Chapter: Chapter 73Seraphina stared at the locks of blonde hair on her office desk, her mouth hanging open.Then she looked at the monitor again. One side of her head ended in a ragged slash at her jaw. The other side still hung past her collarbone.“Okay,” she said. “Okay. This is fine.”She tried to even it out. That was her first mistake. She pulled the longer side straight and snipped. Now it was shorter than the left, so she cut the left to match. Then the right looked longer again.She had about four hours until her rail agreement meeting with Cassian. She couldn’t meet him looking like this. Whatever progress she had made in winning his heart would be back to zero if he saw her like this.Three snips later, she picked up her phone with a hand that was not quite steady and opened Talia’s contact.Sera: SOS. My office. Bring a hat.Talia’s answer arrived seconds later.Talia: Huh???? A hat?? What are you on about?Sera: Just bring a wide enough hat along, please.Talia: Fine. On my way. WHAT DID YO
Last Updated: 2026-10-30
Chapter: Chapter 72Chapter 72“Josiah Moxfield is a dick.”Seraphina stopped so fast her heel skidded on the marble.Elias Bridge stood beside the water cooler outside the boardroom in his black overcoat, yellow legal pad under one arm, looking as harmless as a vicar. He was in his early eighties, and Seraphina hadn’t expected him to curse the way he just had.“I beg your pardon?”“You heard me.” He glanced down the empty corridor anyway. “He is also a sitting duck who has not done an honest day’s work since before you could drive, and he has the nerve to shit on yours.”Seraphina tried to fight the grin about to take over her face. “Elias.”“I am old, my dear. Not dead.” He flipped the pad around. Between three pages of notes on the Halden contract, he had drawn a fat duck in a crown, floating on a pond. Underneath, in careful block capitals: J. MOXFIELD, RESIDENT SITTING DUCK. “I think best when I doodle or draw. Is this what you deal with every time I miss a board meeting?”“Every time.” Her knees fe
Last Updated: 2026-10-16
Chapter: Chapter 71The board of Voss Holdings met on Monday mornings, and Josiah Moxfield liked to arrive eleven minutes late. He did it so that the others would already be seated. He did it so that he would enter a room that was waiting for him. For someone who always had something to say about the work ethics of others, he was a chronic latecomer. He took a chair opposite hers and parroted out his usual excuse. “Forgive me, everyone. Traffic.” He flashed a smile in her direction, and she immediately got the feeling she was going to be the topic of today’s board meeting. “I’m afraid I have something rather unpleasant to raise.” Seraphina folded her hands on the slate and waited. Today, she was wearing a dark charcoal suit and a plain gold chain. She had ensured her face looked perfect, and she had walked into the room with her spine ruler-straight. If she was going to face Moxfield berating her, as per usual, she could not do it looking a mess. “I raise it with a very heavy heart,” said Moxf
Last Updated: 2026-10-15
Chapter: Chapter 70Seraphina put the navy suit in a designated laundry bag when she got home and zipped it up. Then she stood in the shower until the hot water ran cold. Afterwards, she sat at the kitchen counter in a gray sweater with a glass of water she had not touched and her phone facedown in front of her. She remembered how Marcus had called Julian fragile, and she grabbed her phone, her hands already flying across the screen to dial a number from memory. It rang four times. His voice came out gravelly on the other end of the line. Seraphina felt bad; he was probably asleep when she called. But she didn’t think she could wait till tomorrow to speak to him. He groaned, reminding her of the day. “It’s Sunday.” “I know, and I’m sorry, but listen…” “You don’t call on Sundays.” He interrupted her to ask, “What happened?” She took a sip of her water before she spoke. “I had lunch with Marcus Devereaux.” “You what? That was a terrible idea. Where did this happen?” “A place called the Har
Last Updated: 2026-10-13
Chapter: Chapter 69The Harrow Club occupied the top three floors of a former bank, and Seraphina didn’t know if Marcus was trying to play a sick joke on her because, on getting there, she found out the elevator wasn’t working.She had to walk up three floors in her heels and kept hoping the AC would hide the sweat breaking out on her forehead.She arrived at ten to one in a navy suit, hoping that despite her trip up the flights of stairs, she still looked as intimidating as she did in a boardroom.She had told no one where she was going. She wasn’t even sure why she was coming to this lunch in the first place. Marcus Devereaux could never have something good in store for her.Her former father in law was an obvious snake, and he slithered all over you and your plans until he wrapped himself around you and sank his venomous teeth into you.She was scared, and if she had mentioned this little rendezvous to her family or her unsaved number handler, they would have had her head. Or buried her the way she wa
Last Updated: 2026-10-13
Chapter: Chapter 68Mariah Bedford landed at ten past four on Saturday evening, ignored every instruction her father had given her, and was standing in Cassian’s kitchen by seven with a bag of kale chips. She hadn’t told Cassian she was coming to his apartment. She knew she had told him she’d sort herself out, but she thought it would be a lovely surprise if she just showed up out of nowhere.“Your doorman thinks I am your sister,” she said as she arrived, setting the bag on the counter. “I told him we were separated at birth. He was very moved.”Cassian stared at her incredulously, wondering what the hell she was doing in his apartment.“Mariah.”“Oh, Cassian, at least act like you’re happy to see me. We could be married, you know.” She took off her sunglasses.They had known each other since they were nine. They had spent their entire childhood being pushed into the same rooms at the same parties by two fathers with the same plan: to unite their bloodlines permanently. But they had grown tired of the c
Last Updated: 2026-10-12
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