she blinked the emotion away, "See that it doesn't," she whispered firmly, as if to offer a warning.
Without saying another word, she turned around and left.
Dominic sat there still, what occurred the night before had been pressing on his chest, he rubbed his forehead and let out a deep breath,
It wasn't supposed to happen.
And yet it did.
On the other side of the city, Nova stared at the email displayed on her laptop screen, her fingers trembled as she read the message again.
Two of her high-profile clients were gone, there was no warning, not even an explanation, just polite, words confirming the end of their partnership.
"This is unbelievable," she muttered with a low breath, slamming the laptop shut, she felt the sting of betrayal sharply on her chest,
Victor, who was sitting in a corner of the room looked up sharply, "What happened?" he asked with concern,
She got up from her seat, pacing up and down the room as she tried to calm her thoughts "Two clients, with no warning or even an explanation, they were just gone."
Victor's wore a sudden frown, "That doesn't make any sense, Your numbers have been climbing steadily for months now, was something leaked?"
Nova shook her head, "No, nothing that I can trace at least, But I am almost certain, Someone is pulling some strings."
Victor stood up, "You think it's him?"
She didn't need to ask, she already knew who it was,
It was Dominic
"Of course it's him, it has to be him," she said, her voice sharper than she expected, "Who else would have a reason to come after me right now?"
Victor hesitated, "Nova.. "
"Don't," she cut him off, "I already know what you're going to say, you're going to say that I'm reading too much into it, That I'm letting emotions get in the way, But this isn't paranoia, He's retaliating."
Her hands curled into fists at her sides, she could not forget the memory of the kiss they had, the heat, the pull, the tension they felt, the weakness the made her feel, and she hated that a small part of her still liked it and wanted it.
Victor walked closer to her, with his voice softening, "Just promise me you'll think before you do something"
She looked him in the eyes and said, "I've thought about this for five years."
He didn't bother arguing, he just signed, he knew his words wouldn't change her mind.
Nova grabbed her coat, her expression hardened with every breath she took, "I'm not letting him win, not anymore"
If Dominic Reyes wanted war, he would have it.
The door to Dominic's office burst open, he looked up from the stack of papers on his desk, his eyes narrowed the moment he saw her,
Nova.
Her steps were hurried, her face remained composed but her eyes were burning with so much fury, She closed the door with care, and the soft click of the lock echoed within the silence in the room.
"Was this really your idea of revenge?" she asked coldly, "Sabotaging my client and Undermining my company?"
Dominic's was a confused look, he was caught off guard by the accusation,
"I have no idea what you are talking about," he said calmly,
Nova scoffed under her breath, but there was no humor in it, "Don't play that game with me, Two of my biggest clients just dropped their partnership contract this morning without any warning, I know it wasn't random and I know it wasn't coincidence."
She locked eyes with him, she daring him to lie to her face.
Dominic held her gaze, "I'm not behind it," he said calmly,
"Liar," she snapped, with her voice tightening, "You really think you can humiliate me, take everything I've worked for, and walk away untouched?"
"I haven't touched your business," Dominic said, but his tone remained calm but strained at the edges, "If you're losing your clients, then I suggest you look elsewhere."
Nova clenched her hands into fists, Her heart was pounding so hard it felt as though it would crack her ribs, Every emotion she thought she buried, and every trauma she had ever felt from him, came to the surface,
"Don't you dare stand there and act innocent," she hissed, "You broke me once, I won't let it happen again."
There was a crack in Dominic's expression, He slowly exhaled, running his hand through his hair.
"I did not know you were innocent back then," he murmured quietly, "I only realized when it was too late."
Her breath seized.
The words weren't loud, But the weight of them pressed upon her chest.
"What did you say?" she whispered under her shuddered breath,
Dominic's gaze dropped for just a second before meeting her eyes again, His voice was quiet, but there was something raw about it, something unlike his usual stoic expression,
"I regret firing you."
