used in meetings. He wanted to make a joke, dismiss the emotion, and return to the version of himself everyone expected.
But he was tired of pretending.
His hand tightened around the armrest of his wheelchair as years of loneliness finally broke through the control he had maintained for so long.
Then he said the words he was afraid to admit.
He needed love.
The sentence was simple, but it carried the weight of everything he had hidden.
When he whispered for her not to move, he immediately realized how the words sounded. The difference between them was impossible to ignore. He was the man who owned the house. She was the person who worked inside it.
He saw the hesitation on her face.
And that frightened him more than rejection.
Because he never wanted his money or position to become a reason someone stayed.
He lowered his eyes and
