Page 128 of Stuck with my Boss Daddies

I went still.

My fingers clenched around my phone, breath catching in my throat as the past crashed down on me like a wave.

“S?” Kai’s voice was gentle, but I barely heard him.

I swallowed hard, pulse thrumming in my ears.

My thumb hovered over the notification.

My body screamed at me to toss the phone across the damn room, pretend I hadn’t seen it.

But I wasn’t that girl anymore. I wasn’t running. Not from Medford. Not from myself. And not from him.

So I took a slow breath and opened the message.

Sadie. We need to talk.

The second I saw those words, the memories came rushing in, fast and sharp, like a wound I thought had healed suddenly tearing open.

I could still picture the first time I met him, when he hired me to work in Belle and Rye—a job that was a dream come true for me.

The man had charm down to a science. That easy, confident smile. That sharp gaze that made me feel like I was the only person in the room when he looked at me.

At first, it had felt like a dream.

Late nights, stolen moments in his office. The rush of his hand at the small of my back as he led me through the restaurant… our little secret.

The whispered promises, the heady thrill of being wanted by a man like him.

I had fallen. Hard.

And then, he’d changed.

The compliments had turned into critiques. Subtle, at first. A small correction here, a disappointed sigh there. Then, they got sharper.

Why can’t you get this right, Sadie?

You used to be better at this.

Do you know how many people would kill for this job?

But it wasn’t just at work.

The warmth in his eyes turned calculating.

The texts became cold.

He’d started canceling plans. Making excuses.

The Owain who had made me feel like I was the center of his world started treating me like I was a problem.

And the worst part?

I’d let him.

I had made myself smaller.

I’d tried harder. Stayed later. Took every scrap of attention he tossed my way and told myself it was enough. That it was just stress, that he’d come back to me when things settled.

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