Chapter 176 Shifting Tides

Chapter 176 Shifting Tides
DAMON

Three weeks had bled into a relentless, exhausting blur of midnight meetings, audited files, and cold coffee. I didn't answer my phone anymore. I barely even had the time to look at the screen. Ever since I had walked out on Zara’s twenty third birthday to answer my father’s emergency call, the war inside Thorne Global Enterprises had taken over my entire life. I was working twenty hour shifts, buried under a mountain of data, completely consumed by the need to secure my project before the board's deadlines. If I slipped even a fraction of an inch, Thomas would execute his threat. I was fighting to keep her family safe, but the cost was destroying our relationship.

"You're behind on the logistics layout, Damon," Elias said, stepping into my office without knocking and dropping a thick folder onto my desk.

I looked up from my monitor, my eyes dark with pure exhaustion as I glared at my brother. He stood there with his broad shoulders squared perfectly, a triumphant smirk plastered on his face. Right behind him in the corridor stood Iris Morgan, offering me a slow, calculated smile.

They were moving in for the kill, altering codes and messing with my file submissions every time just to make me look reckless in front of the board.

"The numbers are being verified right now, Elias," I growled, my voice tight. "Just leave my office."

"Make sure they're right before the one o'clock strategy brief," Elias mocked, leaning over my desk. "Father is already reviewing my segment, and the board is exceptionally pleased with my timeline. You can't afford another delay."

"I said get out," I snapped, my hands clenching into fists against the desk as I forced myself to swallow the rage.

Elias let out a low chuckle, turning on his heel and walking back into the hallway beside Iris.

The moment the door shut, a painful weight inside my chest tightened. I reached for my phone, my fingers shaking slightly as I opened my text thread with Zara. For weeks, the steady, beautiful effort we had built after making up had completely fallen apart. She had been trying so hard to squeeze out time for us regardless of her tight schedule as the new Assistant Features Editor at Evercrest. She called regularly, she picked up on the first ring, but I was the one failing the timeline now. I had missed three dinner dates in a row and cancelled our weekend plans because of work.

~Babe, are you still trapped at the office? I made dinner for us. Please call me when you step out. I miss you~

The text had been sent four hours ago. I hadn't even replied. The guilt dropped straight into my stomach, but before I could dial her number, my father's secretary paged me, announcing another emergency meeting. I locked the screen, slid the device into my pocket, and walked straight back into the boardroom.

By Friday evening, the emotional strain between us had reached a dangerous peak. I had finally managed to break away from the office at eight o'clock PM, driving straight to my house. I walked into the apartment, loosening my tie just to catch my breath, and my eyes locked onto her.

Zara was sitting entirely still, her white blouse crisp, her eyes staring down at her untouched water glass with a deep, silent exhaustion that mirrored my own.

"Hey," I murmured, sliding into the couch beside her and reaching out to touch her hand.

Zara didn't smile, and she didn't instantly weave her fingers through mine. She slowly pulled her hand back onto her lap, creating a freezing pocket of distance between us. "You're an hour late, Damon. Again."

"I know, baby. I am so incredibly sorry," I rasped, looking at her tired face. "An emergency contract dropped right when I was about to leave. Elias and Iris messed with the compliance codes on the server, and I had to spend two hours fixing the data pool just to keep my father off my back."

"It's always an emergency contract, Damon," Zara said softly, her voice flat and completely hollow. She looked at me through a sudden, shining layer of tears, her breathing ragged. "For three weeks, I have been sitting at my desk, picking up your calls on the first ring whenever you managed to call, trying so hard to support you while you handle your family. But you're not even here anymore. You're physically sitting with me right now, but your mind is completely locked inside that building."

"Zara, please," I pleaded, a raw desperation taking over my eyes as I reached out for her again, my fingers trembling. "Just give me until Monday. Once this project locks, I swear things will change."

"I want to believe you, Damon," she whispered, a lone tear finally tracking down her cheekbone as she shook her head, "But you're completely changing back into the distant person who walked out on me at the restaurant. You don't answer your texts, and I am entirely tired of sitting in empty rooms waiting for a boyfriend who only communicates through apologies."

I clenched my jaw, the suffocating pressure inside my chest making it impossible to defend myself. She was right. I was turning into a ghost, shutting her out behind a wall of silence.

"I love you, Zee," I muttered, my voice cracking under the weight of everything.

"I love you too, Damon," Zara said softly, wiping the wet heat from her face as she looked at the table. "But love isn't enough when your family is practically choking the life out of us. We can't keep living like this."

The heavy silence settled between us, thick with an unspoken dread that neither of us could cure. We didn't scream, and we didn't start a massive fight, but the emotional distance felt a mile wide.