Page 101 of The Compass Series

AALIYAH - PRESENT DAY

I hadn’t heard from Connor since he’d texted me that he’d landed in California. I’d sent him a lot of messages, and when I began to worry, he texted me back once. It was a vague and short reply.

Connor: I’m okay. Busy. See you once back in town.

I hated that when I read his message, worry and doubt hit me.

Don’t overthink it, Aaliyah.

The day he was supposed to return to New York, I went ahead and prepared dinner for him. I made a spread of his favorite foods and laid out a tray with every type of Cheetos I could find.

He came in two hours later than he said he would be home, and when he did, he looked destroyed.

His tie was loosened, and his eyes were heavy.

He smelled like whiskey, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what was happening.

Had Jason burned the building down to the ground in California?

What was weighing so heavily on Connor’s shoulders?

“Hey,” I said, moving closer to him.

He pushed out a forced smile. “Hey.” He walked past me without greeting me with a kiss, no hug—nothing. The alarm started building in me, but I tried my best not to let it show.

“I figured you might be hungry after the trip, especially dealing with Jason and his crap, so I made you some of your favorite foods. And?—”

“Are you dying?” he spat out, looking at me for the first time since he’d stepped into the house.

His words made my whole system go into shock.

My lips parted to speak, but no words came out at first. Then, I whispered. “What?”

He took a few steps toward me. He lowered his head before looking at me with pain-filled eyes. “Are you dying, Red?”

“How did you find?—”

“Jason. I guess it got back to him that you and I were…a thing. That’s why he called me out to California—to throw it in my face that I was picking up his leftovers, and then he told me you have heart failure.

So, I came here to have you tell me it wasn’t true.

Please…tell me it isn’t true,” he begged, his voice cracking.

My lips parted, but I couldn’t cohesively collect my thoughts to say anything that made sense. “I’m sorry, I…”

No words came to me.

He looked seconds away from completely falling apart.

I did that to him.

I made his soul ache.

I took a step in his direction, and he held his hand up. He put his head down and stared at the floor before sliding his hands into his pockets.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” I said, uncertain what else I could tell him.

It was all I could think to say. When he looked up at me, his eyes were glassy, as if my apology was enough to tell him that I was, in fact, sick…that I was dying. It was at that moment that I saw the switch go off. I saw the moment he began to pull away from me.

“Listen, I think we kind of rushed into things,” he started.

No…

No…don’t do this…

“It’s probably best if we keep our situation friendly instead of diving into more. Honestly, I’ve been falling behind on work, and I need to truly refocus on the projects I have on deck. I don’t really have time for?—”

“Me,” I whispered, my voice shaking. “You don’t have time for me.”

He grimaced and brushed the palm of his hand against the back of his neck. “Cutting it off before feelings get involved is probably the best idea. We can go back to just being friends. This is all moving too fast, and I need time to regroup.”

How could he say that? How could he act as if we hadn’t already developed feelings for one another after all we’d shared?

“I, uh, I’m going to get to work,” he said. That was it. There was no more conversation to be had. He walked into his office and shut the door behind him.

I didn’t see him for the remainder of the night.

I couldn’t sleep at all. My mind was spinning too fast. All I wanted to do was go across the hall and knock on Connor’s door, try to explain everything to him, try to express how sorry I was for lying about the severity of my illness.

So, I did. I went to his office and knocked.

When I didn’t get a reply, I turned the knob and opened it.

He wasn’t in there. I checked his bedroom, and he wasn’t there, either.

I checked every other place in the house, including the rooftop, and I had no luck finding him.

He was gone.

A few days passed, and Connor never came home.

After about four days of silence, I showed up at Connor’s job to talk to him.

I knew the conversation we had before he left hadn’t gone well, but I wasn’t ready to give up on us.

I needed to be able to get through to him and make him understand I didn’t mean to lie to him, let him know I wanted to be as open as possible.

I just needed a chance to speak to him face-to-face again, now that we both were aware of the situation.

“Jason?” I gasped as I walked into the lobby of Roe Real Estate and saw my ex-fiancé standing there. He turned to face me. At first, he appeared shocked, but that quickly evaporated into a look of disdain.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” I choked out. I hadn’t seen him since I was moving out of the penthouse, and I’d hoped I’d never have to cross paths with him again. If he was nothing more than a distant nightmare to me, I’d be perfectly fine with that fact.

He looked smug as he fiddled with the designer cuffs on his designer suit.

“I actually am part owner of the business you’re standing in, so I should be the one asking you that question.

Flew in to finish a conversation with Connor.

” He slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks and arched an inquisitive brow. “What are you doing here?”

My mind shot back to the reason I’d shown up to Connor’s office. To talk to him. To see where his head had been. To figure out how we could make what we had work. Yet I couldn’t say that to Jason.

Even though I shouldn’t have cared—he had, after all, stood me up on our wedding day—I did.

A wicked smirk curved his lips. “So those fucked-up rumors were true, huh?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’ve been screwing my partner? News travels fast. I just didn’t think you had it in you.”

“It’s not what you think, Jason.”

“Oh, sweetheart, it’s exactly what I think. I think you’re a whore who got her feelings hurt and tried to latch onto whatever she could to keep her head above water.”

“That’s not it at all.”

“Was this your way to get back at me for standing you up? You thought you could screw my partner to get me to care?”

“What? No…I?—”

“Here are the facts, Aaliyah,” he said, stepping closer, making me feel as if I was boxed in even though we stood firmly in the middle of the lobby.

“I couldn’t care less about who you’re fucking because I couldn’t care less about you.

You’ve never been anything but arm candy to me, nothing of substance.

You’re a pretty girl and a decent fuck, but not someone any guy would want to really take home. ”

“You almost did,” I choked out, feeling tears burning behind my eyes. “You were going to marry me.”

“Yeah, and thank fuck I came to the realization that I was making a huge mistake. I mean, let’s be honest—you’ll probably drop dead any day now, judging by how ghostly you’re looking, and I, for one, didn’t want to foot the bill for that.

You were just a business transaction for me.

If I agreed to marry you, I got the West Coast division.

That was it. I didn’t want to deal with you.

I doubt Connor would feel any different about it than I do. ”

“You’re wrong. Connor’s not like that.”

He laughed mischievously. “You really think Roe gives a damn about you? I know that guy. I’ve worked around him for years.

The truth is, if you aren’t making him money, you aren’t worth his time—especially someone like you.

Connor is a businessman, and he doesn’t make bad deals.

Let’s face the facts: you are a bad deal.

If anything, you’re a liability. He doesn’t have the space for you in the empire he’s trying to build.

” Jason moved in closer and ran his finger against my cheek, cruising it down my jawline.

“Don’t you get it, Aaliyah? You’re no one’s forever.

You’re just a temporary fix. Besides, after all the shit Connor has been through with his mother being sick, it’s really fucked up that you’d put him through your drama.

You’re showing up, just to drop dead on the guy. Real classy, Aaliyah.”

I swung his hand away from my face and took a giant step back. My mind was swirling faster than I wanted to admit. My vision was blurring as the emotions pushed to the front of my eyes. I turned away from Jason and rushed out the door, straight onto the streets of Manhattan.

I hated Jason. I hated him, and everything he stood for so much. I hated how he’d abandoned me on my wedding day. I hated how he lied. I hated how he betrayed me and made it hard for me to trust. I hated his anger, his personality, his heart. I hated how cruel he’d been.

But what I hated most about him was how he made sense, how I could see how someone wouldn’t want a forever with a girl who had limited time.

I hated how his words aligned with Connor’s fears.

I hated how Jason was right.