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Just like earlier.
A strange unease settles in my stomach.
Something about his reaction feels…off.
Like I said something I wasn’t supposed to.
Like he knows something I don’t.
I stare at my phone, wondering what the hell just happened.
11
DAMIEN
I know now.
The second I read her text—the one about running into me in the hallway—I know.
Sasha Caldwell. The brunette I ran into at the elevator, and the parking lot. The one who left an impression.
I go still, my grip tightening around my phone as my mind replays the moment.
She ran into me today. In the office. She was helping one of the Ryans move out.
It has to be her. I barely even looked at her—barely registered them at all, too caught up in my own thoughts. But now that I know?
Now that I’ve pieced it together?
I feel like a fucking idiot.
All this time, I’ve been searching for her. Narrowing down names, going through employee records, playing a guessing game?—
And she’s been right under my nose.
I lean back in my chair, exhaling slowly, trying to process the information.
She’s the one crawling into my head at night.
The one texting me things that keep me awake until morning.
The one who—without knowing who I am—has made me crave things I have no business craving.
I lean back in my chair, phone still glowing in my hand, my mind running through everything all over again.
The moment I suspected my mystery texter worked for me, I narrowed down my options.
It was the mention of Ryan that tipped me off. I knew he was my clue to find her, but I didn’t know what to do until she told me he had asked her out. I knew I couldn’t let him have her, in any way.
I didn’t know which Ryan.
But it didn’t matter.
Because the thought of her—my mystery texter, my printsessa—going out with someone else made something in me snap.
So I handled it.
All five Ryans were transferred this afternoon.