“I’m sorry, miss, but I have my orders.”

“I love him, Frank,” she said so fast she almost cut her tongue when it caught between her chattering teeth. “It would kill me if something happens to him and I didn’t at least try.”

If he felt anything at all by her declaration, his features gave nothing away. He stared at her with the same careful vacancy as ever.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, sounding like he genuinely meant it. “There is nothing I can do. Please excuse me while I prepare for the shift change in five minutes.”

With that, the door was shut in her face. She stood under the soft glow of light streaming from the bulb above her head. Flakes of snow danced around her, glittering as they caught on her clothes and hair. She stared at the piece of wood keeping her from the pigheaded man inside and wondered if it was possible for someone to be so smart and yet so stupid.

Vision blurring, she began to turn away. Her foot lifted when Frank’s words hit her.

Five minutes. There would be no one guarding the door in five minutes!

Elated, she snapped back around and stayed where she was. The door had no peephole so she felt confident no one could see her and if they knew she was there, she hoped they wouldn’t say anything. She waited, ignoring the sting in her cheeks where the wind kept nipping at the same spot. She stuffed her trembling hands into her pockets and did a little bounce, like that could somehow warm her up. It was the longest five minutes of her life, but it arrived. She wasted no time reaching for the doorknob. It felt oddly warm against the frozen state of her hand. The door gave easily and she scrambled inside.

The warmth made her whimper. It enveloped her in its familiar scent of floor cleaner, wood polish, and cinnamon. She breathed it in quickly before shutting the door and hurrying to the stairs. Her heart drummed anxiously between her ears, sounding impossibly loud in the deserted corridor. She knew the men did routine tours of all the floors, but during shift change, everyone met downstairs before splitting off. That gave her no time at all to get to Killian before she was seen.

Legs lengthening to widen her strides, she practically ran through the northern part of the house. Her every breath came out in choked pants that seemed to be in competition with her heart to see who could be louder. She glanced over her shoulder once before rounding the final corner and coming to a stop at the open doors leading into Killian’s office.

He wasn’t at his desk. The sight of the empty chair made her stomach muscles tense. She had been so sure he would be there. He always was. It made no sense … then she spotted him by the window, nearly concealed in the ring of darkness the single light on his desk had created. He stood with his back to the door, his shoulders unnaturally straight. His aura alone broke her heart. It radiated heat the way an open wound would. Its viciousness rippled through the room, filling it with a heaviness that seemed almost animated. Part of her wondered if she could feel it like an invisible wall if she reached out. But she knew she had very little time before she was spotted.

Moving quickly, she darted into the room and shut the doors behind her. The lock snapped into place with a deft flick of her wrist. Her heart cracked wildly in her chest as she spun to face the man turning away from the window slowly.

Giving him no time to react, she marched to his desk and tore the cord out of the phone. She scooped it and his cell up and ran with them to the bathroom. Both were tossed a bit carelessly into the sink with a noisy clatter. The lock was flicked into place and she shut the door, locking his communication devices inside.

Then she faced the man watching her through the thick folds of black. The shadows painted over his features, turning him into one of their own. But she could just make out the glimmer of his eyes and the white flutter of his dress shirt.

“I don’t accept,” she panted.

He said nothing.

Swallowing down the paste collecting at her throat, she closed the distance between them, but stopped when a good length of space still remained. She dug into her pocket and unearthed the letter.

“You can’t break our contract,” she pressed on. “Not … not like this. Not like what we had meant nothing.” Her voice broke, but she plowed on. “I have done everything you asked me to. I followed every line of the contract you wrote. I never once gave you a reason to regret me.” Her bottom lip trembled and she bit down hard on it. Still, the tears slipped, beyond her control. “You are not allowed to throw us away. I won’t let you, and this … this stupid letter…” The single sheet of paper tore too easily in her brutal grasp despite the heavy weight of its contents. “It goes against the contract.” The annulment papers fluttered like fat snowflakes to the ground at her feet. She sniffled. “You said yourself that the only way to end our contract was with a very good reason in writing. You never stated your reason so I don’t accept it.”

Seconds were counted with every thump of her heart waiting for him to ease the pain. Her own labored breaths was the only sound in the room. The deafening silence loomed as thick and vast as the darkness keeping him in its clutches. Around her in a dim halo, the desk lamp shone, leaving her painfully exposed while he kept his features concealed. There was some kind of twisted poetry in the scene, she mused dully. Him in the folds of dark and she desperately beckoning him into the light with her, because a part of her knew that if she could just get him closer, he’d see that she was more important than his revenge. She needed that. She needed him to pick her, to pick life and happiness. To pick a future together. All he had to do was move into the circle.

“There is and never was an us.” Said low and yet those words hissed the way a knife did against stone. She felt the cold slice all the way through her. “From the very beginning, I warned you there wouldn’t be. This was never a relationship and you assured me that you understood. That alone defaults the contract. As to a reason, I don’t require one. I opted to pay the penalties.”

“By … by giving me things I don’t want?” she threw back. “When have I ever wanted your money or … things? I don’t want any of it. I just want you.”

There was a subtle shift in his posture. It was quick so she wasn’t sure if she imagined it or if it had been a play of shadows.

“That was never a possibility.”

“Why?” She started forward, but came to an abrupt halt when he visibly jerked back. The gesture hurt worse than his rejection. “I don’t understand why. What did I do?”

Light kissed the side of his face he turned towards the window. Thick lines painted most of it, but she saw enough there to make her hope maybe…

“You broke me.” The light slipped away with just a shift of his head back in her direction. “You took away everything that I was, everything that made me strong. You made me forget what I was and why. Because of my carelessness, it took me two weeks to realize Molly was missing. That was my fault. I let myself be drawn into something I have always known I could never have, but it was because of you. You’re not good for me, Juliette. You’re the thing I need to keep away from if I am to keep fighting. You make me weak and weak men die.”

She didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t shouted and yet they slammed into her one syllable at a time like a metal fist. Pain reverberated through her in waves.

He wasn’t finished. “Now, I must ask you to leave and not return. I will not take kindly to you barging into my office again, Miss Romero. Our arrangement is over and I expect there to be nothing else.”

Her face lifted. “That’s it? You’re just going to let me go?” She continued when he said nothing. “Did you ever think that maybe all the things you think you lost were things you never needed? I’m not an expert on relationships, but I know that if someone feels right—”