Chapter: Chapter 10Saturday mornings used to smell like cinnamon. Now it smells like coffee burning. Ava turns the knob down too late. The pot hisses, bitter and sharp. Sophie reaches over her shoulder and flicks the stove off. “Wow,” Sophie murmurs. “You trying to poison us?” Ava forces a small smile. “Multitasking.” “You’re stirring an empty bowl.” Ava looks down. The whisk scrapes against ceramic. Nothing inside. She sets it aside. Wipes her hands on a towel that’s already clean. From the living room, the low murmur of the news. Matthew’s voice was once, short, distracted. Then silence again. He hasn’t come into the kitchen. He used to hover. Steal strawberries off the cutting board. Slide his hands around her waist while she pretended to be annoyed. Sophie watches her watch the doorway. “Go talk to him,” Sophie says gently. “I’m fine.” “You’re not.” Ava reaches for the coffee mugs. Her hands are steady. That surprises her. The doorbell rings. Both of them freeze. Matthew’s voice ca
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-14
Chapter: Chapter 9The study door is half-closed.Ava stands outside it anyway, one hand resting against the frame. She can hear him inside. Papers shifting. The low murmur of his voice on the phone. Controlled. Professional. Calm in a way he hasn’t been with her in weeks.“Yes,” he says. “I’ll take care of it.”“No. I don’t need assistance.”She exhales slowly, then knocks once, lightly.His voice lowers. “I’ll call you back.”The silence that follows is immediate and sharp.“Yeah?” he calls.She pushes the door open the rest of the way. He’s at the desk, sleeves rolled up, tie loosened. His laptop screen casts a pale glow across his face. There are dark circles under his eyes. He hasn’t shaved.For a second, she just looks at him. He doesn’t look back.“I made coffee,” she says softly. “It’s on the counter.”“Thanks.”She nodded and stayed where she was.He glances up then, briefly. “Did you need something?”She steps inside anyway.“I spoke to Daniel this morning,” she says. “About the supplier issue
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-14
Chapter: Chapter 8The first night, he sleeps on the edge of the bed. She thinks it’s an accident.The mattress dips differently. Not the familiar weight that used to pull her toward him in the dark, but a careful, measured indentation. As if he’s trying not to exist.Ava keeps her eyes closed.The room smells faintly of detergent and the rain that came through the open window earlier. She listens to him settle. The soft rustle of sheets. The quiet exhale through his nose.He used to reach for her without waking.Hand sliding over her waist. Fingers hook into the hem of her shirt. A sleepy, “Come here, Ava,” against the back of her neck.Tonight, there’s nothing, just distance.She shifts slightly. Not enough to be obvious, but enough that her calf brushes the empty stretch of mattress between them.He stills for a second. She thinks he might move closer, but he doesn’t.Instead, she hears him inhale sharply, then roll—further away. The bedsprings creak in protest.Ava opens her eyes to the dark.“Matt?
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-13
Chapter: Chapter 7Matthew's phone rang and he went out to take the call. Ava stood in the middle of the living room like someone had just pulled the ground out from under her and she hadn’t fallen yet. Her mouth was still slightly open. Her hand was still half-raised from where she had pointed at the door. The house felt… wrong. Matthew lingered by the entrance for a second longer than necessary. His hand remained on the doorknob. Like he was thinking of opening it again. He didn’t look at Ava. That hurt more than if he had. “You didn’t have to do that,” he said finally. His voice was low and controlled. Ava let out a short breath. It wasn’t a laugh, but it wasn’t far from one. “Do what?” she asked quietly. He turned, and their eyes met. And something flickered there—confusion, defensiveness… something almost fragile. “Embarrass her.” Ava blinked. “Embarrass her,” she repeated, as if tasting the words. “Is that what you think I did?” Matthew ran a hand through his hair. He l
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-13
Chapter: Chapter 6Matthew stood frozen in the middle of the living room, eyes darting between Ava and Isabella. His hands hung at his sides, fingers twitching like he might reach for something, anything, to ground himself. The air between them was thick, almost suffocating. Ava’s gaze was sharp, fierce, but her chest was tight with something deeper—shock, disbelief, betrayal, a hunger to just scream at him for standing there and letting this happen. Isabella, meanwhile, wore that same practiced, soft smile that made Ava want to punch her and cry at the same time. Matthew opened his mouth, closed it again. The silence stretched, heavy. He looked at Isabella, then back at Ava. “I… you can stay,” he said finally, voice hesitant, wavering. “Let’s… have breakfast together.” Ava’s hand shot out before she even thought. She grabbed Isabella’s wrist, squeezing tight enough to make her flinch. “No,” Ava said, her voice low, dangerous. “You are leaving now. Go, I don’t care what you came here for—you are lea
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-12
Chapter: Chapter 5Morning came too early.It crept in through the curtains, thin and pale, touching the walls like it didn’t want to be noticed. Ava had barely slept. Her body had rested, maybe, but her mind hadn’t stopped moving—not once. Every time she closed her eyes, she felt the space beside her more sharply. The unfamiliar weight of silence. The way the bed no longer felt like theirs.She turned slightly, reaching out without thinking.Nothing.Her hand met cold sheets.Her heart stuttered.“Matthew?” she whispered, already sitting up.The room was empty.For a moment, panic flared—hot and irrational. Then she heard it. A faint sound from the living room. The soft rustle of paper. Stillness layered over stillness.She pulled herself out of bed and padded down the hallway, her steps slow, careful, as if she were approaching something fragile.He stood there.In the living room.Barefoot. Still in the clothes he’d slept in. His shoulders were slightly hunched, like he didn’t quite know where to put
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-05
