The evenings were the worst. Victoria would return to her penthouse apartment, the space that had once been a sanctuary now feeling like a museum of broken dreams. Every room held memories of James, from the kitchen where he had made her coffee in the mornings to the living room where they had spent countless evenings curled up together on the sofa.
Her cat, JJ, seemed to sense her distress. The small white kitten would follow her around the apartment, mewing softly and attempting to provide comfort. But even JJ's presence was a source of pain. James had given her the kitten for her birthday, a companion for the times when he might not be around her.
"It's a male munchkin cat. Someone to keep you company when I'm not there," James had smiled, seeing her reaction.
"But you will always be here."
"Yes, I will always be here," James had nodded in agreement.
The memory of his promise was like a knife twisting in her chest. He had said he would rarely be away from her, and now he was gone completely. Every time JJ curled up beside her or nuzzled against her cheek, Victoria was reminded of James's thoughtfulness, his understanding of her need for companionship, and his promise to never leave her alone.
Most nights ended the same way. Victoria would lie in her massive bed, clutching one of James's shirts that still carried the faint scent of his cologne, while JJ purred softly beside her. The tears would come whether she wanted them or not, great heaving sobs that shook her entire body and left her exhausted and hollow. She hated the constant tears, hated feeling weak, but there was nothing she could do to stop it.
One particularly brutal evening, after a day of forced smiles and professional competence, Victoria finally allowed herself to fall apart completely. She threw pillows across the room, swept items off her nightstand, and screamed at the empty apartment with a rage and pain that had been building for weeks.
"How dare you? How dare you, do this to me?! After you promised to never hurt me!" she shouted at the silence, her voice raw and broken. "You promised to love me! You promised you'd never leave!"
JJ had hidden under the bed during her outburst, emerging only after Victoria had collapsed onto the floor, sobbing with an intensity that left her gasping for air. The kitten approached cautiously, pressing his small body against her leg and purring with the instinctive knowledge that his human needed comfort.
Victoria gathered JJ into her arms, holding him against her chest as she struggled to compose herself. Gradually, her breathing slowed and her tears subsided. She stood up slowly, straightened her disheveled appearance, and looked at herself in the mirror with the same regal composure that had carried her through countless business crises.
"Fine," she whispered to her reflection, her voice steady despite the tears still wet on her cheeks. "I'll win without love."
And win she did. Over the following days, Victoria channeled her pain into an almost superhuman level of productivity. Sharp Innovations' stock price not only recovered but reached new highs. The Anderson Group reaffirmed their partnership with glowing praise for Victoria's leadership. Industry publications featured her on their covers, hailing her as a visionary who had turned a crisis into an opportunity for unprecedented growth.
The public saw strength, resilience, and brilliant strategic thinking. They saw the Victoria Sharp who had built an empire through sheer force of will. What they couldn't see was the cost of that strength, the lonely nights and hollow victories that felt meaningless without the one person who had made her feel complete.
James remained nowhere to be found, despite Blaine's continued efforts. It was as if he had simply vanished from the face of the earth, leaving behind only memories and an aching void in Victoria's chest that nothing seemed able to fill.
Until one afternoon in late November, when everything changed.
Victoria was reviewing quarterly projections in her office when Amara knocked on her door with unusual excitement.
"Ms. Sharp, you need to see this. It's all over the internet."
Amara wheeled in the large television that was typically used for presentations, her fingers moving quickly across the remote as she navigated to a news website. The headline that appeared on the screen made Victoria's heart stop.
"Revolutionary Gaming Platform Takes Industry by Storm: Meet the Genius Behind the Innovation"
And there, filling the screen with a clarity that took Victoria's breath away, was James's face.
The photograph showed him at what appeared to be a tech conference, his familiar smile warm and confident as he gestured toward a display showing his revolutionary gaming platform. He looked healthy, successful, and heartbreakingly handsome in a way that made Victoria's chest constrict with longing and pain.
Victoria gripped the arms of her chair, her knuckles white as she stared at the screen. Months of searching, of sleepless nights and desperate hope, and here he was, looking perfectly fine without her. The gaming platform he had created was being hailed as the future of interactive entertainment, a groundbreaking innovation that was already attracting massive investment and industry acclaim.
"Ms. Sharp?" Amara's voice seemed to come from very far away. "Are you alright?"
Victoria realized she was hyperventilating, black spots dancing at the edges of her vision. She forced herself to breathe slowly, to maintain her composure even as her world tilted on its axis.
"I'm fine," she managed to say, though her voice sounded strange even to her own ears. "Could you give me a moment alone, please?"
After Amara left, Victoria continued to stare at James's image on the screen. He was alive, he was successful, and most importantly, he was findable. For the first time in months, she felt the stirring of genuine hope in her chest.
With shaking fingers, she reached for her phone and dialed Blaine's number.
"I need you to track down everything you can find about this gaming platform," she said without preamble. "Conference appearances, company addresses, public statements. Everything. I want to know where James Mitchell is right now."
For the first time since that devastating morning when she had found his empty apartment, Victoria felt like she could breathe again. He was out there, and now she knew how to find him. Her hope, battered and nearly destroyed, began to rekindle like a flame that had been waiting for oxygen.
Whatever it took, however long it took, she would find a way back to him.