Novel-novel oleh Zari

CHAPTER 60: Ghosts of the Past Elliot's POV The hotel suite felt smaller after Aiden hung up the phone. He set it down on the nightstand like it might burn him, then rubbed a hand over his face, shoulders slumping. The peaceful afterglow we’d built through hours of reconnecting sex evaporated in seconds, leaving only tension in its place. “Sophia,” he said finally, voice flat and tired. “My ex-fiancée.” I sat up against the headboard, pulling the sheet around my waist. “You were going to marry her?” He nodded, not meeting my eyes at first. His fingers traced absent patterns on the sheet. “Two years ago. Our families pushed it hard. It looked perfect on paper…old money, shared business interests, the kind of strategic match that strengthens empires. I thought I could make it work. I wanted to believe I could finally be the son my father expected me to be.” I waited, watching the way his jaw worked as he chose his words. Aiden rarely talked about his past like this, peeling back

Elliot's POV By morning, the photo had spread like wildfire through the company. It wasn’t confined to the gossip blog anymore. Screenshots flooded internal group chats. People I barely knew stared openly in the elevator. The whispers had evolved into something louder, bolder. I caught fragments everywhere: “Did you see them in the car?” “No wonder he’s been distracted.” “How long has this been going on?” I kept my chin up and my expression neutral, but the weight of it pressed heavy on my chest. Every hallway felt longer. Every meeting carried an undercurrent of judgment. Aiden had been unreachable most of the morning, locked behind closed doors with PR and legal teams. When the company-wide email came through announcing an all-hands meeting at two o’clock, my stomach twisted into knots. The large conference room was packed wall to wall. Tension hung thick in the air as people filed in. Aiden stood at the front of the room, composed in a crisp navy suit, but I could see the st

Elliot's POV The investigation started quietly, like everything else in this building. By mid-morning, security was reviewing access logs and camera footage. Whispers turned into pointed glances in the hallways. By lunch, fingers were already pointing squarely in my direction. I felt the shift everywhere. Colleagues who used to nod politely now avoided eye contact. A senior analyst casually asked if I’d been working late in Aiden’s office lately. Someone from legal stopped by my desk to request files I’d handled the day the document went missing. The missing merger file wasn’t just gone, it had become a weapon, and I was the easiest target for people looking to shift blame. The tension followed me all day. I kept my head down, answered questions with clipped professionalism, but inside it burned. Aiden stayed locked in back-to-back meetings most of the day. I didn’t see him until after seven, when the floor had finally emptied and he texted me a single line: My office now. He wa

Elliot's POV The office felt different the next morning. No one said anything to my face but the air had shifted. Conversations died when I walked into the break room. Rumors had started. By lunch, I’d heard fragments…nothing direct, just enough to make my skin crawl. “Aiden’s been distracted lately.” “Wonder what’s really going on with the new guy.” I kept my head down and my expression neutral, but every time Aiden’s name came up in a meeting, the tension ratcheted higher. He stayed locked in his office most of the day. I only caught glimpses of him and the same exhausted look he’d worn after his father’s call. The weight of it pressed on me all afternoon. By the time five o’clock rolled around and the floors emptied, my shoulders ached with it. Aiden’s text came through simple and direct: Come up when it’s clear. His apartment was quiet when I let myself in. He was already in the bedroom, loosening his tie with sharp, frustrated movements, the city lights flickering through

Elliot's POV I kept checking the side mirror the entire ride to the restaurant, half-convinced someone would spot us. Aiden’s hand rested heavy on my thigh under the table once we were seated in the private back room, his thumb tracing slow circles that made it impossible to focus on the menu. “Relax,” he murmured, voice low enough that only I could hear. “No one knows we’re here.” I wanted to believe him. The place was quiet, dimly lit, the kind of spot where deals were made and secrets stayed buried. We ordered quickly, and for a while it almost felt normal, stealing bites from each other’s plates, trading quiet laughs, his knee pressed against mine under the table like he couldn’t stand even that small distance. But Aiden had been quieter than usual all evening. I waited until the plates were cleared and the waiter had disappeared again before I pushed. “You’ve been somewhere else tonight,” I said. He looked at me for a long moment, then exhaled. His fingers tightened around

I got to Aiden's place after work because he called me and his voice sounded different so I knew something was up. When I walked inside he was sitting on the couch and he looked tense. He pulled me down next to him right away and started talking. Aiden said Vivian came to his office earlier that day and she confronted him about me. She told him that my influence on him was too much and that he was changing because of me. Vivian said I was messing up how he ran things at work and that he needed to step back from me before it caused real problems. She kept talking and said it was not good for him or the company and that he should listen to her because she knew what was best. Aiden told me he let her finish then he shut her down cold. He said to her that this was not her place to talk about his personal stuff and that he did not want her opinions on who he spent time with. Aiden told her straight that I was important to him and she should stay out of it from now on. He said it in a