Chapter 194: Chapter 194

Violet

(Three weeks later)

The glow of my screen painted everything in the same pale shade, turning sketches into shadows, turning numbers into something colder, something easier to focus on than the mess inside my head.

I leaned back in my chair for a brief second, rolling my shoulders before bending over the tablet again as my stylus moved in sharp, controlled strokes.

The design in front of me was already my fourth iteration, and I could feel the frustration building in me.

Dane had graciously let me off for a month just after joining, given me all the tools and creative liberty alongwith it so I wanted to pay it back by doing my best for the upcoming Lunar Gala collection.

He had been very clear about wanting people to forget Deveraux Enterprises even existed after our launch. He had said it casually, almost with a smile, but I had seen the tension underneath, the rivalry that ran deeper than business.

Deveraux.

Even the name felt like a splinter under my skin.

My grip tightened on the stylus and the line I was drawing went slightly off.

I inhaled slowly and forced my hand to relax.

Design was new to me, but structure was not. I broke everything down until it stopped feeling like art and started feeling like work. Because work was safe and it did not look at me with dark, knowing eyes just to cruelly break me to pieces.

“Still on that?” Mirella’s cold voice reached me from behind my chair.

I didn’t look up immediately. I finished the stroke I was on, saved the layer, and only then turned my head slightly.

She stood behind me, arms crossed, expression already unimpressed before she had even properly seen the design.

“Yes,” I replied, keeping my tone even. “I am refining the structure before moving to detailing.”

Mirella stepped closer, leaning over my shoulder without asking. Her gaze flicked over the screen, and I watched her mouth press into a thin line.

“It looks heavy,” she said flatly. “This is supposed to be gala wear, not armor.”

I straightened in my chair, resisting the urge to rub my temple. “The base is heavier because the outer structure is meant to look fluid. It balances the piece.”

“It looks like you are overcompensating,” she replied immediately. “Too many corrections signals too much hesitation. You can tell when someone doesn’t trust their own design.”

I kept my expression neutral. “I will revise it.”

“You said that about the last two as well,” she said, straightening up. “Maybe if you had spent the last month actually working instead of enjoying… whatever it is you were doing, you would not be this behind.”

There it was. It always came back to that.

The wedding and the one month leave. The unspoken accusation that I had chosen indulgence over responsibility, that I had used my connection to Dane to get away with it.

I felt the familiar flicker of irritation rise, but I swallowed it down just as quickly.

“I am on schedule for this collection.” I said calmly.

Mirella gave a soft laugh. “On schedule is not the same as good, Violet. And this needs to be exceptional. I expect a revised version on my desk tomorrow morning,” she said before leaving.

I stared at the screen for a long moment after that, my faint reflection looking back at me with the same tight control I felt inside. The light right above my seat blipped.

My fingers curled slightly around the stylus.

“Goddess, she is impossible,” a voice muttered from the next desk.

I glanced sideways to see Rhea leaning back in her chair, spinning a pen between her fingers, her expression openly annoyed. She was a recent addition to the team but very outspoken.

“She has been breathing down your neck since you got back,” she continued. “You should just go to Dane. One word from him and she will back off.”

“It will just escalate things. Besides, she expects me to do exactly that” I said, forcing my tone to soften.

Mirella already thought I was using him and I refused to prove her right.

Rhea studied me for a second, then sighed. “And you are still staying late tonight?”

I nodded, already turning back to my screen. “I want to finish this.”

“You have been staying late every night.”

“I work better at night,” I replied without looking at her.

That part was not a lie. It was just not the whole truth.

Night was when everything came rushing back, when I fought the hardest to not let memories crawl in through the cracks and settle where they did not belong.

Rhea didn’t push further and I returned to work.

Hours passed as I redrew, adjusted, deleted, and started again.

My eyes burned, my neck ached, but I kept going. Sometime later, my phone buzzed against the desk, the sound loud in the silence.

I ignored it at first but it buzzed again.

I exhaled sharply and reached for it, glancing at the screen to see that Mom was calling me.

I closed my eyes for a brief second before answering. “Yes mom?”

“Violet, what time is it?” I blinked, finally glancing at the clock on the corner of my screen.

It was past eleven. “I lost track of time,” I said, rubbing my forehead. “I am leaving now.”

“You said that yesterday too,” she replied. “You cannot keep doing this, child. Its been three weeks since you returned and I barely get to see you. Ever since you met...”

“I am leaving,” I abruptly cut her, “See you soon” I disconnected the call, already gathering my things.

My muscles protested the movement, but I welcomed the exhaustion, because it was easier to deal with.

The drive home was quiet, the roads mostly empty, and I immediately turned on the music to keep my mind from wandering but it didn’t work.

My thoughts slipped anyway….to him.

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel when a pair of headlights appeared in my rearview mirror.

I frowned slightly, glancing back again to see a sleek black car, following me. My pulse kicked up, at the thought of who could be behind the steering wheel and anger flared inside me, burning through the exhaustion as I pressed down on the accelerator.

“You don’t get to do this,” I muttered under my breath, jaw clenched. “You don’t get to just show up whenever you want.”

I took a sharp turn towards the pack gates, braking harder than necessary as I pulled up, the guards already stepping forward to check.

But then the black car simply drove past in a blur.

I let out a harsh, humorless laugh, dropping my head back against the seat for a second.

“Get a grip, Violet” I muttered to myself knowing well that I would have to work for a few more hours until I rid my brain of every single thought that belonged to him.