She stood still, she was stunned by those words,
And for a slight moment, the tension in the room seemed to tilt, The man she saw as cold, ruthless, and untouchable, in this moment, he wasn't the same, The control that she hated about him, was slipping, and his voice sounded human, Sounded almost broken.
Nova shook her head, "Don't say that."
"I mean it," Dominic continued softly, "I should have listened to you, I should have…"
He kept trailing off, it was as if the weight of the memory pressed too heavy along words.
Her eyes lost focus, they drifted away, and her breath became unsteady, what she felt in her chest was no longer just anger, It was confusion, It was the bitter feeling of something she didn't want to name.
Before she could say anything, before she could even process what she was feeling, the door creaked open,
"Am I interrupting?"
Victor's voice was heard through the tension, He walked in casually, his eyes flicked quickly between them, reading the air in an instant.
Nova blinked, pulling herself back from her trance, "No," she said too quickly, "I was just leaving."
She brushed off Dominic without saying another word, she could still hear her heart pounding.
Victor seemed aback for a moment, his gaze lingered on Dominic before following Nova out to the hallway.
No one said a word, not until they were at a distance from the office, and could hear the noise of the city in the background,
"Nova," Victor said gently, "I really don't think he's the one sabotaging you."
She stopped walking,
"it's possible he's not the man you think he is," Victor added quietly,
Her hands trembled at her sides, "That's the problem Victor," she whispered, "I don't even know who he is anymore."
And for the first time in five years, she felt something she had not felt before, something she had not allow herself feel,
Doubt.
The elevator doors closed, and Nova shut her eyes for a brief moment, her breath was visibly shaky, Victor stood quietly beside her, his usual playful charm was stripped away in this moment, The tension in the elevator was almost suffocating,
"You don't believe me," she murmured, her voice sounded barely more than a whisper,
Victor hesitated, "I'm not saying I trust him," he said carefully, "I'm just saying something feels off, You've been so focused on Dominic and on everything he did to you, that maybe you're not seeing the whole board."
Nova's eyes opened widely, her reflection stared back at her from the elevator's mirrored walls, the way she looks composed, she looks Polished, Every detail of her appeared perfect, But inside, her mind was a battlefield.
"I'm not wrong," she insisted, though her voice trembled just slightly,
Victor's expression softened, "Maybe you're not, But are you really sure he's the real threat here? When people like him want to crush someone, they don't hesitate, He could have crushed you already if he wanted to."
She flinched a bit, his words hit a little too close to the doubt she was already trying to bury.
Victor gently took her hand, "Just be careful, okay? You're playing with fire."
The elevator doors opened, and Nova stepped out into the soothing evening air, The city all around her, it was alive and indifferent, She slowly exhaled, her breath fogged up the night air.
Victor said something was off, and he was right, The way Dominic looked at her and the words he said, The regret that was in his eyes, It didn't represent the man which she had remembered, The man who fired her and The man who barely noticed she existed.
She pressed her fingers into her head, she tried to forget about the kiss, but the memory lingered, and it felt hot against her skin.
The problem wasn't that she didn't trust Dominic, that was a given, the problem was that some hidden part of her wanted to trust him.
All the way across the city, Alicia stood by the windows of her penthouse, a glass of wine in her hand, she kept on remembering the moment she had seen, the moment of Dominic and Nova together, the way he looked at her and the way Nova had looked at him.
Her grip tightened around the the glass until her fingertips turned white.
Dominic was slipping from her grasp,
She clenched her jaw as she put the glass down, She walked across the room, she walked slowly while trying to control her breath, The mask of the perfect socialite had cracked and what remained was something colder.
She wouldn't lose him, She had already sacrificed too much,
Her eyes burned hatred as she traced the rim of the glass with her fingers,
Nova Lin wanted to play?
Fine, she was done standing back and watching.
Somewhere above the streets, Nova sat there, alone on her terrace, trying to unravel her tangled thoughts after everything that had taken place,
The kiss they shared,
The regret she heard in his voice,
The doubt that she had started to feel,
The city was like a stage for her, but for the first time in years, she didn't know who the real enemy was, and in the distance, a storm was brewing.