ristan glared at the envelope sitting on his desk. Max had told him all of what Nina had said and why she had done the things she had done.

He was still furious that she was willing to let Max know, but not him. He didn't want the stupid money. He missed her, but he couldn't bring himself to talk to her.

Tristan remembered how he had shouted at her and even told her she disgusted him. He had said it out of anger, but that didn't make it any better.

"Fuck," Tristan said, pounding his hand against the table.

"Daddy, what's wrong?" Nadia said, running up to him.

He smiled. "Nothing, sweetheart."

"Daddy, where's Nina? I miss her," Nadia said with tears pooling in her eyes.

Tristan sighed. "I miss her too."

"Well, bring her back."

"Nadia-"

"I'm so sorry, sir," the new Nanny, Shauna, said. "She just ran away from me."

This nanny was nothing like Nina. She was an older black woman in her fifties but she was in shape and was able to keep up with Nadia.

Tristan chuckled. "It's okay. Can you watch her while I get some more work done?"

Nadia pouted. "But daddy I want to stay here with you."

"Finish your homework first, then we can spend the whole day together after I'm done working," he said, smiling.

"You promise?" she asked, grinning.

"I promise."

Nina ran to the Nanny so they could start on her homework.

Tristan sat down at his desk working on his computer. By the time he was down a couple of hours had already passed. He looked away from his computer and glanced back at the envelope.

Tristan grabbed the envelope and went into the kitchen. He found Tasha scrubbing the counters.

"Tasha," Tristan said, standing beside her.

"Yes, sir," she said, glancing at him.

"Give this to Nina," he said, pointing the envelope in her direction.

"What is it, sir?"

Tasha stared at the envelope with a deep frown.

"It's money."

"No disrespect to you but why can't you give it to her?" she asked, wiping down the counters once more.

"I don't want to see her."

Tasha sighed. "I know what she did was wrong but she was only trying to protect you and Nadia from Nick."

Tristan shook his head. "She should have told me the truth so we could work together but instead she lied to me. She doesn't trust me."

Tasha looked defeated. She grabbed the money and stuffed it into her pants pocket.

"I'll give it to her."

He nodded. "Thanks."

Tristan spun on his heels but stopped. "I forgot to ask. What's going on with you and Max?"

Tasha's eyes widened. "What... what do you mean?"

Tristan shrugged. "He's mentioned you a lot lately."

Tasha glanced down. "What did he say?"

Tristan laughed. "Ask him yourself."

Tasha pouted and so Tristan left her to think about what he had said.

Tristan found Nadia in the living room watching Shana make an airplane while she tried it herself.

"What's that?" Tristan asked, sitting beside her.

"It's an airplane. Can you play with me now?" Nadia asked.

"I sure can," Tristan said, grabbing his own paper to start making an airplane.

Max sat down in the chair in front of Tristan's desk, while Tristan continued to type out a lengthy email to his employees about being professional during company time. It wasn't that they weren't professional he just liked to remind them quarterly to keep them in check.

"Don't ignore me," Max said, crossing his arms.

"If you came to talk about Nina, I don't want to hear it," he said, clicking the send button.

"Come on man she made a mistake."

Tristan scoffed. "A mistake means you didn't mean to do something. She meant to steal from me, from us."

"You know if she didn't do it she would be putting you and Nadia's life in danger," Max said.

"I know that. I'm more upset at the fact that she didn't trust me enough to tell me what was going on. She told you but not me."

"It was probably easier for her to tell me."

Tristan glared at Max.

"Just hear me out. She probably didn't want you to think that she was actually in cahoots with Nick. She didn't want you to be involved with him. She doesn't love me. She loves you and the thought of losing you, I don't think she could handle it. I'm not saying she was right to do what she did but I can understand why."

"Whatever. I'm over her."

"No, your not. She's waiting outside to see you."

Tristan stood up. "You brought her here."

Max nodded and opened the door. "Just hear her out."

Tristan's heart sped up once Nina made it fully inside his office.

"I'll leave you two to talk."

Tristan's eyes didn't leave Nina's even after Max closed the door behind him.

"What are you doing here?" Tristan asked, narrowing his eyes at her.

"I miss you," Nina said.

Tristan looked at her closely. She had bags under her eyes and she didn't have the shine to her skin that he was used to seeing.

"I don't miss you."

Nina glanced down and wiped away a stray tear that fell.

"I know. I wanted to apologize again for all that I have done. I'm so sorry."

Tristan walked towards her and stopped when he was only inches away from her.

"Why couldn't you just tell me the truth? Do you not trust me?" he asked, tilting her chin so that she was looking up at him.

"Of course I trust you. I hated lying to you. It literally made me sick to do so."

"Then why did you lie and sneak behind my back."

"I was trying to protect you and Nadia from Nick. You don't know what he's like. He told me he would hurt the people that I love. I couldn't risk telling you," Nina said.

"Nina I'm rich. I have people in high places who would be able to protect us. If you would have told me the truth, you wouldn't have had to lie. Did that ever occur to you?"

"I was only doing what I thought was right. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you the truth. Can we...?"

"Can we what? Get back together?"

Nina nodded nibbling at her bottom.

"I don't know who you are, Nina."

"Yes, you do," she said, reaching out to grab his hand.

Tristan stepped back. "No, this Nina I see before me is a liar."

Nina sobbed. "Tristan, please...I love you."

Tristan glanced away and walked back behind his desk, ignoring the pain in his chest.

"You need to leave. I have work I need to do."

Tristan sat back down and turned on the computer. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nina staring at him.

"Why are you still here?" he asked, not taking his eyes away from the screen.

"I'm not giving up on us," Nina said, then left his office.

Tristan stared at the spot where she was standing, trying to wipe his memory of her crying and pleading with him.

***

Is anybody else heartbreaking for them or do y'all think she deserves Tristan treating her this way? Let me know what you think. If you enjoyed this chapter don't forget to comment, vote, and share :).