Chapter: Chapter 85: Family FirstChris stood near the kitchen island, sleeves rolled up, fingers braced against the marble like he needed something solid beneath him. Derek paced—slow at first, then restless, like a man trying to outrun a thought that kept circling back. Mia hadn’t moved in three minutes. She was still by the window, phone in her hand, the screen dark now. She is heading back to England tomorrow. The word sat in her chest like a stone. Derek stopped pacing. “How bad is it?” She swallowed. “Grandma didn’t want to scare me.” A breath. “Which means it’s worse than she said.” Chris’s jaw tightened. Grandma Morris had said Nathan had Pneumonia. The image of him—laughing, stubborn, refusing milk when he was crying—hit her so sharply she had to press her fingers against her lips. “I need to go,” she said quietly, no one argued. Derek dragged a hand down his face. “Of course you do.” Chris finally pushed away from the counter. He walked toward her slowly, like she might break if he moved too fas
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-14
Chapter: Chapter 84: CorneredThe boardroom smelled faintly of polished wood and tension. Afternoon sunlight sliced through the tall windows, painting sharp lines across the table. Derek sat rigidly, hands clasped in front of him, while Chris leaned back slightly, eyes narrowing, aware the air itself seemed to press against them.Allen’s footsteps echoed as he approached the head of the table. He carried a slim folder, and for the first time in weeks, his expression was unreadable—less the casual mask he often wore, more the kind of calm that unsettles even the most confident men.“Derek,” Allen began, voice even, deliberate, “thank you for joining me.”“I—of course,” Derek said, voice steady but thin, betraying the first hint of unease.Allen flipped open the folder and let it rest flat on the table between them.“I want to discuss shareholder interactions,” he said softly. “You’ve been active in recent weeks—unofficial meetings, before any public instability.”Derek stiffened. Chris is tensed in his chair.Allen
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-14
Chapter: Chapter 83: MisalignmentAllen didn’t believe in coincidences. He believed in patterns. And patterns always revealed themselves if you were patient enough to let people think you weren’t watching. The consultant had been his idea. He’d wanted someone neutral. Foreign and detached. Someone who didn’t belong to any existing loyalties inside the company. Someone who would ask questions without emotional hesitation. He hadn’t told anyone the real purpose. Audit internal corruption, track information flow. See who flinched. The first week, nothing. The second week, movement. Ownership records accessed. Minority shareholder projections requested. Board structure hypotheticals drafted. None of it is illegal, but none of it is accidental. Allen stood in the consultant’s now-empty office, staring at the bare desk. He remembered the conversation from last night with unnerving clarity. “You didn’t disclose Frankfurt,” Allen had said quietly, sliding the printed file across the desk. The consultant’s face had
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-14
Chapter: Chapter 82: Not Far EnoughThe office felt different at night.The city lights bled through the glass walls in long silver streaks, turning the boardroom table into a blade of black marble. Allen stood at the head of it, jacket off, sleeves rolled precisely to the same height on both arms. Evelyn Carter sat to Allen’s right, legs crossed, hands folded loosely in her lap. She looked almost bored. Her eyes, though—were sharp. Studying, filing things away.“Sit,” Allen said.Derek did.He placed his phone face down on the table without being asked. His pulse thudded behind his ribs, but his face was steady and neutral.Allen didn’t sit.“I’ll keep this brief.” His voice was even, polished. “There’s movement in the shares.”Derek tilted his head slightly. “Movement is normal. We’re in Q4.”Evelyn’s lips curved faintly. “Not this kind.”Silence stretched. Derek felt it—like a wire tightening between them.Allen leaned forward, palms flat on the table. “Minority shareholders are being approached.”Derek didn’t blink
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-13
Chapter: Chapter 81: Pressure LinesAllen liked private rooms.Rooms where the air didn’t move unless he allowed it to.The first meeting was at noon. Glass walls. City skyline behind him. Sunlight cuts sharp lines across the table.Lydia Grant scutts him, spine straight, silk blouse immaculate, fingers wrapped too tightly around her water glass.Allen smiled gently. The kind of smile he used at charity galas.Lydia Grant preferred chamomile. He remembered that. He always remembered things that made people feel chosen.She sat across from him in his private office, the blinds half-drawn, light cutting soft stripes across the table. The room smelled faintly of leather and expensive cologne.“You look tired,” he said gently.She smiled politely. “It’s been a long quarter.”“It has.” He watched her fingers wrap around the cup. “Volatility does that.”“I wanted to check in personally,” he continued. “There’s been… movement.”Her lashes lifted slightly. “Movement?”“Yes.” He leaned back. Relaxed. “Minor shareholders reconsid
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-13
Chapter: Chapter 80: Hidden TrustMia sat cross-legged on the floor beside the coffee table, laptop open, printed reports scattered around her like fallen leaves. The lamp beside the couch cast a soft amber circle around her, leaving the rest of the room in shadow. Chris had long since loosened his tie. Derek had gone home hours ago.But she couldn’t stop.The numbers were familiar. She had built this company from nothing but audacity and insomnia. Every expansion, every acquisition , every calculated risk.She knew its pulse.Which is why something felt wrong.Her fingers hovered over the trackpad. She scrolled back.Again.There was a block, dormant.Her breath stilled.Chris was at the kitchen counter behind her, sleeves rolled up, watching without appearing to. He’d been pretending to read emails for the last twenty minutes.“What are you hunting?” he asked quietly.She didn’t answer at first.Just leaned closer to the screen.The glow lit her face from below, sharpening her cheekbones, hollowing her eyes. She loo
Terakhir Diperbarui: 2026-02-13
Masuk
