"I mean... Regina, let's be together."
I laughed out loud before I could stop myself. But the boy who'd been clueless about romance yet so sincere and attentive was gone. He was truly gone.
It wasn't that he'd changed. It was that every image I'd ever drawn of him in my heart collapsed the instant I saw him love someone else.
Enough. A clean break was the best I could hope for.
I let out a breath and called Morris.
The phone rang twice before someone picked up.
"Morris, check the file I sent you on—"
"Regina, Morris is busy right now. I'll have him call you back."
Cassandra's voice had lost its usual softness. Now it carried an unmistakable edge of provocation.
I smiled and said, evenly:
"Sure. Then make sure you tell him to check the file I sent."
"It's urgent. The sooner, the better."
"Regina, don't you get it? The person in his heart is me. Not you."
Her voice dripped with pity:
"It must've been so hard for you, spending three years with a man who never loved you."
"Still better than being the woman who wrecks someone else's marriage."
I fired back without missing a beat.
"Morris doesn't know the real reason you came back to the country, but do you think I don't?"