Chapter 5 : Torn Between Pride and Panic

Rhea Sloane stood frozen in the corner of her sleek, glass-walled office, staring at the screen of her laptop as if it were some malevolent force. Her fingers, which had always been so steady under pressure, trembled now. A wave of dizziness made her head spin, and for a moment, she thought she might actually collapse onto the polished floor beneath her.

The email subject line blinked back at her with cruel clarity: CONFIDENTIAL FILES LEAKED—RHEA SLOANE NAMED AS LEAD.

She swallowed, her throat tight, and opened the message with trembling hands. Her eyes scanned the screen, taking in every word, every sentence that slowly twisted the knife in her gut. The files in question weren’t just any confidential documents—they were vital to the success of ValeCorp’s latest high-profile merger. And the fact that her name was attached to the leak? That was a death sentence. Not just professionally, but personally.

There was no mistaking it. Someone had gone out of their way to expose her involvement. Whoever it was, they knew exactly how to hurt her, and they were succeeding.

Her mind raced. The possibilities were endless, and none of them were good. Rhea was a woman who had always prided herself on her independence. She didn’t need anyone. Not a soul. She had clawed her way to the top of the corporate ladder, and no one had ever been there to catch her when she fell. She had built ValeCorp’s empire from the ground up with her own two hands, without relying on a single ally or partner—except for Damian Vale, of course. But the truth was, Damian was more of a liability than a help when it came to situations like this. He had his own agenda, his own power struggles. She couldn’t trust him in this moment of crisis.

But what else could she do? She couldn’t undo the damage the leak had already caused. She couldn’t control the headlines that were already spreading. And the worst part? She couldn’t do any of it alone.

Her heart hammered in her chest. It was the one thing she had always avoided—asking for help. That wasn’t who she was. She had been raised to be strong, to handle everything on her own. Dependence on others? That was for the weak, the incompetent. And now, she was about to break the one rule she had lived by her entire life.

“I need help.” The thought sliced through her like a blade.

Her office phone buzzed, jerking her out of her spiraling thoughts. She grabbed the receiver quickly, not even bothering to check the caller ID.

“Rhea,” a familiar voice snapped over the line.

It was Damian Vale.

“Don’t even say it, Damian,” she muttered, cutting him off before he could get a word in. “I know what’s happening. The leak. My name’s on it.” Her voice was harsh, strained with frustration. “I need you to fix this, now.”

“Fix it?” Damian’s voice was low, almost mocking. “Rhea, you’re the one who’s always had everything under control. Now you want me to swoop in and save you?”

She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold on to the last thread of her composure. She couldn’t lose control. Not now. Not when she needed to stay sharp.

“I don’t have time for this, Damian,” she bit out, forcing herself to stay calm despite the panic clawing at her insides. “You’ve known about the merger from the beginning. If anyone can find the leak, it’s you. I don’t care how you do it, but I need you to get me answers. Fast.”

There was a brief silence on the other end, before Damian’s voice came through again, colder now. “I don’t like being cornered, Rhea. And right now, you’re asking me to help you clean up a mess that you made. So, what’s it going to be? Are you going to admit that you need me, or are you going to try and solve this on your own and fail?”

Her stomach churned. She hated that he was right. He wasn’t wrong about her pride or her track record. She had always been able to solve her own problems, always been the one to come out on top. But now? Now everything was spiraling beyond her control.

Her hand gripped the edge of her desk, knuckles white. She took a deep breath, fighting the rising panic.

“Fine,” she spat out, the words tasting bitter in her mouth. “I need you. But not for your ego. I need you because you’re the only one with the resources to fix this.”

A long pause. Then, Damian’s tone shifted, just slightly. There was something in it now that she hadn’t expec

Chapter 5: Flashbacks & Fault Lines

The office was dark except for the glow of Rhea’s monitor. Everyone else had left hours ago. The city lights stretched beyond the windows like a blanket of stars trapped under glass, but Rhea didn’t see them. Not really.

Her cursor blinked on a half-finished report. Numbers made sense. Deadlines could be met. People? Feelings? Messy.

She shut the laptop, leaned back in her chair, and let the silence close in.

