Novels by Fanny S

Edward's POVThe door clicked shut behind me. I leaned against it, chest tight, fingers digging into the bridge of my nose. The frame wound cold into my spine. It was the only thing holding me together.I had just been beside her. Watched the blood drain from her face. Watched her hand pull away from mine, small, final. She had drawn a line between us, and I had stood there. Frozen.I took a shallow breath. My knees locked to keep from buckling. Muscle memory. Instinct. The same precision I relied on in boardrooms when deals went sideways.But this wasn’t a deal.This was failure.Complete, unmitigated failure.I pressed my forehead against the window. Outside, the city moved on. Cars streamed past the hospital entrance. Traffic lights cycled through their patterns. People walked bundled against the cold, absorbed in their own small emergencies. The world didn’t stop. It never did.Inside this corridor, silence bore down like a physical weight.Her image came back in fragments. The di

Darkness felt thick.Heavy in a way that wasn’t sleep. Heavy like sinking, like something pressing me down while sounds brushed the edges of my hearing.A soft beep.A soft hiss.Footsteps.A curtain shifting.Someone said my name, or maybe I imagined it. The sound drifted too far away.A warm touch slid across the back of my hand. A thumb. Hesitant. Leaving, coming back.“Alicia.”Edward.Even half-conscious, I could hear the strain in his voice.I drifted in and out. Light dimming, brightening, dimming. A nurse murmuring something about vitals. A chair scraping. Someone’s breath shaking.That warmth returned to my hand, careful, as if he feared he would hurt me.I followed it through the fog.My lashes fluttered.Light stabbed in.The ceiling.The dim panel light.Muted walls.A deep ache curled low in my abdomen. My mouth tasted metallic. My limbs felt pinned to the mattress.A breath, unsteady, exhaled near my pillow.I turned my head.Edward sat beside me.Hair disheveled. Shirt

Alicia's POV My foot didn’t land where I thought it would.The floor swayed. Or maybe I did.I was going down now.But before I hit it, A hand closed around my arm.Firm. Warm. Anchored.A man’s voice, deep, close, said something I couldn’t understand. The words were just shapes. Muffled. Like he was speaking through water.I tried to lift my head.Couldn’t.All I saw was black fabric. A suit. Someone tall. His grip tightened as my weight sagged.Another voice rose, farther away, sharper.Was that Edward?I blinked hard, trying to focus. The room pulsed in and out of light. My stomach twisted. Something warm slid down my thigh.The man holding me shifted, supporting more of my weight.He said my name.Or I thought he did.“Alic—”Everything rocked again.People gasped. Someone shouted for help. Footsteps hammered toward us. Fingers touched my face, checking something. My ears rang like a scream held inside my skull.My body curled inward without my permission. My arm pressed against

Edward's POV I had turned from Harrison, the last words about the package still hanging in the air. She was gone. Tables. Chairs. Faces. Laughter. Cameras. Nothing. My eyes swept the room. Guests leaned into conversations. Laughter punctuated the quartet. Crystal caught the light and threw it back in sharp bursts. Everything looked normal. Except she wasn’t there. I shoved through a narrow gap between tables, brushing shoulders. My gaze scraped over every face, every corner, every doorway. A woman in red glanced up as I passed, smiled like she recognized me. Opened her mouth to speak. I didn’t stop. Someone else’s hand grazed my sleeve, light, seeking attention. I pulled away. The terrace doors stood at the far end, glass panels reflecting chandeliers in fractured pieces. Two guests stood nearby, half-turned in conversation. I closed the distance. “Excuse me,” I said, voice tighter than intended. “Have you seen my wife? Mrs. Valentine?” The man blinked, startled, and glanced

Alicia's POV I moved down the terrace steps with my head low. Harrison's voice still echoed somewhere behind me. Edward caught in that sound, pulled away before I could reach him. The night air touched my face, soft at first, then bit down sharply. I didn't pull away. I needed something that felt real.Pain twisted through my stomach. Small enough to hide, deep enough to hollow me out. My hand went there before I could think. My knees wavered. The heels felt like stilts. My body felt like someone else's.Behind me, the ballroom spilled light and laughter into the dark. It looked like a painting I couldn't step back into. Edward's hand wasn't on my back anymore. His warmth had left with Harrison's voice, and I'd slipped out of his world so easily it hurt more than the cramping.I swallowed against the tightness in my throat. Forced my lungs to fill slowly. Kept walking toward the lower landing. One step. One more. Just a minute, I told myself. Just enough space to remember how to brea

Edward’s POV The applause faded unevenly, tapering off as if the room couldn’t decide whether to stop. Lucy dipped her head one last time while Carrington brushed a practiced kiss near her cheek. Vivienne pulled her close, wearing the sort of smile she saved for cameras. Flashes burst across the stage. I didn’t bother looking at anyone else. My attention stayed on Alicia. She hadn’t shifted at all. No blink. No hint of a smile. Her hands lay relaxed in her lap, posture held with practiced ease. Her expression revealed nothing: irritation, weariness, interest—gone. Something in it didn’t land right. A server passed with a champagne. I took a glass purely for show. “We’ll leave once this wraps,” I murmured near her ear. She didn’t even turn her head. The space between us thinned, sharp as glass. Around us, chairs scraped, people stood, and conversations picked up in small bursts. Perfume drifted with the movement. Lucy’s laugh rang over the crowd, bold and very Lucy. Alicia rose