“Yes, I made the decision quickly, but I didn’t do it without a vision, and I didn’t do it to get you back. I’m building a legacy now, a future full of hope, a life I can be proud of, whether or not I ever secure the title to go with it.”

Sophia couldn’t bring herself to argue with the passion pouring out of Vic. She was commanding and compelling, and her optimism might well have been physically contagious, because even though her brain rebelled against the image Vic was building, Sophia couldn’t put a damper on the fire building at her own core.

“I’m sorry I didn’t lead with a better business presentation,” Vic continued, “but I’ve been over everything in my head all day, and I wanted to skip to the part where I give you your due credit before I also tell you how wrong you were on other counts.”

“Wrong?” Sophia’s anger threatened to surge again. “Seriously, you’re going to come at me with some half-cocked plan to merge your dream with mine, damn the details or my own desires, and then you decide to mention how wrong I’ve been?”

“I didn’t want to put it that way.”

“Oh no, please enlighten me, Your Ladyship.”

Vic wrung her hands and bit her lip for a second. “I didn’t want to bring it up this way, but nothing about this conversation has gone quite as I hoped, which is on par for nearly every serious conversation we’ve ever had. I’m getting used to the direct approach, so I’ll say bluntly that you were wrong when you decided that walking away was best for me.”

Sophia pressed her lips together.

“Right, I get that you’re not used to hearing you’re wrong, because you aren’t very often, but I won’t apologise for saying so. You are wrong to think you’re not right for me or that you don’t fit into my future. You’re wrong to think letting me go was noble. It’s not. It’s cowardice. It’s the path of least resistance. More importantly, though, you told me not to let other people tell me who I’m supposed to be, and that includes you.”

Sophia’s shoulders fell. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“No, I don’t. I didn’t get to protest. I didn’t get to argue or have my own say. You made a unilateral decision about what was best for me, but I’ve had enough of other people telling me what I need.”

Her heart ached at the accusation. Is that really what she’d done? She’d never intended to become one more person who pushed Vic again, another well-meaning master to twist her into knots and make her question her own judgement.