Damian Vale had stirred something in her. Not affection—no. It wasn’t that simple. It was the disruption that bothered her. The way he slipped into her routines like a whisper, unraveling knots she’d tied for a reason.

She didn’t want to remember.

But memory had a funny way of creeping in when everything else went quiet.

Seven Years Ago

Rain pelted the windows of the hospital corridor as Rhea sat alone on the plastic bench, the cold from the floor seeping into her bones. Her heels were soaked, her coat still clinging to her from the storm she’d run through to get here.

Emergency contact, the nurse had said on the phone. That was a joke.

She hadn’t spoken to her father in two years.

The man who raised her, built her to be strong, to never show pain—was now unconscious behind a thin wall of beeping machines.

She remembered the last conversation they’d had.

“You’re wasting your time chasing approval. You want to lead? Then stop expecting praise for every little win.”

“I don’t need praise,” she’d snapped. “I need support.”

“Then stop needing anything.”

That had been the final straw.

And yet… here she was.

Because even when he broke her down, part of her still wanted to prove she could be everything he never believed she was.

The doctor came out an hour later. Stroke. Severe. Recovery unlikely. The words blurred at the edges.

The next morning, she returned to work like nothing happened.

Four Years Ago

Rhea stood at the podium, the youngest executive in the company’s history. The board applauded her appointment. Her name trended on LinkedIn. Articles praised her sharp mind and tougher mouth.

She smiled for the cameras.

What they didn’t know was that two weeks before the announcement, her fiancé had walked out. Said he couldn’t “keep up” with her, said she “put ambition before love.”

She remembered standing in the living room, his box of things at her feet, a champagne bottle uncorked for a promotion celebration that would never come.

“You don’t leave a woman like me,” she’d told him, voice eerily calm. “You just realize you were never built to stay.”

He hadn’t replied. Just left. She never texted him back.

She spent that night working through company memos and ordering her favorite bourbon with ice.

That was the night the armor finished locking into place.

Present Day

A knock on her office door pulled her back.

Damian.

Of course.

He stepped inside without waiting for an invitation, holding two takeout containers and a raised brow. “You missed dinner again.”

“I wasn’t hungry.”

He dropped the food on her desk. “Eat anyway.”

She should’ve told him off. Should’ve reminded him that she wasn’t his problem to fix. But she didn’t. She just stared at the steam curling from the box of noodles like it held all the answers she didn’t want to ask for.

He sat across from her, digging into his own food like it was the most natural thing in the world. The silence between them wasn’t tense this time—it was curious.

“You work too late,” he finally said.

“So do you.”

“True,” he admitted. “But I’m not hiding behind spreadsheets.”

She flinched.

He noticed.

“Rhea,” he said gently, setting down his chopsticks, “what are you really afraid of?”

She looked at him—really looked. The way his eyes searched hers, not with pity, but with understanding. And that was so much worse.

“I’m not afraid,” she said quietly.

“Everyone’s afraid of something.”

Her jaw tightened. “I don’t let people in, Vale. Not because I’m afraid. But because I know what happens when I do.”

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, voice low.

“What happened?”

She could’ve lied. She should’ve lied. But the truth was sitting too heavy in her chest.

“My father raised me to believe that weakness was unforgivable,” she whispered. “When he got sick, he didn’t want me at the hospital. Said it was ‘wasted emotion.’ When my ex left, I didn’t cry. I closed deals instead.”

She met his gaze. “I decided emotions were a luxury I couldn’t afford. Because the moment I let them in, they wreck everything.”

Damian didn’t speak. He just sat there, steady, listening. No judgment. No empty comfort.

Just presence.

And somehow, that was enough.

For the first time in years, Rhea let the silence wrap around her like a warm coat instead of a cage.

“You think that makes me cold?” she asked, almost daring him.

“No,” he said. “I think it makes you strong. But strength doesn’t mean isolation, Rhea. You’re allowed to feel.”

She scoffed. “Feeling gets you hurt.”

“And burying it gets you alone.”

That struck deeper than she wanted to admit.

They sat in quiet again, the only sound the hum of the city outside and the occasional scrape of a chopstick against plastic.

When she finally spoke again, her voice was softer.