And for the first time, Shane wondered if the crack in their world had already become a fracture.
Layla's phone kept vibrating in her hand.
She didn't answer it.
Not immediately.
But she didn't silence it either.
Shane watched her thumb hover over the screen. Watched the hesitation. Watched the way her shoulders tensed, like she was bracing herself.
"That's him," Shane said quietly.
Layla looked up. "Who?"
"Victor."
The room felt smaller suddenly.
She swallowed. "It's work."
"You always say that."
The phone stopped ringing.
The silence that followed was worse.
Shane stepped closer. Not angry. Not shouting. Just tired.
"When did I stop being part of your life?" he asked.
Layla opened her mouth, then closed it again.
"I'm right here," she said finally.
"No," Shane replied. "You're not."
She turned away. "You don't understand what I'm dealing with."
"Then explain it to me."
She didn't.
Instead, she picked up her bag.
"I can't do this tonight."
That was the moment something snapped inside him.
"No," Shane said firmly. "You don't get to walk away this time."
Layla froze.
Shane took a breath. "Who is he to you?"
Her fingers tightened around the strap of her bag.
"He's my business partner."
"That's not what I asked."
She looked at him then. Really looked.
"There's nothing between us," she said.
"But there could be," Shane replied.
The words hung heavy in the air.
Layla's silence was an answer.
At work the next day, Shane made a mistake he'd never made before.
He snapped at a customer.
The foreman pulled him aside. "You're distracted."
Shane nodded. "Yeah."
"Fix it," the man said. "Or take time off."
Shane laughed bitterly. Time off wouldn't fix what was breaking inside him.
Meanwhile, Layla sat across from Victor in a glass-walled office overlooking the city.
"You seem tense," Victor said smoothly.
"I had a rough night."
He smiled. "That's why I called you."
He slid a folder across the desk.
"What's this?" Layla asked.
"An offer."
She opened it.
Her breath caught.
It was everything she'd worked for. Expansion. Control. Recognition.
But there was a condition.
Public alignment.
Exclusive partnership.
She looked up slowly. "This changes things."
Victor leaned back. "Growth always does."
"And Shane?" she asked before she could stop herself.
Victor's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Is he part of your future—or your past?"
That night, Layla came home earlier than usual.
Shane was surprised to see her.
"We need to talk," she said.
He nodded. "Good."
They sat across from each other, a small table suddenly feeling like a battlefield.
"I was offered something today," Layla began.
Shane waited.
"A deal that could change everything."
"For who?" he asked.
"For me."
There it was.
Shane exhaled slowly. "Does it involve him?"
"Yes."
The honesty hurt more than a lie would have.
"And what does it cost?" Shane asked.
Layla hesitated.
"Us?"
Her silence screamed.
Shane stood up.
"So that's it," he said. "All those nights. All those years. Just something to outgrow."
"That's not fair," she said, standing too.
"I paid for your school," he continued. "I believed in you when no one else did."
"I didn't ask you to!"
The words cut deep.
"No," Shane said quietly. "But I gave it anyway."
Layla's eyes filled with tears. "I'm trying to become someone."
"And I'm standing in the way," he finished.
She didn't deny it.
The room felt unbearably still.
"So what do you want from me?" Shane asked.
Layla looked at him, torn between the man who had loved her without conditions and the future that demanded sacrifice.
"I don't know anymore," she whispered.
Shane nodded.
"That's your answer."
She reached for him. "Shane—"
He stepped back.
"Choose," he said.
She froze.
Before she could speak, her phone rang again.
Victor.
She looked at the screen.
Then at Shane.
And in that moment, the choice she made—or failed to make—would change everything.