POV: Kai
The knock on my hotel door came exactly when I expected it.
Nova was still in my arms, her face wet with tears, her body trembling against mine. Ten years of buried pain had spilled out between us, and I could feel her walls starting to crumble. She was vulnerable. Open. Everything I'd dreamed of during those endless nights when I'd built my empire thinking about her.
Which meant Darren would come for her now.
"Stay here," I murmured against her hair, breathing in that familiar scent that still drove me crazy.
Her fingers gripped my shirt. "Don't go."
"I'm not going anywhere. But we have a visitor."
The knocking turned to pounding. Aggressive. Demanding.
"NOVA!" Darren's voice carried through the solid wood door. "I know you're in there. Open this door right now."
I felt Nova stiffen in my arms. The old fear creeping back into her eyes.
"He can't come in here, can he?" she whispered.
I touched her cheek gently. "Not unless I let him. And I won't."
But I was curious to see what the man who'd stolen my life had become. How much he'd changed since that night ten years ago when he'd cornered me outside Nova's house with an offer I couldn't refuse.
"Open the door, Storm!" Darren shouted. "Don't make me call security."
Nova's eyes widened. "He knows who you are."
Of course he did. Darren Blake hadn't become a successful music mogul by being stupid. He'd have done his research the moment he saw me at the Grammy ceremony. Probably had a file on me before I'd even caught Nova when she fell.
"Wait in the bedroom," I told her. "Close the door."
"Kai—"
"Trust me." I kissed her forehead, a promise and a prayer. "I'm not the same person he used to push around."
She hesitated, then nodded and disappeared into the suite's master bedroom. The door clicked shut behind her.
I straightened my jacket, rolled my shoulders, and opened the door.
Darren Blake stood in the hallway flanked by two security guards. He'd changed out of his tuxedo into an expensive casual outfit that screamed money and power. But his face was flushed with rage, his normally perfect hair disheveled.
He looked like a man losing control.
"Hello, Darren." I leaned against the doorframe, blocking his view into the suite. "It's been a while."
"Not long enough." His eyes were cold fire. "Where is she?"
"Who?"
"Don't play games with me, you little shit. Where's my wife?"
"Ex-wife," I corrected. "As of about an hour ago, if I remember her announcement correctly."
His jaw clenched. "That was a moment of hysteria. Nova doesn't know what she's doing right now. She's emotional, confused—"
"She seemed pretty clear to me."
"You." He stepped closer, his security guards moving with him. "You're the reason she lost her mind tonight. Showing up out of nowhere, confusing her with your pathetic attempt at a comeback."
I smiled. Not the friendly kind. "Comeback implies I went somewhere. I've been here the whole time, Darren. Building something you could never touch."
"Storm Industries." He spat the name like it tasted bad. "Cute little tech company. But this isn't about business, is it? This is about that teenage infatuation you never got over."
"Maybe. Or maybe it's about finishing what you started ten years ago."
Something flickered in his eyes. Fear, maybe. Or recognition.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"No? Let me refresh your memory." I stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind me. "Young love. Small town boy. Big dreams for his girl. Sound familiar?"
His face went pale.
"You remember now, don't you? How you found out about Nova's little boyfriend. How you convinced her parents that I was a dead-end distraction from her real future. How you offered to manage her career if they got rid of me."
"You were holding her back—"
"I was seventeen and in love. You were a grown man who saw a way to own someone extraordinary." I stepped closer, close enough that his security guards tensed. "Tell me, Darren. When did you decide you wanted her for yourself? Before or after you destroyed us?"
"I gave her everything!" His voice rose, echoing off the hotel hallway walls. "Fame, fortune, a career most singers would kill for. What did you ever give her besides empty promises and puppy love?"
"Freedom."
The word hung in the air between us like a challenge.
"Nova chose me," he continued, but his voice had lost its confidence. "She married me. She built a life with me."
"She settled for you," I corrected. "Because you made sure she didn't have any other choice."
"And what? You think you can just waltz back into her life and pick up where you left off? You think ten years doesn't matter?"
"I think she deserves better than a man who treats her like property."
His face twisted with fury. "You self-righteous piece of—"
"Careful." My voice went deadly quiet. "We're not teenagers anymore, Darren. I'm not some scared kid you can intimidate with threats about ruining Nova's future. I could buy your entire company before breakfast and shut it down for fun."
He laughed, but it sounded forced. "Money doesn't change what you are. Small town trash with delusions of grandeur."
"Maybe. But it does change what I can do about it."
For a moment, we just stared at each other. Two men who'd been circling the same woman for a decade, finally face to face.
Then Darren's expression shifted. The rage melted away, replaced by something colder. More calculating.
"You want to know the truth, Storm?" His voice dropped to a whisper. "You were right about one thing. I did want her for myself from the beginning. But not just her career. Her. All of her."
My hands clenched into fists.
"And even if she divorces me, even if she runs to you, even if you think you've won..." He smiled, and it was the ugliest thing I'd ever seen. "You'll never have her. Not really. Because deep down, she'll always know you abandoned her once. And she'll spend every day waiting for you to do it again."
He turned to leave, then paused.
"She's mine, Storm. Even in divorce. Even in your bed. Even when she's whispering your name." His eyes glittered with malice. "She'll always be mine."