Chapter 3
Eric didn’t move as Hadley walked away, her heels clicking sharply against the marble floor.
He stood frozen, feeling a storm raging inside him.
The Hadley he remembered — the wide-eyed girl clinging to him, desperate for a scrap of affection — was gone.
This woman was a stranger.
A vision he couldn’t reach even if he tried.
And yet, he had never wanted anyone more.
Eric clenched his fists, struggling to steady his breathing. How had it come to this? How had he let her slip so far from his grasp?
He couldn’t get her face out of his head — that faint smile, the calm, almost cruel way she had dismissed him.
After a long moment, he turned sharply and followed.
Outside, the night air was cold, cutting through the heat of the club.
Hadley was already stepping into a sleek black car, her long legs vanishing behind the door.
Without thinking, Eric reached out, grabbing the door before it closed.
“Hadley,” he said, voice rough.
Inside the car, Hadley turned her head lazily, looking at him as if he were no more than an inconvenience.
“What do you want, Eric?” she asked.
He didn’t know how to answer.
He wanted too many things.
An apology.
A second chance.
To rewind time.
“Come back with me,” he said, almost pleading.
Hadley laughed softly, the sound low and bitter.
“You had your chance,” she said. “You threw it away.”
“It wasn’t—” Eric started, but the words caught in his throat.
It wasn’t what? It wasn’t real? It wasn’t his choice?
No excuses could erase what he had done.
“Goodbye, Eric,” Hadley said, her voice cool.
She pulled the door shut, and the driver sped off, leaving him standing alone under the streetlights.
For the first time in his life, Eric Flynn tasted real regret.
Hadley leaned back in her seat, watching the city lights blur past.
Her heart was hammering in her chest, but her face stayed calm.
Seeing Eric again had shaken her more than she wanted to admit.
But she wouldn’t show it.
Not now.
Not ever.
He had made her beg once.
He had watched her cry and turned away.
Now it was her turn to walk away — and she would do it with her head high.
But deep down, Hadley knew this wasn’t the end.
Not yet.
Eric Flynn was not the kind of man to give up easily.
Especially not when he realized he had finally, truly lost her.
And Hadley?
She wasn’t the same naïve girl he could control.
She had her own plans now.
Her own life.
If Eric wanted a second chance, he would have to fight harder than he ever had before.
And even then, there were no guarantees.