Denisse was halfway through another spreadsheet when she realized she had been staring at the same row of numbers for several seconds.
The coffee beside her laptop had gone cold hours ago.
She reached for it anyway, took a small sip, and immediately regretted it. The bitterness lingered on her tongue as she set the cup back down.
The supplies they needed to meet their target had kept her buried in numbers all week. Orders. Deliveries. Inventory. Projected shortages. Every detail had demanded her attention, and she had been grateful for the distraction.
A knock sounded against the door.
Denisse straightened slightly.
"Come in."
The door opened, and Nikki stepped inside.
"Good afternoon, Ms. Denisse."
"Yes, Nikki?"
"There's someone at the gate. She's asking to see you."
Denisse's fingers stopped above the keyboard.
For a moment, she didn't answer.
"I know," she said quietly.
Nikki hesitated. "You do?"
"I saw her on the security camera."
There was no need to say the name.
Denisse had recognized Daphne the moment her car appeared on the monitor.
"Let her in," she continued. "And guide her here."
"Yes, Ms. Denisse."
Nikki gave a small nod before stepping back out. The door clicked shut behind her.
Silence settled over the office again.
Denisse stared at her laptop.
The numbers were still there, lined neatly across the screen, but they had stopped making sense. Her eyes moved from one column to another without absorbing anything.
Her hands slowly curled into fists beneath the desk.
She drew in a breath.
Then another.
She wasn't going to let Daphne see her shaken.
A few minutes later, another knock sounded.
"Come in."
This time, Denisse didn't look toward the door.
She had already left her desk and was standing by the window, one hand wrapped around her cold coffee. Outside, the vineyard grounds were quiet. Rows of vines stretched across the property, their leaves shifting gently in the breeze, while a few workers moved between the rows. Somewhere in the distance, someone laughed.
Ordinary things.
She held onto them.
The door opened.
Footsteps crossed the carpet.
Denisse kept her eyes on the window until she felt the presence behind her.
Only then did she turn.
Daphne stood in the middle of the office.
For one brief second, Denisse forgot to breathe.
Something tightened beneath her ribs, sharp enough to make her fingers tighten around the cup.
She swallowed it down.
"To what do I owe this visit?"
Her voice came out steadier than she expected.
Daphne looked at her, and Denisse caught the hesitation in her expression.
She didn't care.
Denisse turned back toward the window and took another sip of her coffee, forcing herself to swallow the bitterness.
Then she glanced over her shoulder.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." Her gaze settled on Daphne. "You really do go the extra mile to get what you want, don't you?"
Daphne lowered her eyes.
"I know I shouldn't be here."
That almost made Denisse laugh.
Almost.
Instead, she set the coffee down on the table beside the window.
"You're right."
She walked toward her.
Each step felt deliberate. The sound of her heels against the floor seemed louder than it should have been in the quiet office.
Daphne didn't move.
When Denisse stopped in front of her, she looked directly into her eyes.
"I know what I've done to you and Lesley is unforgivable," Daphne said. "But I still want to apologize."
Denisse studied her face.
She searched for something.
Regret.
Shame.
Anything that might make those words believable.
She found nothing she was willing to accept.
"Apologize?"
A humorless smile touched her lips.
"That's rich coming from you."
Daphne's jaw tightened.
"I am…"
She paused.
Then she looked directly at Denisse.
"I'm sorry, Deni—."
The slap came before Daphne could finish the word.
Denisse's palm struck Daphne's cheek with a sharp crack that echoed through the office.
Daphne's face turned with the impact.
Silence followed.
Denisse's hand stung.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Then Daphne slowly looked back at her.
Denisse's breathing was uneven.
"You don't get to say that."
Her voice was low.
"You don't get to stand there and say you're sorry like that's supposed to make this disappear."
Daphne said nothing.
"You don't get to make me carry everything you broke and then hand me an apology because you finally feel guilty about it."
Denisse's eyes stung.
She blinked hard.
"Not after you ruined everything."
The last word broke slightly.
She looked away before Daphne could see the tears gathering in her eyes.
"Do you think your sorry is enough?"
Her voice dropped.
"Can saying sorry undo what you put us through?"
A tear slipped down her cheek.
Denisse wiped it away angrily with the back of her hand.
She refused to cry in front of her.
Not here.
Not in front of Daphne.
Behind her, Daphne remained silent.
For several seconds, there was nothing but the quiet hum of the air conditioner.
Then Daphne spoke.
"I'm not expecting you to forgive me."
Denisse's shoulders stiffened.
"And I won't deny the fact that my selfishness caused both of you pain."
Denisse slowly turned around.
Daphne's cheek was still flushed from the slap.
Yet she didn't look angry.
That somehow made Denisse angrier.
"You should have thought about that before," Denisse said.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
Daphne's eyes remained on hers.
"You don't know what you did to us."
"I know I hurt you."
"You destroyed my trust in her."
The words came out before Denisse could stop them.
