The morning after the kiss — and the slap — the penthouse was ice.
Lucien said nothing.
No note.
No call.
No text.
No command.
Ariella woke up expecting a storm.
What she got was nothing.
No guards at her door.
No driver waiting.
No schedule laid out like before.
It was like she'd been erased.
Like she was no longer necessary.
She spent the entire morning pacing, waiting for him to come out of his office. At lunch, she knocked on his door.
No answer.
At dinner, she tried again.
Still nothing.
By midnight, she was done waiting.
She marched into his office without knocking — heart thudding, palms shaking — only to find it empty.
Dark.
Abandoned.
Lucien Kane was gone.
And he stayed gone for two more days.
---
When he finally returned, it was past 2AM.
She heard the door open, the soft clink of his cufflinks being dropped, the quiet pour of bourbon into a glass.
Ariella stepped into the hallway, wearing only one of his shirts.
He was leaning against the kitchen counter, tie loose, sleeves rolled, looking every bit like sin dipped in wealth.
"You disappeared," she said.
Lucien didn't look at her. "I was working."
"You iced me out."
He sipped the bourbon. "You embarrassed me."
Her heart pinched. "So this is punishment?"
"No. This is clarity." He turned to her now. "You wanted freedom? You have it."
"I didn't want freedom," she said quietly. "I wanted respect."
Lucien set the glass down. "You knew what this was, Ariella."
Her voice broke. "Then why did you kiss me like you meant it?"
He didn't answer.
Because he couldn't.
She took a step closer. "You kissed me in front of the entire city. You made me feel like I mattered for one second, and then you vanished."
Silence.
Cold. Brutal.
And then:
"It was a mistake."
Those four words crushed her more than any slap ever could.
She backed away, heart cracking in her chest. "Right."
Lucien looked at her — unreadable, distant. "You'll have access to the guest house from now on. You don't have to stay here."
She nodded once. "Thank you… sir."
He flinched at that.
But she didn't care.
She walked back to her room and slammed the door behind her, biting back tears she refused to let fall.
Lucien thought he was protecting himself.
But in pushing her away…
He'd finally done the one thing he swore he never would.
He made her stop caring.