She still cared

Rhea stared at the glowing screen for several long seconds before finally answering the call. She pressed the phone to her ear without saying a word. Melissa didn’t expect a greeting. Things were still too awkward between them after the fallout.

“You left your Riverside proposal on your desk.”

Rhea’s brows drew together slightly. She hadn’t expected her mother to call about that.

“I figured you’d remember eventually,” Melissa continued, her voice unusually calm. “You worked too hard on it to let something so small ruin your second week at work.”

Rhea remained silent, listening.

“I already dropped it off at your company’s reception.”

“You… what?”

“It’s in a large brown envelope with your name on it.”

Silence settled between them.

“I didn’t want you getting into trouble.”

Rhea closed her eyes. She had been sitting at her desk, trying to gather the courage to call her mother. Melissa had quietly removed that burden before she’d even made the decision. Her fingers tightened around the phone. She wanted to stay angry. She wanted to hold on to everything that had been said between them. But beneath all the hurt, beneath all the lies, her mother had still remembered the report. She had still shown up.

“Thank you…” Rhea whispered so softly she wasn’t even sure the words had reached the other end.

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Melissa answered just as quietly. “Have a nice day at work, Rhea.”

The line went dead.

Rhea remained seated for another few seconds, staring at the dark screen in her hand. A strange ache settled in her chest. Her mother still cared.

With a slow breath, Rhea stood and made her way toward the elevators. The ride down felt longer than usual. Every floor the elevator passed seemed to tighten the knot in her stomach. By the time the doors opened into the lobby, she still wasn’t sure what she hoped to find.

She walked toward the reception desk.

“Good morning, Miss Benett,” the receptionist greeted with a warm smile. “This was left here for you.”

She reached beneath the counter and handed over a large brown envelope.

Rhea accepted it carefully, immediately recognizing her own handwriting on the front. Relief washed through her as she clutched the proposal against her chest.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Instead of heading straight back to the elevators, Rhea found herself looking through the glass entrance doors. The driveway outside was busy with employees arriving, visitors checking in, and cars pulling in and out of the compound.

Her eyes searched almost instinctively.

Melissa was nowhere to be seen.

She had already left.

For reasons Rhea couldn’t quite explain, disappointment settled quietly inside her chest. She lowered her gaze, hugged the envelope a little closer, then turned back toward the elevators.

Whatever existed between her and her mother wasn’t fixed. Not even close. But perhaps… perhaps it wasn’t completely broken either.

Selene accepted the file the moment Rhea placed it on her desk. She flipped through the pages, scanning the executive summary before nodding in approval.

“Good work,” she said. “I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”

Relief washed through Rhea so suddenly that her knees almost weakened. She had spent the last thirty minutes imagining every possible disaster. Being reprimanded on only her second week. Embarrassing herself in front of senior management. Worse still, giving the CEO a reason to question why she had even been hired.

Instead… everything had been avoided. Because of her mother.

The thought lingered long after Selene disappeared into the conference room.

Rhea returned to her desk, lowered herself into her chair, and stared blankly at her computer screen. The cursor blinked across the unfinished spreadsheet in front of her, waiting for her next command, but her fingers remained still on the keyboard.

Her mind wondered.

Melissa hadn’t argued. She hadn’t demanded an apology. She hadn’t even tried convincing her to come home. She had simply made sure her daughter wouldn’t walk into work and fail. That hurt almost more than another argument would have.

The rest of the day slipped by in a blur of emails, revisions, and meetings. Whenever her thoughts drifted toward Noah or Melissa, she forced herself back to work. It wasn’t easy, but deadlines were far less complicated than emotions.

By the time the clock crept toward six, the office had begun to empty. Chairs rolled back, computers shut down, and one by one, her coworkers called out their goodbyes before heading toward the elevators.

Rhea leaned back in her chair and rubbed her aching eyes. Every muscle in her body felt heavy. She wasn’t simply tired. She was exhausted in every possible way.

She packed her laptop into her bag and switched off her monitor before making her way downstairs with the last group leaving the building.

Outside, the evening breeze brushed against her face. For a brief moment, she stood on the sidewalk, staring across the busy street while weighing her options.

Home. Or the villa.

Her mother’s apartment was closer. It was familiar. It was where she belonged. But the memory of their argument still sat heavily inside her chest. Melissa had lied to her for years. One thoughtful gesture couldn’t erase that.

No… Not yet.

If her mother wanted to fix what had been broken, she would have to meet her halfway. Tonight, Rhea simply wasn’t ready.

With a quiet sigh, she opened the ride-hailing app on her phone and booked a cab to the villa.

The car arrived only a minute later.

She climbed into the back seat, murmured the destination, and leaned her head against the cool window as the driver pulled away from the curb.

For the first several minutes, she barely paid attention to the road. The city lights slipped past in long streaks of gold and white while her thoughts wandered aimlessly from Noah… to Melissa… to Alaric. Everything felt tangled.

Everything hurt.

Her eyelids drifted shut for only a few seconds.

When she opened them again, she frowned as she looked through the window.

This wasn’t the road leading to the villa.

At first, she told herself she was imagining things. Maybe the driver had taken another route to avoid traffic. She had only made the trip to the villa a handful of times, so perhaps there was another way.

Still… something felt off.

She sat up straighter and glanced at the navigation displayed on the back of the driver’s phone. The route wasn’t familiar. It was moving in the opposite direction. Farther. Farther away from the city. Away from everything familiar.

A knot tightened in her stomach.

Leaning forward slightly, she kept her voice polite. “Excuse me… I think you missed the turn.”

The driver didn’t answer.

Rhea frowned. “Sir?”

Nothing. Not even a glance in the mirror. Only the quiet growl of the engine answered her.

The uneasiness she’d been trying to dismiss turned into genuine fear.

She looked back down at her phone. The route continued changing. Farther away from everything familiar.

Her heartbeat quickened.

“Please pull over,” she said, louder this time.

The driver’s hands remained fixed on the steering wheel.

The car kept moving.

Rhea swallowed hard. “I said pull over.”

Instead of slowing down, the sedan surged forward faster. Fear took over. Without thinking, Rhea lunged between the seats and grabbed the steering wheel with both hands.

The driver cursed. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Stop the car!” she screamed, yanking the wheel with every ounce of strength she had.

The sedan swerved violently across the empty road. Tires shrieked against the asphalt. The driver wrestled the steering wheel back, but Rhea refused to let go. She pulled again. The vehicle fishtailed. For one terrifying second, headlights flooded the rearview mirror. Another car. It was gaining on them fast.

The driver’s expression changed instantly. His eyes widened. “Damn it.”

He slammed his foot harder onto the accelerator. The car shot forward.

Rhea felt the sudden burst of speed and screamed, tightening her grip on the wheel. The driver shoved at her shoulder, trying to throw her backward. She fought him with everything she had left. The steering wheel jerked violently beneath their hands. The sedan veered sharply toward the roadside.

Rhea caught one horrifying glimpse of a concrete utility pole rushing straight toward them.

Her scream echoed inside the car.

The impact came a heartbeat later. A deafening crash shattered the evening. Metal folded inward. Glass exploded through the cabin. The force threw Rhea sideways as her head slammed violently against the window. Pain erupted. The world spun. Everything went black.