CHAPTER 37

CHAPTER 37
Roman's pov
“Sir, the new CEO of Lex Corp is here to see you.”
I barely glanced at Derrick as I flipped the folder shut. “Let them wait. We’re not done here.”
Derrick hesitated. “It’s an urgent visit.” His voice lowered. “It’s Selene.”
Everything inside me stilled.
I must have misheard him. Selene?
The air in the meeting room felt suddenly thinner. The voices of my executives discussing numbers faded into the background.
She was back.
I forced my expression to stay unreadable, though my pulse had already kicked up. Two years. Two years of silence, of deliberately avoiding her, of pushing every memory of her into a locked box I never intended to open. And now she was in my office like nothing had changed?
“I’ll handle this,” I said, standing.
My team glanced up in surprise. I never walked out in the middle of a meeting. But I didn’t offer an explanation as I strode out of the room.
Each step toward my office felt heavier than the last. I told myself it was just business. Nothing more.
But when I pushed the door open and saw her, my breath caught for a fraction of a second.
Selene was sitting on my couch, legs crossed, back straight, her platinum blonde hair shining under the office lights. She was watching me, waiting.
Taking her in felt like seeing a ghost I once loved.
She was still the same; elegant, poised, untouchable. But the moment my eyes met hers, something cracked open inside my chest.
Memories. Unwanted, but powerful.
The last time we spoke, it had ended in flames. An incident that shattered everything. Something that had made me so mad, so goddamn jealous, I had walked away and never looked back.
Now here she was, back in my space, back in my life.
My heart beat painfully in my chest. Then she smiled.
That smile. The same one that had made me fall for her when we were kids. The smile that had made me fight and ruin any man who so much as looked at her the wrong way.
For a moment, I was frozen in place.
Then I forced myself to move, my voice steady but cold.
“What are you doing here, Selene?”
She didn’t answer me right away. Instead, Selene unfolded her legs slowly, uncrossing them with deliberate grace before standing.
“I told them I was here as the CEO of Lex Corp.” Her voice was smooth, confident, just as I remembered. “From now on, we’ll be working together, Roman.”
I clenched my jaw. Of course. That damn company. It had been her family’s legacy, her brother’s empire, until he ruined it. And now she was stepping in to clean up the mess.
A convenient excuse to bring her back into my life.
Selene took a step closer, studying my face like she was searching for something. “Aren’t you going to congratulate me?” she asked, tilting her head.
I exhaled sharply. “I’ll say congratulations when I see if you can handle it.”
She laughed softly. “You never did like giving me things easily.”
I didn’t respond. I was too busy fighting the emotions crawling up my throat. She was too close. Too familiar. Too much.
Then her expression shifted, softening. “Roman,” she murmured, and the sound of my name from her lips sent a shiver down my spine.
She took another step, and before I could step back, she reached out, touching my wrist lightly. The warmth of her skin burned.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “For what happened two years ago. For everything. I regret it every day.”
Damn her.
I tried not to react. I tried not to remember.
But how could I not?
Selene wasn’t just a part of my past, she was my past. Every memory, every first, every fight, every piece of me that had once belonged to someone had belonged to her.
And now she was standing here, looking at me like she still had a claim over my heart.
I swallowed hard. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
Her eyes darkened. “It matters to me.”
I hated the way my chest tightened. I hated the way my fingers twitched, itching to touch her, to pull her close and demand to know why....why now? Why, after all this time, was she standing here saying these things when I had spent the last two years trying to forget?
Trying to move on.
Move on.
Avah.
The thought of my wife slammed into me like ice water. I was married.
And yet, looking at Selene now, I knew one thing for certain.
I still loved her.