Clara did not release her easily.
Even after the first shock settled and Hailey's presence stopped feeling imagined, her fingers remained looped around Hailey's wrist — an unconscious tether, as if Nerua itself might attempt retrieval the moment contact broke.
"You're staying," she said again.
"I am."
"For good."
"For good."
Clara searched her face one more time for any hidden departure. Finding none, she exhaled slowly — reality rearranging itself around the impossible fact of Hailey back in the same city.
"Correct," she declared. "You may remain in Nerua."
"Gracious," Hailey said.
Clara finally released her wrist — only to catch her hand instead and pull her deeper into the boutique.
"I am closing early."
"You have customers."
"They will emotionally recover."
"Commerce matters."
"Family outranks commerce."
The sign flipped to Closed. Music lowered. Afternoon light softened across silk and glass.
Clara turned back with folded arms and investigative intensity.
"Explain."
"Specify."
"All," Clara said. "Return decision. Timing. Employment. Housing. Secrecy crimes against your own cousin."
"Employment first," Hailey said.
Clara's eyes sharpened instantly. "You have work."
"Yes."
"In Nerua."
"Yes."
"Already secured."
"Yes."
Clara stepped closer. "Where."
"Kairo Holdings."
The boutique seemed to inhale.
Clara blinked. "You are joking."
"I am not."
"The Kairo Holdings."
"Yes."
"The largest corporate entity in this country."
"Yes."
"The one whose executives move markets."
"That one."
Clara grabbed both her shoulders. "Position."
"Marketing Director."
Silence cracked open.
"Director," Clara repeated faintly. "You left London consultancy to become Marketing Director at Kairo Holdings Nerua division."
"Yes."
"At twenty-seven."
"Yes."
Clara released her slowly and paced away, hands on head. "I require a minute."
Hailey waited.
Clara turned back, eyes blazing with pride now layered over shock. "This is outrageous achievement behaviour."
"So I've been told."
"You returned to Nerua and secured a director role at Kairo before informing me you existed in this hemisphere."
"I wanted to see your face."
"You nearly killed me."
They both laughed, disbelief dissolving into joy again.
Clara sobered first. "Start date."
"Tomorrow."
Clara froze. "Tomorrow."
"Yes."
"You begin at Kairo Holdings tomorrow."
"Yes."
"And you are calm."
"I am prepared."
"You are terrifying."
"I am organised."
Clara shook her head, still stunned. Then her expression shifted — curiosity sharpening.
"Have you met him yet."
"Whom."
"The CEO."
"Not yet," Hailey said.
Clara nodded slowly. "You will."
"I assume so."
Clara leaned against a display table. "He's… a study in contradiction."
"In what sense."
"Corporate Nerua knows him as severe. Controlled. Strategic. Almost austere in business."
"Expected," Hailey said.
"The rest of the city knows someone else entirely," Clara said.
Hailey's gaze lifted slightly. "Explain."
"The playboy," Clara said. "The one in society columns. Parties, women, scandals, indulgence."
Hailey's brow lifted. "And you're saying they are the same person."
"They are."
"How do you know," Hailey asked quietly, "when others don't."
Clara smiled faintly. "Because I operate in the overlap."
Hailey waited.
"Fashion circles intersect with corporate wealth constantly," Clara said. "Executive wives, board events, private launches. You see patterns. Security teams. Schedules. Who arrives through which entrance."
"Observation," Hailey said.
"And confirmation," Clara added. "People inside Kairo know exactly who their CEO is. Executives, directors, partners. It's not secret in business. It's only the public narrative that splits him."
"So employees recognise him."
"Of course," Clara said. "He leads internally. Staff know him immediately."
"And society doesn't connect him to the company."
"Because the reputations contradict," Clara said. "Public Nerua sees a reckless heir figure. Corporate Nerua sees a disciplined empire builder. People assume they're different men."
"Intentional," Hailey said.
"Very," Clara said. "Two narratives. One man."
Hailey absorbed this calmly.
"You'll meet him tomorrow," Clara said.
"Yes."
"And you'll eventually see the other version in the city," Clara added. "Everyone does."
Hailey's mouth curved faintly. "Nerua sounds… layered."
Clara laughed. "It is. Especially where that man is concerned."
She pushed off the table and slipped her arm through Hailey's again, old habit returning as if no years had intervened.
"You must tell me everything after your first day."
"I always do."
Clara smiled — deep, certain, lifelong. "Yes," she said. "You do."
And Hailey thought, with composed professional focus —
So the man who leads Kairo Holdings is also Nerua's most notorious playboy.
Contradictions in leadership rarely survive close scrutiny.
Tomorrow she would meet him.
And decide for herself which version was real.