Chapter: Chapter 76Cassian entered his father’s office and found Marcus standing beside the window, his hands in his trouser pockets.“Close the door,” Marcus Devereaux ordered.Cassian did, then placed his phone on the desk. “You wanted to see me?”Marcus returned to his chair but didn’t invite him to sit.“I want to talk about your involvement with Milbrook.”“What about it?”“Your judgement.”Cassian remained standing.Marcus sat down and opened the folder on his desk. The first page was the capacity proposal Cassian had presented to the board that morning.“You put forward a contract worth eighteen million dollars a year, with the first payment due on signing. You argued that Devereaux should commit to a fixed monthly fee for priority access to infrastructure in which we already own half the interest.”“Because our trains are already using that infrastructure, and the current arrangement isn’t giving us the access or reliability we need.”“That is a commercial argument. I’m asking about your judgeme
Last Updated: 2026-11-04
Chapter: Chapter 75Marcus had reached the second page of the proposal Cassian had brought to him when he stopped reading.“One and a half million dollars every month?”Cassian stood beside the screen, where the proposed agreement was displayed.“That’s the monthly reservation fee.”Marcus turned the document towards himself again, checking the annual figure. “Eighteen million a year. We’re being asked to pay eighteen million dollars to use a railway we already own half of?”“We own half of Milbrook, not half of its available capacity. Our shareholding doesn’t give Devereaux priority over other users. When the network is congested, our trains wait just like everyone else’s.”“Then why are we paying for it?”“Because we need access to the network. Under the current arrangement, we pay for every train that uses it, but that doesn’t guarantee a slot when we need one. The new agreement would reserve capacity for us in advance.”A director seated near the end of the table leaned towards the screen.“What happ
Last Updated: 2026-11-04
Chapter: Chapter 74Cassian arrived at her office at six, carrying dinner.He halted when he saw her. His gaze settled on her newly cut hair, the sharp line of the fresh bob framing her jaw.“You cut your hair.”Seraphina placed her hand under her new cut. “Oh really? I didn’t notice.”He smiled. “It suits you. You look amazing.”Seraphina flipped her hair in response, earning a laugh from him.He set the food on the table. “I brought dinner.”“How thoughtful of you.”“You didn’t really have a dental emergency, did you?”Seraphina shrugged in response. She was hungry, and for a few minutes, she concentrated on the food rather than the day’s problems. Cassian seemed equally content to eat without discussing work.It didn’t last.“Marcus intervened this morning,” he said.She put down her fork. “About what?”“The Milbrook agreement.”She narrowed her eyes, giving him her full attention.“He wants the transit fee reduced from forty thousand dollars per train to a third of that. He’s also insisting that ever
Last Updated: 2026-11-03
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
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