The Ruin of Roses

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• Until Paperwork Do Us Part    Tonight

  The penthouse was quiet that night—except for the soft hum of the city outside, bleeding in through the tall windows like a lullaby neither of them could fully relax to.Elena lay curled beside Jack, the two of them wrapped in the kind of closeness that felt new and yet strangely inevitable. Their bodies were warm beneath the sheets, legs tangled, breath shared. Whatever tension had hung between them earlier had been chased away by touches and silences. But what was left in its place felt heavier. Truer. A quiet, unspoken honesty neither had the strength to ignore.Jack’s fingers traced slow circles on her back. Usually, his touch calmed her. But tonight, it only stirred her thoughts.Her mind kept circling back to that envelope. That photo. That question that refused to let go.“I need to tell you something,” she said quietly, her voice barely above a whisper.Jack’s hand stilled. “What is it?”She shifted slightly, just enough to look at him. “Someone slipped an envelope under my of

• Until Paperwork Do Us Part    Amidst the Tension

  Jack’s car idled at the curb, engine barely murmuring beneath the midday buzz of city life. He sat still, one hand on the wheel, the other holding his phone, his eyes locked on a blinking dot on the screen.The GPS tracker he’d planted beneath Mia’s car last night—it had worked. And now, here he was, in the West End, parked just down the street from a nondescript warehouse that looked like it belonged to no one. The kind of building the city forgot about.Mia’s car was parked across from it.She hadn’t gone inside yet.But someone else had.And Jack had recognized him instantly.He leaned forward, squinting through the tinted glass as if it would help sharpen the face he’d just seen. The walk, the posture, the cool detachment—it hadn’t changed. Not even after all these years.Marcus Trent.Jack’s jaw tensed. His pulse picked up.Ex–black ops. Former fixer. Once a ghost in Conrad Vale’s arsenal of puppets, long vanished after an international scandal tied to Vale Corp’s murky acquisiti

• Until Paperwork Do Us Part    Resignations and Revelations

  A FEW DAYS LATER,Elena sat in her office, the USB drive clenched in her palm like a blade she wasn’t sure she had wanted to use. She hadn’t even looked at Jack as they left—couldn’t. Not with the audio of Mia’s voice still ringing in her ears.“…Conrad wants to make sure he still has leverage if Jack doesn’t comply…”Leverage.That word lingered longer than it should have. Longer than she wanted it to.Down the hallway, Jack paced.He hadn’t known Mia was still acting under Conrad’s thumb—not directly. But the mention of leverage cut into him in ways he didn’t admit. What leverage? What part of his past was still being used to control him? He thought he’d buried all of it.And then there was Conrad.Despite everything, he hadn’t blinked when the audio played. He’d sat still, collected, the shadow of a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.Like he had more cards.Like the game had only just begun.---By late afternoon, Jack’s thoughts had started to spiral.He stood in the far co

• Until Paperwork Do Us Part    Smoke and Mirrors

  The boardroom wasn’t cold because of the air conditioning. It was cold because of the undercurrents—the quiet tension that stretched across the long glass table like invisible wires. You could feel it in the way people sat a little too straight, in the clipped tones of their greetings, in the tight smiles that didn’t reach their eyes. Elena stood at the head of the table, shoulders squared, a digital report clutched tightly in her hand. Her expression was unreadable, but her fingers betrayed her—the slightest tremble as they gripped the edges of the screen. She hadn’t spoken yet. Not a word. She was waiting. Across the table, Mark lounged back in his seat. Calm. Poised. His fingers tapped slowly against the armrest, one beat off rhythm. His suit was perfect, his tie a shade too dark to be casual. And yet, there was something rehearsed in his ease. Like he was prepared for a fight, and didn’t mind being the one to draw first blood. He’d made a move—again. Quietly. Strategically. He

• Until Paperwork Do Us Part    Beneath the Surface

  Elena didn’t go to Mark. Not yet. The letter from her mother felt like a shard lodged deep in her chest—painful, immovable, and far too raw. Her mother had written in gentle honesty, but it carried the weight of a blade.So she did what her instincts had always taught her to do: she hunted for the truth.She and Jack retreated into the bowels of Vale Corp, down into the archives where the lights flickered like tired secrets and the air smelled of old data and colder betrayal. Security clearance codes, thumbprints, two-factor identifications—it took everything to get in. And once inside, the chill that met her felt less like air conditioning and more like ghosts.“What are we even looking for?” Jack asked quietly, sifting through an index that hadn’t been touched in years.Elena didn’t answer at first. Her fingers danced across file tabs and blinking logs, until her gaze landed on a strange pattern—an inactive project listing that had somehow never been officially closed: Project Arden

• Until Paperwork Do Us Part    Underlying threats and a letter

  The sun dipped behind a bank of late afternoon clouds, casting a gray light over the Vale Corp tower. Inside the building, the halls were quiet except for the soft tapping of heels echoing through the executive floor. Elena walked beside Jack, the silence between them not uncomfortable, but heavy with the weight of everything unspoken.They had left early that day, earlier than usual, citing the need for rest after a week that had felt like a year. Jack’s fingers brushed lightly against Elena’s as they exited the elevator and walked into the apartment. It was a simple touch, but it anchored her. She didn’t pull away.The moment the door closed behind them, Elena let out a slow breath. Jack watched her carefully. The days had drawn something taut in her spirit—fatigue, betrayal, and the pressure of carrying a legacy she hadn’t asked for. He wanted to take some of that from her, even if just for a while.“Sit,” he said gently, pulling a blanket from the back of the couch. “I’ll get you