I walked out of that penthouse and out of their lives, but not before I made myself a promise: I would never again beg anyone for love. And someday—someday soon—Damon Monroe would regret every single thing he’d just said to me.
Five years later
“Ms. Monroe, your ex-husband is here to see you.”
I didn’t look up from the quarterly reports spread across my desk. “Tell him I’m busy.”
“I already did. He said he’d wait.”
“Then call security and have him removed.”
My assistant, Marcus, cleared his throat nervously. “He… he brought your daughter with him.”
My pen stilled. After five years of building my tech empire from the ground up, five years of ruthlessly climbing from bankruptcy to billionaire status, one mention of Ava could still stop me cold.
“Send them in,” I said quietly.
I had exactly thirty seconds to compose myself before my office door opened. Damon walked in first, looking older but still devastatingly handsome in his expensive suit. Behind him came Ava—no longer the six-year-old I’d left behind, but an eleven-year-old girl with long dark hair and my stubborn chin.
“Hello, Elise,” Damon said, his voice carefully neutral.
“It’s Ms. Monroe,” I corrected without looking at him. My eyes were locked on Ava, drinking in every detail of how she’d grown. “And you have five minutes.”
“I think we should talk privately.” His gaze flicked meaningfully toward Ava.
“Anything you have to say, you can say in front of her. After all, transparency was never your strong suit.”
His jaw tightened at the barb, but he didn’t take the bait. “I need your help.”
I almost laughed. “You need my help? That’s rich.”
“The firm is in trouble. Bad investments, a few lawsuits that didn’t go our way. We’re facing bankruptcy.”
“And?”
“And I know you have the resources—”
“To bail out the man who destroyed my life?” I leaned back in my chair, finally allowing myself to look at him fully. “The man who stole my daughter and replaced me with my half-sister? That man?”
“Bianca left,” he said quietly. “Two years ago. Took half my assets and ran off with her personal trainer.”
The irony was delicious. “Karma’s a bitch, isn’t it?”
“Elise, please. I know I made mistakes—”
“Mistakes?” I stood slowly, my voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. “You didn’t make mistakes, Damon. You made choices. You chose to have an affair. You chose to alienate my daughter from me. You chose to kick me out of my own home like I was nothing.”
“I was wrong—”
“Yes, you were. And now you want me to fix it for you?”
“Not for me. For Ava.”
