Page 61 of Click of Fate

“Rebranding. Corporate investors. Scaling fast and far. She wants in again, personally and professionally.” I shake my head. “But she doesn’t want what we built. She wants control. Recognition. To prove she was right to walk.”

“And you?” Her voice is softer now.

“I want what I have. What I’m building here.” I meet her eyes. “And I’m not interested in doing any of it with Claire.”

Stella breathes out like she didn’t realize she’d been holding it in.

“She was all over you.”

“I know.”

“And she’s going to try again.”

“Probably.”

There’s a beat of silence, weighty but not hostile. She cuts another piece of salmon, slow, thoughtful.

“She’s got history with you,” she says.

“Yeah. But history doesn’t mean a damn thing if you already turned the page.”[[ teaser]]

I let that sit between us.

Stella nods slowly, chewing. Swallowing.

Then, finally, she says, “Okay.”

Just that.

But it’s enough.

Because that “okay” wasn’t just about Claire. It was about me. About us, in whatever shape this thing is taking.

And hour later, I park at the curb and kill the engine. We sit in silence for a second, the kind that hums with things left unsaid.

Stella unclips her seatbelt and looks over at me.

“Thanks for dinner,” she says, voice low.

“Thanks for not bailing.”

She smirks. “It was a close call.”

I laugh, and she opens the door, grabbing her camera bag from the floorboard. She didn’t take it into the restaurant, but I’ve come to realize it goes wherever she goes. I walk her to the porch, not because I feel like I should—but because I want to. Because letting her go inside without saying one more thing feels wrong.

She unlocks the door, then turns, half-lit by the porch light, and gives me a look that lands somewhere between grateful and uncertain.

“I’m still figuring it out,” she says quietly.

“I know.”

“I don’t do this.”

“I know that too.”

“And yet…” She trails off.

I take a step closer. “Yet.”

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