Nora, I’m sorry.”

She takes a short step back and adjusts her robe, tightening it around her like armor to protect herself. From me.

“Sorry about what?” she asks.

“I didn’t think he’d…”

I pause, wanting nothing more than to hold her but she’d never let me get close. Not right now. Not with that rage boiling beneath her eyelashes.

“Do you know this guy?” she asks.

I could lie. I could say Alex was just some co-worker of mine who got jealous over her. I could say he was a disgruntled customer banned from Red Brick looking for revenge of some sort. Some insane lunatic. But why bother protecting a man who lied to me, too? Why dig myself in deeper when I could just come clean and hope she believes me?

“Alex and I were in the Army together,” I say. “He’s the man who shot up my leg and ruined my career.”

Nora squints in confusion. “So… what does he want with me?”

“A few months back, I got a job working janitorial and maintenance at the gym. Little did I know, Alex worked there, too. We got to talking and catching up since Iraq and he found out about my situation. He wanted to help. He blamed himself and told me he’d make it up to me. Some weeks later, he tells me about this data entry job. He’d apply for it himself but he didn’t qualify with his criminal record, but I did.”

“Black Book?” she asks.

I nod. “I got the job. I was really happy about it. Thought it would lead to something better down the line. But when I told Alex, he told me the real reason why he wanted the job. Apparently, he had a buyer. Someone with deep pockets in the market for a lot of user-generated personal information. He asked… he asked me to get it for him and we’d split the money fifty-fifty.”

Nora looks down, her eyes heavy with thought. “You… you were going to steal from me?”

“But I couldn’t go through with it.” I step forward. “Nora—”

“Don’t come near me.”

I stop. “Please, hear me out. Okay?”

“Clive, a data breach of that level would have destroyed me. I would have lost everything.”

“I know.”

“So, what? You just didn’t care?”

“I didn’t know you,” I say.

“Okay, so thievery is excusable when you don’t actually know the person?”

I exhale. “I was in a bad place, Nora. I wasn’t thinking straight. You know. You weren’t born into wealth, either. Imagine someone dangling a million dollars in front of you when you weren’t even sure where your next meal would come from.”

“So, when I walked in on you in my office, that’s what you were really doing?” she asks. “Trying to rip off my client list?”

“Yes.” My voice breaks. “But I couldn’t get it because you… you take it home with you.”

“Oh, my god.” She touches her stomach and recoils in disgust.

“Nora, I—”

“You violated me.”

A tear rolls down her cheek, stabbing me in the heart.

“No,” I whisper. “No, my feelings for you are real, Nora.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s true. I got close to you at first to try and find that list, but I backed out of it when I fell for you. That’s the truth.” I touch my chest. “This is real. Last night was real.”

She shakes her head and looks at the floor as more tears fall. “You’re a liar,” she says. “A filthy, lying hypocrite. You made me feel awful about trying to help you and give you a better life, when all this time—”

“I know. And I’m sorry.”

“I trusted you. I gave you every part of me.”

She sobs into her hands, barely holding together.

“I had the chance, Nora,” I say, grasping at anything I can. “I could have gone through with it but I didn’t. I got to know you and trust you. And love you. I saw a life with you. I should have told you what was going on. I’ll own up to that.”

She looks up. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Honestly, I hoped I would never have to,” I say. “I hoped Alex would move on. I really never thought he’d—”

Nora turns away and walks to the other end of the room to pick up her clothes. She moves quickly, keeping her back to me while she steps into her dress and drops her robe.

I shift towards her. “Nora?”

“Your services will no longer be needed at Little Black Book.”

She takes a wide step around me and gathers her shoes.

My chest tightens. “Nora, don’t do this.”

“Any due wages will be deposited into your account within the next twenty-four hours.”

Her voice sounds so cold and repressed, like she’s seconds away from screaming.

I step in front of her as she heads for the door.

“Nora, please.”

“Do not attempt to re-enter the building or you will be escorted out by security. Any personal belongings left behind will be mailed to your home address, or… dumped on the sidewalk, in your case.”

“Stay here with me just a little bit longer and we’ll talk this out.”

“Clive…” She looks up at me, her face wet and utterly broken. “Stop.”

It crushes me. One word from her mouth ends it in an instant.

Nora grabs her purse from the shelf and throws the door open, leaving me behind to fend for my own bleeding heart.

No. No, I can’t let her go like this.

I rush out into the hallway as she steps onto the elevator.

“Nora!”

She looks up but she doesn’t move other than to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

I pick up my pace, breaking into a sprint to try and beat the doors before they close. If I can get to her, I can beg. I can drop to my knees and plead for forgiveness.

The doors close on me.

“Shit.”

I tap the call button, hoping to stop the car from falling but the mechanical whirl starts up and the elevator starts downward.

I hit the stairwell and charge down the twenty flights to the ground floor. I’m tired and sick and out of breath but I can’t let her leave. I can’t let Nora Payne walk away from me for good.

I reach the lobby and bolt toward the elevator. It dings in front of me and the doors open.

“Nora—”

It’s empty.

My eyes fall to the floor and my pounding heart breaks all over again.

The black leather choker with the small, white pearl.

I step on and pick it up. She tossed it away and took off. She tossed us away.

I’m not her Dom anymore.

I scan the lobby for her but she’s gone.