AMELIA STOOD IN front of his home office's door, the stapled pages of paper clutched so tightly in her hand that it was starting to crumple at the edges.

She had thought about this a million times, planned out a million ways this conversation could go, made a list of what she would say, prepared a response for every argument he could potentially throw at her (although she doubted there would be any argument at all).

She had calculated exactly how much this whole thing could hurt her, preparing her mind to deal with the hurt before it ever showed on her face.

She inhaled sharply and knocked before pushing the door open.

He looked up from behind his desk, a flicker of surprise crossing his features.

"Lia, what are you doing here? It isn't Friday yet," he said, glancing at his laptop screen to be sure.

"I know but I need to talk to you and it's important," she said almost monotonously.

She stepped forward, holding out the contract for him. He took it from her, reading it over, brown eyes scrutinizing, nose scrunched up ever so slightly.

He hadn't even known that he did that nose scrunch thing until Amelia had told him what felt like ages ago.

"Our contract? If that's because you want to make some changes, I'll get to it tomorrow. I don't have the time..."

"I want you to terminate it and let me go."

He paused, the lines in his forehead increasing as he studied her intently from behind his desk.

"Terminate it? Why?" He asked and the unfamiliar softness in his voice was like a punch to the gut.

"I just want to leave," she breathed out, not daring to meet his gaze.

"Look at me, Lia," he said, the softness replaced by a harshness that made her a stuttering mess and turned her knees to jelly.

But now, she stood still, having gone through this in her head already.

He rose slowly, graceful yet dangerous like a lion waking up from its slumber.

Amelia heard her heart in her ears and she clenched her fists.

She felt him approach her, her body getting hotter the closer he got but she couldn't bring herself to look up from the white marble beneath her feet.

"Have you gone deaf since the last time I saw you?" He whispered and then his hand was on her face.

Amelia inhaled audibly, the touch still sending electric currents running through her nerves.

"I said look at me," he said, his fingers crushing her chin as he tilted her face upwards.

She stared at him, mesmerized. The sunlight from the window glinted off the side of his face, bathing him in a golden glow. His eyes burned against the blue of hers as if wanting to disintegrate her with the intensity.

His slightly tanned skin, accentuated by the gold of the rays, made him appear ethereal. But then again, he had always been ethereal in Amelia's eyes.

Her fingers ached to touch him, to trace the outline of the scar on his jawline.

Amelia didn't believe in God or angels or devils but if there ever was a fallen angel turned devil, it would have been Ethan Williams.

"Why do you want to terminate our contract?" He asked and Amelia blinked.

"Because I want to go and explore other things. I can't have myself bound to you."

Something flashed across his face for the barest of seconds, something a lot like hurt before his features hardened once again.

Amelia gave herself a little mental shake, not wanting to dwell on what she might have seen.

"You're never bound to me and you know that."

"When I signed this contract, you said that it can only be broken by you but I can tell you if I want to end things and you'll do it," she said, ignoring his words.

"Yes, I did but I want to know a valid reason for you wanting to end it. Not the bullshit you're saying."

"That wasn't in the contract. If I want it to end, you end it. No questions asked."

He sighed frustratedly, dropping her chin and taking a step back.

He stared at her for a long moment and she dropped her gaze down once again, not able to withstand the intensity.

"Did I do something? Are you doing this because of whatever happened last time? Because if it is, just tell me what I did and I won't do it again," he said, voice cracking at the edge.

Amelia looked up, startled, almost giving herself a whiplash. She blinked once, twice and then once more.

What had he done?

He sounded hurt, pained, like a wounded animal searching for shelter.

In all her million ways around this, she hadn't once imagined him being affected by this but he was?

What had he done?

It disoriented her, shattered the pain threshold chart she had made in her mind and the knife twisting in her heart that her mind had become accustomed to, became unbearable. She gasped, unable to contain all that hurt inside her.

She was stranded. Without her mapped out scenarios to hold onto, she was left helpless and vulnerable.

What had he done?

"Bloody hell, Amelia. Answer my fucking question," he yelled and Amelia blinked.

"Ethan, please. Just... let me go," she whispered, moisture gathering at the corner of her eyes.

She needed to get a grip. She needed that chart back to ground her or else she wouldn't be able to do this.

"I won't."

The anger and the finality in his voice scared her. She needed him to let her go.

"I... I won't let you touch me," she whispered, a tear escaping her fast crumbling façade. "I won't let you near me. I won't..."

She inhaled, her vision getting blurry.

She needed to get a grip.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked, voice calm and even, the calm before the storm.

"Because I need to."

"That's not an answer," he shook his head, taking a step towards her.

She took one back to maintain their distance but he wouldn't stop. Amelia kept her eyes somewhere on his chest, backing off until she couldn't anymore.

"Ethan please," she whispered, the tears now falling freely.

He caged her against the door, his hands on either side of her.

"Tell me the reason."

"Why are you making this so..."

"TELL ME THE FUCKING REASON," he yelled, slamming his fist against the door so hard that it almost came off of it's hinges.

The barrier in her mind gave way and she spoke before properly understanding the gravity of the situation.

"BECAUSE I FUCKING LOVE YOU," she yelled back, matching his octave.

He blinked once, then again before taking a step back. He looked bewildered, eyes wide like a reindeer caught in the headlights.

A sob wrecked her body and she wiped the tears with the back of her hand.

She waited for the barest of seconds, the wretched thing called hope peeking from the dark crevices of her mind, wanting, needing, wishing for him to say it back.

"I know you're not supposed to fall in love with your Dom and I know I fucked up but I can't undo what I feel," she said, locking away that glimmer of hope.

"I know you would never feel the same about me and I've tried to live with it but I can't anymore."

"I see you take one of those girls at the club and it kills me every single time."

She swallowed back a sob and wiped the tears off.

"Even when you're right next to me, you feel light years away. I want to touch you, to tell you how I feel but I can't and it makes it so hard to breathe."

"What you're willing to give, Ethan, it's not enough for me anymore and I can't torture myself like this by being with you so please, just let me go," she sniffled, clawing at her chest for air that seemed to have grown insufficient in the last few minutes.

Ethan stared at her, emotionless, as if she hadn't just bared her heart to him.

He stared at her like it was the first time he was seeing her. Actually seeing her. And maybe it was. Maybe before today, she was just an addition in his probably long list of subs.

The thought twisted the knife in her heart viciously.

"Ethan," she said, reaching out to touch him but then decided against it, letting her hand fall limply to her side.

Ethan' eyes followed her motion. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again.

Instead, he turned around and picked up the contract from his desk, holding it in front of her before he ripped it down the middle.

The sound of it echoed against the walls of the room but all Amelia heard was the sound of her heart shattering into a million pieces.

She searched his face for something but whatever he was feeling, if anything at all, was hidden behind a cold, hard and unfeeling mask.

She didn't want to remember him like that so she averted her gaze and walked away without a final glance back.

Once outside, she walked as fast as she could without running, finally giving the repressed sobs an out.

I like to bend them to my will until they shatter and you don't look like someone who can pull yourself back together once you shatter.

His words. They echoed in her head, making her feel like maybe he'd predicted this from day one.

She hoped against everything that they wouldn't turn out to be true for once.