Page 32 of The Broken Keys

Chapter Seven

CALLUM/CASH

Now

Thin Thread & Quiet Thunder

She’s built a world without me in it. I just wanna be the reason it doesn’t collapse.

What the hell is wrong, Lily?

The elevator climbs silently, floor numbers lighting up one by one. Livianna’s tension is radiating off her in waves. She’s staring at the doors like they might open onto a battlefield instead of her office.

“Talk to me.” I reach for her hand, but she pulls away, wrapping her arms around herself instead.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re shaking.”

“I am not.” Her voice cracks on the lie.

“Lily, what’s really going on? Five minutes ago you were excited to show me where you work. Now you look like you’re about to throw up.”

She presses back against the elevator wall. “This place...it’s different for me. It’s not just business.”

“Different how?”

Her eyes scroll over my face, and she bites down on her lip.

“Lily, I’m not gonna judge you. Just tell me what’s going on.”

She pauses for a moment, as if she’s trying to find the right words. “It’s… It started in Paris, but the massive growth… My company is where I rebuilt myself after my life fell apart. It’s where I learned who I am without…”

I can fill in the blanks. Without me. Without us.

“And you’re afraid I’ll somehow mess that up?”

“I’m afraid you’ll see it and realize how much I’ve changed. How much I had to change.” The elevator dings as we pass another floor. “What if the person I’ve become isn’t someone you can love?”

The vulnerability in her voice cuts straight through me. “What if she’s exactly the person I’ve been waiting for?”

She intertwines our fingers for the first time since we got in this damn elevator. “You don’t know what you’re saying. I had a life while we were apart. What if you can’t handle that side of me now?”

It’s a loaded question. There’s so much about her I don’t know, but that doesn’t matter.

“I know what I’m in for.” My heart pumps harder as I step closer to her. “I know exactly what I’m saying.”

“Which is?”

“I’m saying that the scared girl who used to hide her dreams from her parents because she thought she couldn’t succeed without their approval is gone. And the woman standing in front of me now? She’s everything I’ve always wanted.”

“You can’t know that for sure.”

“I do because I’m not the same person either. I’m not the kid who was too fucked up to fight for what he had. So what,Livianna? You had a past without me. I hate it, but I accept everything about you.”

The elevator slows as we approach her floor, and panic flares in her eyes again.

“Promise me something.” She grips my hand tight. “Promise me you won’t pretend to be this understanding when you’re not. Promise me you’ll be honest.”