The lift doors opened and Kashi stepped out without breaking stride.
The polished corridor of Saints Group stretched ahead of her, employees shifting almost instinctively as she passed. Greetings followed in her wake.
"Good morning, Miss Saints."
"Morning, ma'am."
Kashi acknowledged them with the occasional tilt of her head.
Dante fell into step behind her.
Perfect posture. Professional expression. Not a trace of the man who had recently ordered her best friend to kneel while threatening to report both of them.
Business hours, apparently, civilisation had resumed.
They had barely made it halfway down the corridor when Zach appeared, hurrying towards her with his tablet already in hand. "Ma'am."
"Zach."
He immediately adjusted his pace to hers. "They've been waiting for quite some time. Mr Grey arrived with four senior representatives. Legal sent two people. Their finance director is also present, and they've requested the updated withdrawal schedules twice."
Kashi kept walking. "How pissed are they?"
Zach considered it. "From one to ten?"
"Yes."
"Eleven."
Kashi chuckled.
They reached the executive conference hall. Dante stopped beside the doors, they both looked at each other, then Dante gave a small, professional inclination of his head.
"Miss Saints." He stepped aside.
Zach reached for the door. "Ready?"
Kashi adjusted one cuff. "I've been ready."
The doors opened. Conversation inside the conference room died. Every representative rose.
Except Damian who remained seated.
Kashi did not acknowledge his presence. Her heels struck softly against the polished floor as she entered, Zach following several steps behind.
Heads turned.
She passed Damian without so much as a glance.
His jaw tightened as Kashi continued to the head of the table and took her seat.
Only then did everyone else begin returning to theirs.
Zach settled into the chair opposite Damian and placed his tablet neatly in front of him.
Kashi rested one arm against the table. "Good…" She flicked her wrist and checked the time. 12:38 p.m. Her mouth curved. "Good afternoon. Shall we?"
One of Grey Enterprises' senior representatives cleared his throat. "Miss Saints." The man was somewhere in his fifties, silver beginning to creep through his hair. He had spent the last hour waiting inside her building and looked determined to ensure she knew it. "You're late."
Kashi raised one brow. "Ah." She leaned back. "My apologies." And with a dry, perfectly pleasant smile she added, "Traffic."
Zach's lips disappeared between his teeth. Across the table, Damian's expression darkened.
The representatives stared at her.
Everyone in the room knew traffic was nowhere near a reasonable explanation for an almost two-hour delay.
Kashi reached for the file in front of her. "Now." She opened it. "Shall we?"
There was nothing else to say.
The meeting began.
Grey Enterprises started with the western port.
Their finance director spoke first, outlining the projected disruptions to several existing operations if Saints Group proceeded with the withdrawal on the proposed timeline.
Kashi listened, well mostly.
"The concern isn't simply the immediate financial exposure," he continued. "There are long-term structural dependencies tied to the existing agreement, particularly—"
Kashi's gaze rested on the report in front of her.
Structural dependencies, extremely important.
Chaos's mouth against her neck.
Kashi blinked. She turned a page.
The finance director continued. "…which means terminating access at this stage could affect both parties."
Kashi heard perhaps sixty per cent of that. Because unfortunately, her scandalous mind had discovered memories. Not vague memories either. Specific ones.
His gloves coming off, the way he had looked at her.
I see you, Wildflower.
Her fingers stopped against the paper.
Damn him.
"Miss Saints?"
Her eyes lifted immediately. Seven people were looking at her.
Kashi stared back. "Yes?"
The finance director hesitated. "We were asking whether Saints would consider extending the withdrawal period."
"No. Continue." Kashi lowered her gaze to the report.
The man did. Zach glanced at her. Kashi ignored him.
Professional.
She was a professional. She had led negotiations worth more than some companies would see in their entire existence. She had sat across from ministers, investors, executives and men who believed speaking louder constituted a business strategy.
She could survive one meeting.
"…the original partnership was established under substantially different conditions," another representative was saying.
Kashi crossed one leg over the other.
Chaos lifting her. His body against hers— Her hands on him.
His mouth bitting down hard on her neck.
