Liam left for Dubai three days after the board meeting.
No warning again. Just a terse email: Dubai. Back Friday. Handle the usual.
Isabella managed his schedule remotely, fielding calls and emails, keeping everything running smoothly. She tried not to think about the way he'd looked at her across that conference table. Tried not to wonder what it meant.
Tried not to hope.
Marcus had been watching her more closely since the meeting. Nothing overt, just... presence. Showing up near her desk more often. Asking pointed questions about Liam's schedule. Smiling that calculating smile.
Isabella kept her head down and her mask perfect.
Friday afternoon, Liam returned.
Isabella was reviewing contracts when the elevator chimed and he stepped out, looking tired but impeccable in a charcoal suit. There was sand-colored dust on his shoes—the only sign he'd been traveling.
"Mr. Black," Isabella greeted professionally. "Welcome back. Your messages are prioritized on your desk, and I've rescheduled the—"
Liam dropped something on her desk without breaking stride.
A small velvet box. Dark blue, clearly expensive.
Isabella's heart stopped.
"A souvenir," Liam said flatly, continuing toward his office. "The hotel gave them out."
He disappeared into his office before she could respond.
Isabella stared at the velvet box, her hands trembling as she reached for it.
It couldn't be. He wouldn't. This was just like the pen—something he claimed didn't matter but actually meant everything.
She opened the box carefully.
And gasped.
A bracelet. Not just any bracelet—a delicate diamond tennis bracelet that caught the light and threw rainbows across her desk. The kind of piece that cost more than most people's cars. The kind of jewelry that meant something.
Isabella's heart soared.
He'd brought her diamonds. From Dubai. Had thought of her while he was away. Had chosen something beautiful and expensive and—
"Oh, you got one too?"
Isabella looked up to find Jennifer from accounting standing there, holding an identical blue velvet box.
Isabella's soaring heart plummeted.
"One too?" she repeated numbly.
"Yeah! Mr. Black brought back gifts for all the female staff. Isn't it gorgeous?" Jennifer opened her box to reveal an identical diamond bracelet. "I mean, it's probably not real, right? But still, super generous of him."
"Right," Isabella whispered. "Super generous."
"I heard he got like a dozen of them. Corporate gifts or something." Jennifer fastened hers on her wrist, admiring it. "Though between you and me, I think they're cubic zirconia. No way he'd spend this much on all of us!"
She walked away, still admiring her bracelet.
Isabella sat frozen, staring at the diamonds in her hand.
Not special. Not meant for her. Just one of a dozen identical corporate gifts handed out to female staff like party favors.
She'd been a fool.
Again.
Isabella looked toward Liam's closed office door, something painful and humiliating burning in her chest. Had he known? Known that she'd open it and hope? Known that for one stupid moment, she'd think he'd chosen something just for her?
Or had he genuinely thought nothing of it—just bulk corporate gifts, as impersonal as branded pens?
She didn't know which was worse.
Isabella closed the box with shaking hands and shoved it in her desk drawer. She wouldn't wear it. Wouldn't give him—or herself—the satisfaction of pretending it meant something.
The afternoon dragged on. More women stopped by, showing off their bracelets, speculating about whether they were real, thanking Mr. Black for his generosity.
Isabella smiled and nodded and died a little inside each time.
At 6:00 PM, Liam emerged from his office.
"Ms. Hart, I need the Dubai contract revisions by—" He stopped, his eyes dropping to her wrist. "You're not wearing the bracelet."
Isabella kept her expression neutral. "I put it away for safekeeping. It's too expensive to wear casually."
"It's meant to be worn." Liam's jaw tightened slightly. "That's the point of jewelry."
"Of course. I'll wear it to formal events." Where it would be appropriate. Where it would just be another corporate accessory, not a gift, not something special.
Something flickered in Liam's eyes. "You don't like it."
"It's beautiful," Isabella said truthfully. "Very generous of you to get them for everyone."
The emphasis on "everyone" was slight, but Liam caught it. His expression hardened.
"It was a corporate gesture," he said coldly. "The hotel had a jeweler. It seemed appropriate."
"It was very appropriate," Isabella agreed, keeping her voice professional even though something inside her was screaming. "I'm sure everyone appreciates it."
"But you don't."
"I didn't say that—"
"You didn't have to." Liam's voice dropped. "You shoved it in your drawer the moment you realized it wasn't... what? Special? Unique?"
Isabella's hands clenched under her desk. "I shoved it in my drawer the moment I realized it was a bulk corporate gift, Mr. Black. There's a difference."
"Is there?" Liam moved closer, his eyes sharp. "Would you have preferred I gave you nothing? Or perhaps you wanted something different? Something that singled you out?"
Yes, Isabella's heart screamed. Yes, I wanted something that meant you thought of me specifically. That I wasn't just another female employee on your gift list.
"I wanted nothing at all," Isabella said instead, standing to face him. "Because every 'gift' you give me comes with a reminder that it means nothing. That I mean nothing. That everything is just business or obligation or basic human decency."
The words came out harder than intended, fueled by weeks of hurt and hope and humiliation.
Liam's expression went completely blank. "I see."
"Do you?" Isabella's professional mask was cracking, and she couldn't stop it. "Because from where I'm standing, it seems like you enjoy this. Giving me things and then making sure I know they're meaningless. The pen that was 'just clutter.' The care when I was sick that was 'bad for business.' And now diamonds that are just corporate gifts you bought in bulk."
"They're not—" Liam stopped himself, his jaw clenching. "I didn't buy them in bulk."
Isabella laughed, bitter and tired. "Jennifer said you got a dozen."
"I got fifteen," Liam corrected, his voice tight. "Twelve for staff. One for my mother. One for Chloe. And one for you."
"Oh, well, I feel so special," Isabella shot back. "Lumped in with your mother and your fake fiancée and a dozen other women. How thoughtful."
"It's not—" Liam's control was slipping, she could see it in the tension of his shoulders, the way his hands clenched. "You don't understand."
"Then explain it to me!" Isabella's voice rose despite herself. "Explain why you keep doing this. Why you keep giving me things and then making sure I know they mean nothing. Why you looked at me like that in the board meeting and then pretended it didn't happen. Why you stayed by my bedside all night and then called it bad for business. Why you—"
"Because I can't!" The words exploded from Liam, raw and furious. "I can't give you something special. I can't single you out. I can't look at you the way I want to look at you. I can't—"
He stopped abruptly, as if realizing what he'd just admitted.
The silence was deafening.
Isabella stared at him, her heart pounding, barely breathing.
"You can't what?" she whispered.
Liam's expression shuttered. "Nothing. Forget I said anything."
"Liam—"
"The contract revisions, Ms. Hart." His voice was cold again, controlled, back behind his walls. "By Monday. That's all."
He turned and walked back into his office, closing the door with quiet finality.
Isabella stood there, trembling, her mind reeling from what he'd almost said.
I can't give you something special. I can't single you out. I can't look at you the way I want to look at you.
The way he wanted to look at her.
Isabella sank into her chair, her heart racing.
He did care. He did feel something. But he was fighting it so hard, building walls so high, that every gesture of caring had to be disguised, denied, made meaningless.
Because admitting it was real meant admitting he was breaking his own rules.
Isabella pulled the velvet box back out of her drawer and opened it. The diamonds caught the light, beautiful and expensive and wrong.
Not because they weren't special.
But because he couldn't admit they were.
She fastened the bracelet on her wrist, the cool metal and stones settling against her skin.
And she realized something that made her heart ache and hope simultaneously:
Liam Black was falling for her.
And it was destroying him.