Unfinished Terms

Elara Hart had already learned how to breathe around the absence when Vincenzo Bellini returned and made it impossible again.

He left years ago without a word, without mercy, taking answers she never received and a love she never finished grieving. Elara rebuilt herself in the quiet aftermath-focused, disciplined, untouched by nostalgia. Or so she believed.

Now Vincenzo is back in Miami, freshly returned from Italy, standing across from her in a glass-walled boardroom like he never shattered her world. His presence is controlled, deliberate, dangerous in the way that makes her body remember before her mind can stop it.

Their reunion is subtle. Professional. Tight.

But tension creeps into every interaction. Into the way his gaze follows her movements. Into the space he doesn't quite give her when they speak. Into the awareness that settles low and unwelcome when he says her name like it still belongs to him.

Elara refuses to be reckless with her heart again. Vincenzo refuses to pretend he doesn't want her-while still keeping the truth locked behind silence and loyalty that could destroy them both.

As work pulls them closer, restraint becomes a choice they have to make again and again. Touch becomes accidental, then intentional. Conversations stretch late, voices lower, boundaries blur. Desire resurfaces-not soft or forgiving, but sharp with memory and need.

Elara must decide whether she can forgive a man who loved her enough to leave and hurt her anyway. Vincenzo must decide whether keeping her safe is worth denying them what they both still crave.

Because some love doesn't fade.
It waits.
And when it returns, it demands everything.