Page 1 of Strictly Business

Chapter one

Amara

Iwonder if heartbreak can actually kill you.

Can love break you so completely that your heart just… stops? No warning, no second chances. Just pain, pure and unrelenting, until your body decides it’s had enough.

I spent the entire weekend in bed, staring at my ceiling, waiting for the Grim Reaper to show up and finish me off. Spoiler alert: he didn’t.

Instead, I woke up this morning with a headache, an empty ache in my chest, and the crushing realization that heartbreak doesn’t kill you. It just makes you wish it could.

The elevator doors slide shut, and I catch my reflection in the mirrored walls. Puffy eyes, blotchy cheeks, and hair that’s barely hanging onto the idea of a bun.

I look like a mess and feel like a mess. But at least I made it here. Out of bed, down the subway steps, and into my office building. Progress, right? Never mind that I’m still replaying Friday night on a loop in my head, like a broken record.

Four words. That’s all it took to rip my world apart. Four stupid, gut-wrenching words from the man I thought I’d spend forever with.

I cheated on you.

The memory hits like a sucker punch, and I press my fingers to my temple, willing the ache in my chest to leave.

If heartbreak doesn’t kill you, it sure as hell comes close.

I should have seen it coming. The late nights at the office. The sudden work trips that didn’t quite add up. The fact that we hadn’t slept together in… Let’s just say I’ve lost track of how many days it’s been since my orgasms started relying entirely on my own imagination.

The red flags were all there, waving frantically in my face.

But nope. I missed every single one.

Instead, I let myself get cozy in our little routine. So cozy that now I’m heartbroken, living in a rundown apartment forty minutes from work, with only Pumpkin, my overly clingy kitten, to keep me company.

My lip wobbles, and tears blur my vision, but I force them back. I willnotcry at work.

The ding of the doors opening snaps me out of my spiraling thoughts, and I blink hard, squaring my shoulders as Jade comes into view, her hands on her hips and a frown on her face.

Her eyes sweep over me. “You’re late.”

I plaster on a smile, trying to act like I’m not one wrong word away from falling apart. “I overslept.” My voice sounds hollow, even to me.

Her perfectly arched brow shoots up. “Amara Winslow? Oversleeping?” Her voice goes up an octave, drawing the attention of a guy passing us with his coffee. Great. Just what I needed. An audience.

I shrug, juggling two coffees and my laptop as I collapse into my desk chair, which probably costs more than the rent on mynew shoebox of an apartment. The pink overload of my desk stings my eyes.

Normally, the bright sticky notes, pink pens, and pink and white keyboard, would make me smile. Today, they’re just mocking me with their brightness.

Jade perches on the edge of my desk, crossing her legs. Her red lips purse as she studies me. “You look terrible.”

I let out a short, humorless laugh, dropping my bag onto the floor. “Thanks.”

Her eyes narrow, lips pressing into a thin line. “Your hair looks like it hasn’t seen shampoo in days, you have horrendous dark circles under your eyes, your lipstick’s all over the place, and—” She stops mid-rant, her gaze snapping to my face. Her expression shifts, her eyes widening, fire blazing in them. “You’ve been crying. What did he do?”

I swear, Jade’s like a bloodhound when it comes to sniffing out a meltdown.

She’s never liked Liam. Not from the moment he drunkenly flirted with her at the office Christmas party two years ago. He’d been a little too tipsy, made a scene, and hit on every woman in the room, including her. I’d brushed it off at the time, told her he was just drunk, but looking back… he was just being a jerk.

I never liked when Liam drank. It was like a switch flipped, and suddenly, I didn’t recognize him. Maybe it was the real him all along, and I was too blinded by love to see it.

My eyes drift to the framed picture on my desk—me, Pumpkin, with her ridiculously cute pink bell, squirming to try and get away from Liam, who’s standing beside us, flashing that smile of his.

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