(DARIAN)
"Park the car up at the corner," I instruct Jimmy as I get in the back seat.
My second-in-command looks at me through the rearview mirror, surprised. "We're not going back to the hotel?"
"Not yet."
I rest my mouth against my fist and stare out the window.
Seven years.
When I launched Acme Intech, a company whose ownership I concealed under multiple layers, I hadn't expected that it would lead me to the woman I betrayed so many years ago. Alice looks just as beautiful as she did back then. Except that her beauty has matured; she was once a stunning wildflower, but she is now a gorgeous rose. Confidence oozes out of her.
She's no longer the young girl who used to look at me, confused why someone like me was choosing her.
She has become a force to be reckoned with.
If it hadn't been for the initial shock in her eyes, I never would have known that she even recognized me. Her tone was sharp and yet professional. She didn't so much as flinch during our interactions.