No.
Sweet Jesus on the cross.
She uncrossed her legs.
Damian had remained quiet for most of the meeting. Until now. "Kashi."
Her attention snapped towards him.
It was the first time she had properly looked at him since entering the room.
Damian sat nearby, one hand resting beside the documents in front of him. His expression was controlled. "This isn't a minor adjustment. You're dismantling agreements that have existed for years."
Kashi regarded him. "I'm aware."
"Agreements you personally helped establish." His jaw shifted. "And you don't think that warrants a proper discussion?"
Kashi looked at him for a moment, then glanced towards Zach. "Did we not schedule a proper discussion?"
Zach looked up. "We did, ma'am."
Kashi returned her attention to Damian. "There you have it."
Something flashed across his face. "Kashi."
"Miss Saints."
The correction came effortlessly, the room went still.
Damian's gaze hardened.
Kashi smiled. "We are in a business meeting, Mr Grey."
Damian leaned back slowly. "Fine." He turned towards the next representative. "Please continue."
The presentation resumed. Charts appeared. Numbers moved across the screen.
Risks. Projected losses. Existing obligations.
Kashi absorbed enough to respond whenever necessary.
Unfortunately, the remaining portion of her brain had returned to a completely different problem.
Chaos.
His hands, his voice against her skin.
That infuriating laugh.
And—
Kashi's fingers rose unconsciously towards her neck. They stopped halfway.
A fucking hickey.
Her hand dropped immediately. Kashi looked back towards the presentation.
Bloody hell. When would this be over?
Focus.
Come on, Kashi. Focus.
She could think about Chaos later.
Preferably after she finished dismantling her ex-fiancé's business arrangements before lunch.
Yay.
Priorities.
💜~~~~~~
Damian watched her.
He had been watching her since the moment she walked through those doors. As always, Kashi Saints knew how to make an entrance.
She did not demand attention. That would have implied she needed permission to have it. She simply walked into a room and somehow everyone else became aware that she had arrived.
The last time they had been in the same room together was What?
A year ago?
His engagement to Natalie.
Damian dragged his attention back to the presentation. Numbers filled the screen. Projected losses. Operational disruptions.
Contractual exposure.
All because Kashi had apparently woken up one morning and decided Grey Enterprises no longer deserved access to anything carrying the Saints name.
Was this revenge?
His gaze returned to her.
Kashi sat at the head of the table, listening to one of his senior representatives explain precisely how damaging her withdrawal would become over the next several quarters. Calm, beautiful and infuriating.
Yes.
It had to be revenge.
Kashi Saints had never known how to let anything go.
Was this another one of her petty, desperate attempts to force him to notice her?
His jaw clenched. Damian looked at her properly and the thought died.
No. He could see it. This wasn't revenge. Kashi had never come near him after he married Natalie.
Not once.
No calls. No messages. No drunken confrontation.
No attempt to interfere with his marriage.
Nothing.
She had simply— disappeared.
And Damian knew Kashi Saints.
If there was anyone who knew that woman, it was him.
If Kashi wanted to hurt him, she would. There would be no elaborate performance designed to regain his attention. No desperate little scheme. She would simply hurt him.
His fingers tightened beneath the table. This was nothing.
That was the problem.
This was nothing to her.
Damian lowered his gaze, a bitter smile threatening his mouth. This wasn't revenge. This was retribution.
There was a difference.
Years ago, Kashi had stepped away from much of her work at Saints Group for him.
For Grey Enterprises.
She had opened doors his company had spent years knocking against.
Introduced him to people who previously wouldn't have remembered his name.
Negotiated agreements. Built connections. Put the Saints name beside Grey and watched doors swing open. Because she had believed they would marry someday.
Their futures would become one, their companies would become family and Grey Enterprises had prospered beneath that assumption.
Damian had allowed it. Of course he had.
He had never loved Kashi. Not once. At least, that was what he had always told himself.
Kashi was difficult. Cruel when crossed, vindictive, proud and a spoiled heiress.
She destroyed whatever she no longer favoured and rarely bothered pretending remorse afterwards.