Daphne's expression shifted.
Denisse noticed.
That tiny reaction was enough to make her realize she had said more than she intended.
She looked away.
"You made me question everything," she continued, quieter now. "Every moment. Every word. Every time she looked at me."
Her throat tightened.
"And you knew exactly what you were doing."
Daphne didn't deny it.
That silence told Denisse more than an excuse could have.
"I was desperate," Daphne finally said.
Denisse let out a bitter breath.
"That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"No."
Daphne's voice barely carried across the room.
For a moment, she kept her eyes lowered. Her fingers had found each other in her lap, twisting together until her knuckles began to pale. The woman who had stood on the rooftop with that sharp certainty was suddenly struggling to put a sentence together.
Denisse waited.
Daphne drew in a slow breath.
"I was jealous."
Her eyes lifted.
"I was jealous of you."
Denisse's posture stiffened, but she held her gaze.
Daphne swallowed.
"I was jealous of seeing Lesley happy without me. Of seeing her smile like that."
Her voice caught slightly.
"I had never seen her that happy when we were together."
Denisse's fingers curled against her palm.
Daphne looked away, her eyes settling somewhere beyond Denisse's shoulder.
"Not even after all those years."
A tear slipped down her cheek.
She brushed it away quickly, almost embarrassed by it. Her hand remained against her face for a second before falling back into her lap.
"Maybe that's why I became so desperate to have her back."
Her breath trembled.
"I wanted those smiles back."
She paused, as though remembering them hurt more than she had expected.
"I wanted her touches. Her hugs."
Daphne's mouth tightened.
"Her kisses."
Denisse looked down at her own hands.
She remembered them too.
The warmth of Lesley's palm against her cheek. The way Lesley pulled her closer without thinking. The quiet moments that had never needed a name because, at the time, Denisse had been too happy to question what they were.
"I wanted all of it back so badly," Daphne continued, "that I stopped caring about what it was costing her."
She lowered her head.
"I hurt her again."
The words sat heavily between them.
Denisse watched Daphne's shoulders rise with a shaky breath.
"She didn't deserve that."
Another tear slipped free.
"I hate myself for it."
Daphne wiped her cheek with the heel of her hand.
"As much as you two probably hate me."
That made Denisse look at her.
There was no trace of the woman from the rooftop now. No sharp smile. No carefully chosen words meant to make Denisse doubt herself.
Daphne simply looked exhausted.
For the first time, Denisse wondered how long she had been carrying that exhaustion.
Daphne glanced at her hands.
"I was selfish."
She rubbed her thumb over her knuckle.
"I left her because I chose my career over her. That was my decision. No one forced me to make it, and I can't go back and change it."
She took another breath.
"And then years later, I came back and wanted everything I had walked away from."
A humorless smile pulled briefly at her mouth.
"As if I had any right to ask for it."
Denisse didn't know what to do with that.
Part of her wanted to believe none of it. To remind herself of the woman who had cornered her on the rooftop and made every word sound like a warning.
But this was different.
Daphne looked directly at her.
"I know I deserve your anger."
Tears continued to fall.
"I know I deserve hers too."
She paused, her voice quieter when she continued.
"And I know apologizing doesn't erase anything."
Denisse's throat tightened.
Daphne leaned back slightly, letting out a breath that seemed to come from somewhere deep in her chest.
"But I still needed to say it."
Denisse frowned.
"Why?"
Daphne's eyes softened.
"Please."
The word was so quiet that Denisse almost missed it.
Daphne held her gaze.
"Don't let what I did take Lesley's happiness away from her."
Denisse's breath caught.
"You are her happiness now."
She didn't know why those words hurt.
Maybe because she had spent so much time wondering whether she was.
Whether Lesley really wanted her.
Whether the moments between them meant as much to Lesley as they did to her.
Daphne looked down again.
"I took that happiness from her once."
Her voice cracked.
"And when I came back, I hurt her all over again because I couldn't accept that she'd found it without me."
She pressed her lips together, fighting for control.
"I don't want to do that anymore."
The silence stretched.
Denisse could hear the faint hum of the air conditioner, the occasional movement from somewhere outside the office. Everything around them continued as if nothing had changed.
Daphne finally looked up.
"She loves you."
Denisse stopped breathing for a second.
"More than she ever loved me."
Her eyes dropped to the floor.
Daphne didn't reach for her. She didn't try to soften the words with a smile or ask Denisse to believe her.
She simply let them stand between them.
"So don't waste what I wasted."
Denisse slowly raised her eyes.
Daphne's expression had crumpled at the edges.
"Don't spend years wondering whether you should have fought for her."
She swallowed.
"Don't make the mistake I made."
Denisse's chest tightened.
"Because if you love her…"
Daphne hesitated.
For once, she seemed afraid of what came next.
"Then go to her."
Denisse stared at her.
Daphne's tears slipped silently down her cheeks, and she made no attempt to wipe them away.
"Don't let me be the reason you walk away from her."