The spring breeze still lingered softly in the air when Eloise returned from lunch. The light coral tint on her lips matched the beige outfit that highlighted her quiet elegance. It was exactly 3:30 p.m. when she stepped into the company's coffee room. She prepared a tray with a cup of coffee, sweetening it the way he usually took it. She didn't ask, but her instincts were sharp.

Then she headed toward August's office.

She knocked before entering.

"May I?" she asked.

"Come in," he replied without looking away from his laptop.

She walked in quietly, placed the tray on the side table, and watched him for a moment. There was tension in his shoulders, his jaw tight, as if the world inside that office weighed more heavily than the one outside.

"Coffee. I thought you might need it," she said with a small smile.

He nodded, his expression unreadable.

"Thank you, Miss Beaumont."

She left the room discreetly and returned to her desk. She began organizing the schedule for the following week, checked pending reports, answered a few emails on his behalf—with prior authorization—and was preparing to wrap up the day when a sophisticated envelope was placed on her desk by the receptionist.

It was an invitation printed on thick paper, its edges gilded in gold, the serif lettering radiating power and tradition.

She skimmed it.

'The Montgomery Family invites you to the annual dinner honoring the business elite partnerships of North City.'

She immediately recognized the sender.

It was Joseph Montgomery, August's father.

She swallowed.

This looked important.

Carefully, she picked up the envelope and walked to his office. She knocked once more. He gave a quiet murmur of permission.

"This invitation just arrived, sir," she said, extending the envelope.

August took it.

But when he read his father's name, his fingers stiffened.

Time seemed to stop.

His gaze unfocused, as if he were seeing something far beyond that room.

Flashbacks shattered through his mind like broken glass.

The sound of a door opening in the middle of the night.

The muffled whispers coming from upstairs.

Him climbing the staircase in silence, stopping at the half-open door of the guest bedroom.

And there they were, Victoria his fiancee and Caleb, his best friend since childhood.

The betrayal tore him apart.

In the days that followed, his father tried to minimize everything.

"You know how these things are. They made a mistake, but business is business. Her family is still strategically important, August."

Joseph Montgomery had said it as if August's pain were nothing more than an administrative inconvenience.

In that moment, August stopped being gentle.

The man who once believed in loyalty died quietly inside him. He buried his feelings and closed every door.

Since then, dinners like that had become nothing more than another disguised attempt by his father to force him back into the same room as the woman who had destroyed everything.

Victoria. What a beautifully dressed lie.

He took a slow breath, his green eyes still fixed on the name printed on the envelope.

"You may go, Miss Beaumont," he said, his voice lower than usual.

Eloise hesitated for a moment.

She noticed the way he stared at the paper. The way his thumb pressed hard against the corner, as if it irritated him deeply.

Something in it had hurt him.

She wanted to ask, but it wasn't her place to do so.

"Of course, Mr. Montgomery."

She turned to leave.

But as she closed the door, she glanced back discreetly.

And she caught the exact moment when he slid the invitation into a drawer and locked it with a key.

She didn't say anything.

But a spark of curiosity had already been lit inside her.