She was not the sort of woman a man came home to for peace.
But marrying Kashi Saints would have secured Grey Enterprises for generations.
Damian had never been particularly interested in love. So he had accepted the arrangement. Accepted Kashi, accepted everything that came with her.
Then he met Natalie and for the first time, everything had been different.
Natalie was gentle where Kashi was sharp. Soft-spoken where Kashi commanded. She apologised when people bumped into her.
She remembered the names of junior employees and asked after their families. She believed people were fundamentally good even when Damian thought that belief absurd.
She cried over injured animals. Smiled at children in the street.
Got embarrassed by expensive gifts and uncomfortable when servants did too much for her.
She had grown up with almost nothing, yet somehow possessed none of the bitterness Damian would have expected from it.
There was no calculation in her affection. No family name attached to it. No boardroom waiting behind her smile.
Natalie looked at Damian and saw Damian.
Not Grey Enterprises, an alliance or inheritance. Him.
He had fallen hard and fast.
For the first time in his life, Damian wanted something that had absolutely nothing to do with strategy.
So why would he condemn himself to a loveless marriage with Kashi? He cancelled the engagement and Kashi had gone mad with rage.
Threats, insults, fury unlike anything he had seen from her before.
Natalie had been terrified.
She had been a poor girl with nothing, suddenly standing in the path of one of the most powerful heiresses in the country.
Damian had promised to protect her.
And he had. He would protect Natalie with everything he had. So he made his choice publicly. He broke the arrangement. Humiliated Kashi. Chose Natalie.
Chose love.
And society applauded. God, how they applauded. The story was irresistible.
The powerful Saints heiress discarded for an ordinary girl.
Love triumphing over wealth.
A billionaire choosing his heart over dynasty.
Kashi Saints finally being told no.
People who had spent years bowing when she entered rooms suddenly found tremendous courage behind champagne glasses and anonymous headlines.
For weeks, Damian had been celebrated.
Brave, romantic, a man who had chosen love over power.
Then the doors closed and the whispers changed.
His mother called him a madman.
His father had nearly torn the house apart.
Business partners who had congratulated him at the wedding began reconsidering agreements.
Some quietly reduced exposure. Others stopped returning calls.
A few withdrew entirely.
Damian had not understood it at first.
Hadn't they approved? Hadn't they celebrated?
Yes.
But he had made one catastrophic mistake. He had confused entertainment with acceptance.
Society enjoyed watching Kashi Saints dragged through the mud. That did not mean they intended to climb down there with her and it certainly did not mean they considered the woman who replaced her an equal.
In public, Natalie was the beautiful little love story.
Behind closed doors— she was still a nobody.
A poor girl from the slums. No family name. No connections. No political value. No empire standing behind her surname.
The same people who had toasted Damian's courage looked at him across negotiation tables and saw something else entirely.
A man who had traded a dynasty for a love story.
Romantic? Certainly.
Brave? Perhaps.
But in their world, bravery without advantage had another name.
Stupidity.
And there was an even crueller truth beneath it. They had enjoyed seeing Kashi Saints lose. That never meant they suddenly considered Natalie her equal.
Damian's jaw tightened.
That was the part nobody said to his face. He had not elevated Natalie in their eyes. He had lowered himself in theirs.
Because people like them could praise Cinderella at the ball all they wanted. When morning came, they still checked the pedigree.
Damian looked towards Kashi again.
She hadn't looked at him once. Not really. She was listening to the presentation with one hand resting against the table, occasionally turning a page, asking a question, dismissing an argument.
The same woman who had once used every connection she possessed to push Grey Enterprises upwards was now calmly removing her hands from beneath it.
No screaming or threats. No demands that he regret choosing Natalie.
She wasn't destroying Grey Enterprises. That would have been revenge.
She was simply taking back what belonged to her.
Saints access, Saints capital. Saints influence.
Saints protection.
Everything Grey had enjoyed because Kashi Saints had once believed she would become Kashi Grey.
Damian's fingers slowly unclenched, he now understood exactly what she was doing.
You chose a life without me. Now live one.
And somehow—
that was much worse.