Chapter 4 - Five Minutes in the Cold
Abigail sat in her office,
listening to the intercom as her assistant informed her of Nolan’s presence in the lobby.
She didn't look up from the report she was reading,
a detailed analysis of the Reeves’ remaining assets.
“Should I have security escort him out?”
the assistant asked.
Abigail paused,
the tip of her pen hovering over a signature line.
She felt a flicker of something—not love,
not even pity,
but a cold curiosity.
She wanted to see what a man looked like when he realized he was nothing without the woman he had betrayed.
“Send him up,”
she said,
her voice flat.
“But give him exactly five minutes.”
When Nolan entered the office,
the silence was absolute.
Abigail didn't stand up,
nor did she gesture for him to sit.
She simply looked at him,
her eyes assessing the toll the last two weeks had taken on him.
He looked tired,
his suit slightly wrinkled,
and the arrogant tilt of his head was gone.
“Abigail,”
he began,
his voice barely a whisper.
“Thank you for seeing me.”
“You have four minutes and forty seconds,
Nolan,”
she replied,
checking her watch.
He winced at the precision.
“I know I hurt you,
and I know the wedding was...
it was a mistake.”
“The wedding wasn't a mistake,”
Abigail corrected him.
“Your choosing to display your character at the wedding was the mistake.”
“You could have ended it months ago,
but you waited until the Harts had signed the guarantees.”
Nolan stepped closer,
his hands outstretched in a gesture of supplication.
“It wasn't like that,
Abbie.
I was confused,
I was overwhelmed.”
“But we can fix this.”
“The downtown project,
the North Side development...
they’re all going to fail if Hart Meridian doesn't step back in.”
“My father is losing his health over this,
and my mother is a wreck.”
Abigail leaned back in her chair,
her expression unreadable.
“And you want me to save them?”
“I want you to honor the partnership,”
Nolan said,
the words tasting like ash in his mouth.
“For the sake of what we had.”
Abigail let out a short,
sharp laugh that made him flinch.
“For the sake of what we had?”
“What we had was a lie,
Nolan.”
“You used me as a financial shield while you chased a ghost from your past.”
“You didn't come here to apologize for breaking my heart;
you came here to ask me to save your family’s money.”
She stood up,
walking around the desk until she was inches away from him.
The scent of her perfume,
something expensive and floral,
hit him like a memory.
“You still don't understand what you lost,
do you?”
she asked,
her voice dropping to a dangerous whisper.
“You didn't just lose a deal,
Nolan.”
“You lost the only person who would have stayed with you even if you were broke.”
“You lost the loyalty of the Harts,
and you lost the respect of this city.”
“And most importantly,
you lost the five minutes you just wasted begging for a check instead of begging for forgiveness.”
Nolan stared at her,
the reality of his situation finally crashing down on him.
He looked for a spark of the old Abigail,
May you like
the woman who would have softened at his distress,
but there was nothing but ice.
