---- Chapter 13 Chapter 13 Aimee Ramirez POV: Anderson and | had fallen into a comfortable routine. We had dinner twice a week. He was my escort to corporate functions, a handsome, stable presence at my side. The industry press was already buzzing, speculating about a merger of not just our companies, but our lives. He was perfect. He was kind, intelligent, and he looked at me with an uncomplicated adoration that should have been a comfort. Instead, it felt like a judgment. He was in love with Aimee Ramirez, the brilliant, triumphant Chairwoman. He didn't know the other Aimee, the one who stayed late at the office to watch her ex-husband scrub floors on a security monitor. One evening, he was waiting for me in the lobby as | came down. My security detail, a new and necessary addition to my life, stood discreetly by. As we were about to leave, Kyle emerged from the service corridor, pushing his cleaning cart. He saw us. He saw Anderson's hand on the small of my back. He saw the easy intimacy between us. His face, already pale with exhaustion, seemed to crumble. He stopped, frozen, the mop handle clutched in his hand like a lifeline. ---- Anderson, sensing the tension, put a protective arm around me. "Let's go, Aimee." As we walked toward the door, Anderson leaned in and kissed me. It was a gentle, possessive kiss, meant as much for the man watching as it was for me. A claiming. Over Anderson's shoulder, | saw the raw, unfiltered agony on Kyle's face. It was the look of a man watching his own heart being ripped from his chest. He started toward us, a desperate, broken sound escaping his lips. My security guards moved instantly, blocking his path. "Why are you doing this, Aimee?" he cried out, his voice hoarse with a pain that echoed in the vast, empty lobby. "If you hate me so much, why not just fire me? Why keep me here to watch this?" | paused at the door, turning to look back at him. "Hate you?" | said, my voice carrying back to him, clear and cold. "Oh, Kyle. | don't feel anything for you at all. This is just... a human resources matter." As the car pulled away, | saw him sink to his knees on the polished marble floor, his shoulders shaking. Anderson took my hand. "You know," he said quietly, "for a man you feel nothing for, you spend a lot of time thinking about him." His words hit me with the force of a physical blow. He was ---- right. My revenge wasn't a cold, calculated business decision. It was a hot, all-consuming obsession. | hadn't moved on. | was still tethered to Kyle, bound by chains of my own making. My victory felt hollow. | had taken his company, his money, his pride. But he still had a hold on me. The game wasn't over. And | was no longer sure who was winning.