Romane von Tommy Anietie

POV: CalistaNobody in the Thorne family had ever asked me a question with a right answer. I had spent six years guessing what the room wanted, and the guessing had never once protected me."I asked for your statement first," the woman said, "because I wanted to know whether my grandson was lying to me about you."She leaned forward, and the lamp finally caught her face. She was older than Margaret by a decade, with white hair pinned so tightly it looked like a decision. Her eyes were pale and very steady."Eleanor Thorne," she said. "The Founder was my husband. The successor vote is mine until I die or choose otherwise."I had heard her name at every holiday dinner for six years, always in the past tense. Viv once told me Eleanor had gone to Lisbon to live with a cousin and that she never came back to Thorne Tower."Caspian doesn't know you're here," I said."No. He believes I'm in Lisbon, which is exactly what I want him to believe." She tapped the cane lightly against the carpet. "

POV: CalistaThe Founder's Trust had never asked for my opinion in six years of marriage. This morning it wanted a sworn statement, and it wanted it before Halvard's deadline ran out at noon.Thorne Tower rose sixty floors above the river, all glass and cold steel. Caspian walked beside me through the lobby with two fingers resting lightly at the small of my back. The guard at the turnstile looked at him for a long moment before lifting the barrier."Does he always do that?" I murmured."Only when someone is watching," Caspian said. "Smile, Calista. Your husband is in the elevator."Lucian was. He stood in the corner with his jaw shadowed by a sleepless night, and he did not look at me. Viv stood beside him in oversized sunglasses that hid half her face. Harold and Margaret waited at the far end of the car, silent and rigid, like two people riding up to their own sentencing.Nobody spoke until the doors opened on the sixtieth floor.Caspian stopped me in the corridor before we reached

POV: CalistaLucian's phone lay face up beside his plate, still glowing with the word frozen.Nobody touched their food."Lucian," Harold said slowly. "What is this?""A system error. I'll call the bank.""On a Sunday?" Margaret asked."They have emergency lines, Mother." His voice cracked on the last word.I kept my eyes on my soup. Under the table, Caspian's thumb moved once across my knuckles. Steady, the touch said."No pledge of Thorne assets is valid without Trust consent," Harold said, mostly to himself. "Not one." He looked at Lucian for the first time. "Did you ask the Trust?"Lucian said nothing."The Founder's Trust owns the majority of this company," Harold said. "My father set it up before he died, and he named a successor to hold its vote. The lawyers have kept that name sealed for twenty years. Every major decision needs the Trust's approval. Nobody at this table has ever seen the owner.""So we're being threatened by a ghost?" Viv said, with a brittle laugh."A ghost w

POV: CalistaOn Sunday, I called the lender from my driveway before I ever put the car in gear.The red dress still fit. I had bought it two years ago and never worn it, because Lucian had called it too much for a Thorne wife.Lucian left at four, already in his suit. "Client emergency. Meet me at the estate."He did not glance at what I was wearing. Furniture, I thought. Perfect.Halvard Private Credit answered on the third ring. A woman named Denise asked for the loan reference, then for my name."I'm the guarantor," I said. "I'd like to confirm the signing date on my agreement."Keys clicked. "Mrs. Thorne, the guarantor signature was notarized in person on March twelfth at the Aurelian Hotel, Suite 1904."March twelfth was a Thursday. I had spent that Thursday in bed with a fever. Lucian had told me he was in Chicago."I wasn't there," I said.A pause. "I'm required to note that. The borrower will be informed that the guarantor has questioned the agreement.""Could you send me the

POV: CalistaAt 1:12 a.m., the front door opened softly, and I lay in the dark listening to my husband creep through our house like a thief.The mattress dipped. His arm slid around my waist, and I forced my breathing to stay slow.Jasmine clung to his collar. Viv's perfume. I had given her that bottle for Christmas."Cal?" he whispered against my neck. "Are you awake?"I made a sleepy sound. "You're early.""I couldn't stay away from you."He kissed my shoulder. Hours earlier, that same mouth had been on hers. I stared at the wall until he fell asleep, breathing evenly, like a man with a clear conscience.By dawn I had not cried once since Caspian left. I had no tears left for Lucian. What I felt now was colder and far more useful.By morning, I had become someone else.I made pancakes. I hummed. I poured his coffee exactly the way he liked it, two sugars and a splash of cream.Caspian's words kept me upright. Every lie he tells you becomes a debt he pays later.Lucian wandered into

POV: Calista"You want me to what?""Become my lover," Caspian repeated, calm as a man ordering coffee. "Not in truth. In performance."I let out a breathless laugh. "You're insane.""Probably." He did not smile. "But tell me you didn't feel something when you saw that photograph."I had. It was still burning inside me."They're laughing at us right now," he said. "Lucian is in some hotel bed telling her how stupid you are.""He's in Singapore.""Is he?"I opened my mouth, then closed it. I had not received a single photo from that trip. Not one call that lasted longer than a minute.Caspian slid a final paper across the table. It was a flight record. Lucian's plane had landed in Singapore, sat on the ground for four hours, and turned straight around for home.My husband had been twenty minutes from this house tonight while I folded his shirts."Stop," I whispered."I won't, because it's true.""Why me? Why not a lawyer, a detective, anyone?""Lawyers give them a trial. I want to give