LOGINSophia’s POV…..The city felt different when I left Lily.Quieter. Sharper. Like the air itself had teeth.I kept replaying her face in my mind as I drove home—the way her new hair framed her eyes, the steadiness in her smile, the way she looked like someone who had survived a war and decided to live anyway. It filled me with warmth and something close to envy. Not jealousy. Just longing. For that kind of certainty. That kind of love.By the time I parked outside my apartment building, the sun had already dipped low, the streetlights flickering on one by one. I grabbed my bag, locked the car, and started toward the entrance.That was when the feeling hit me.That instinctive prickle at the back of your neck. The one you learn to listen to after you’ve been afraid before.I slowed.My heels echoed too loudly on the pavement. I could hear my own breathing. I told myself I was imagining things. I’d had an emotional day. Anyone would be jumpy.Then I heard it.Footsteps.Not the lazy shuf
Lily’s POV……..The morning smelled like jasmine and coffee and possibility.I stood in front of the penthouse mirror, tying my hair into a loose knot for the third time, then undoing it again. My reflection looked back at me with wide eyes and a soft smile that still surprised me.I was getting married.The words felt unreal in my mouth, like a secret I was still learning how to say out loud. Married. To Andrew. To the man who had burned down his world to save mine, who carried storms in his chest and still looked at me like I was something holy.My phone buzzed on the counter.Sophia: I’m outside. If you’re not ready, I’m dragging you out in pajamas.I laughed, grabbed my bag, and headed out. “Be safe and remember to text me everytime” Andrew said “Ok boss” I said and kisses his cheeks, he slapped my ass and I chuckled and walked out.Sophia was already vibrating with excitement when I got into the car, her sunglasses pushed up into her hair, lips glossy, energy contagious.“Ok
Andrew’s POV…..Night had always been my ally.In boardrooms, darkness sharpened my focus.In negotiations, it made men careless.In war — legal or otherwise — it hid the blood.But tonight?Tonight, the dark felt too loud.The penthouse was silent in that unnatural way that only happens after chaos has finally stepped back to watch. The city lights bled in through the glass walls, distant and cold, like stars that didn’t care if you lived or died.Lily slept beside me.Her breathing was soft, even. One arm rested across my chest like she belonged there — like she’d always belonged there — and that thought alone twisted something deep and vicious inside my ribs.I didn’t move.I was afraid that if I did, I’d wake her.And if she woke, she’d see it.The fear.I stared at the ceiling, counting the spaces between breaths, listening to the echo of everything I had destroyed.Sterling Enterprises was gone.Burned. Reduced to ash and headlines and speculation.The empire my father had raise
Lily’s POV…….I woke up wrapped in warmth.Not the expensive, sterile kind that came from heated floors or silk sheets—but the real kind. The kind that hummed through skin and bone. The kind that made you forget, just for a second, that the world had ever been cruel.Andrew’s arm was draped over my waist, heavy and possessive even in sleep. His breathing was slow, deep, steady against my back, and I lay there listening to it like it was proof of something sacred. That he was here. That we were here.I shifted slightly, careful not to wake him, and smiled when he instinctively pulled me closer, burying his face into the crook of my neck.“Don’t disappear,” he murmured, voice rough with sleep.“I’m not,” I whispered back, my chest tightening. “I’m right here.”That seemed to satisfy him. His grip loosened just enough for me to slip out of bed, my feet touching the cool marble floor. I grabbed one of his shirts from the chair—too big, soft, smelling like him—and pulled it on as I padded
Sophia's pov…..I sucked in a breath at the intensity blazing in Adrian Wolfe's eyes and the warning there, but my hands didn’t drop from his chest.“I’m the last thing you need, but it’s too late for you now. Now that I know what you taste like, the feeling of those fingers humming along my skin…” Herasped.My eyes flared, and I felt the defiance filling them. “You’re exactly what I need.”And I knew that was true. Because the universe and fates wouldn’t bond me to someone who didn’t balance me in some way. The same way I would balance them. We could find a wholeness together that we’d never be able to find apart.His eyes darkened. “You don’t know what you’re playing with,Little mouse”.My gaze didn’t move from his. “I’m not scared of you.”He moved in a flash, his hands locking around my wrists and pinning them above my head. “You should be.”My back and arms pressed against the tile, the coolness of the surface at war with my overheated skin. “Do your worst.”Adrian's mo
Sophia’s POV…….I was in my room when the news sank in.Not just heard it—felt it.My phone lay on the bed beside me, screen glowing with Lily’s message, the little ring emoji practically vibrating with excitement.> I said yes. I’m engaged.I stared at it for a full minute before I screamed.I actually screamed.I threw the phone onto the bed, clapped my hands over my mouth, and spun in a small, ridiculous circle like I was sixteen again and not a grown woman with bills and stress and a job that ate my soul.Lily. Engaged.After everything she’d been through—Ryan, her father, the kidnapping, the fear—she got a man who would burn empires for her and still look at her like she hung the moon.I flopped onto the bed, smiling at the ceiling.My best friend deserved the best in the world, she's the sweetest angelive ever met.“About damn time,” I muttered.I was still riding that happiness when my phone buzzed again.> We’re at a bar downtown. Don’t ask. Come if you want.I frowned.Anothe







