LOGINI turned it over.A woman stared back at me. Her cheekbones were sharp, her lips full and painted with dark lipstick from the eighties. She stood in front of the old boathouse by the east lake. In the photo, the boathouse was still made of old wood tiles, not the white plastic boards Andrew put up years later. An orange date glowed in the bottom corner: 08-14-92.The woman's hand rested on her pregnant belly. She looked heavily pregnant. Third trimester, by the look of it.My mouth went dry. Julian would've been born in '96. Whoever this woman carried, it wasn't him.The door at the end of the corridor groaned open."Tamara?" Julian called out, his voice echoing down the narrow hall. "You still back there?”I didn't think. I stuffed the photo into my back pocket. Then, I grabbed a box of old brushes from the shelf. I stood up just as he walked in the doorway.His eyes swept the floor first. Then my face."Lost something?" I asked.A beat passed before he answered. "Thought I might ha
My wrist throbbed with every heartbeat. I pulled my sleeve down over the dark blue bruise, holding my bag strap tightly as the elevator doors opened.The office was quiet. The overhead lights hummed, someone typing far off. I kept my chin up and my eyes on the floorboards right in front of my feet. One step. Two steps. Three stepsDon't look at his office.I could feel it on my left anyway, heavy, like a shadow with weight. Two days ago I'd watched him fucking his secretary right In that office. ohh God i dont wanna think about it.I bit the inside of my lip until I tasted copper. I walked faster towards my desk in the back corner. My spine stayed stiff. I didn't turn my head, not even a little.A hard hand grabbed my arm without warning.His skin was hot. It burned right through my clothes. Before I could catch my balance, my feet slipped on the smooth floor. He pulled me hard into a small, dark storage room off the main hallway.He kicked the heavy door shut behind us. Click. The lo
My thumb hovered over the send button for ten seconds before I pressed it.Name the place, let's talk.The reply came instantly.Café Verona. Eighth and Main. Noon. Miss me already, dear ex?That bastard.I got there at eleven-thirty. I couldn't stay in my apartment another minute. Not with that photo burning a hole in my phone.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw my mother's face. Then the photo. Me on Julian's lap. Skirt pushed halfway up my thighs. His hand twisted in my hair. My mouth against his.A broken sound escaped my throat before I could swallow it back.Café Verona was doing its best trendy coffee shop impression. Exposed brick, Edison bulbs, the smell of burnt espresso. Books nobody actually read lined the shelves. Soft jazz under the hum of laptops and small talk about vacations and deadlines.It all felt painfully normal.I picked a table near the back, one that faced the entrance. An Americano arrived a few minutes later. I wrapped both hands around the cup, hoping the
The photo sat on my phone screen like a grenade with the pin pulled.In it, the dark glass behind us reflected Julian and me. My cheek was pressed against the cold wood while he held me against him.How the hell did he get this? The message beneath it read.Tell anyone and this goes to your mother. Let's talk soon, Tamara.didn't sleep.Three-fifteen. Four-twenty. Five-oh-eight. The numbers kept changing while I stared at the ceiling.Derek. My mum's face crumpling the second she saw the photo. Andrew finding out his own son had bent me over a conference table. Everything I'd been trying to hold together would explode.But Julian... that thought hurt the most.Would the photo change anything for him? Or had I been nothing more than a mistake he'd bury the moment things got messy?I replayed every touch, every look, every word from that night, searching for something I'd missed.When morning came, would he still be the man who held me? Or just my stepbrother again?"Motherfucker," I wh
"What do you think you're doing, Tamara? We're at the office.""So what you are saying is that you do not enjoy it?""You're playing with fire. You know that, right?"I smiled, biting my lip. He didn't say a word; he slammed the door shut behind him.The numbers blurred in front of me.I had stared at the same spreadsheet for forty-five minutes. My eyes burned, and my brain wouldn’t cooperate. Julian expected perfection for the quarterly projections due tomorrow. He made this clear in his usual cold, clipped tone."Again."His voice came from across the conference table. I looked up. He was leaning back in his chair, sleeves rolled to his forearms, tie loosened. A single strand of dark hair had fallen across his forehead. He looked nothing like the polished CEO who had greeted me on my first day."Excuse me?" I said."The formula in cell F14 is wrong. Again." He tapped his laptop screen. "I don't know how you have got 1.4 million from those inputs, but it's not even close."I looked a
The dining room was filled with the smell of rosted chicken, butter, and warm bread. The room echoed with the sound of clinking glasses. I nibbled at my food, not really tasting any of it.Across from me, Julian looked as if he just walked out of a boardroom meeting. His sleeves were rolled to his forearms and his tie was loosened, responding to Andrew's questions in a deep voice that had my pussy clenched."So," Andrew asked Julian, "how's Meridian?""Busy. We're expanding, planning on hiring a few new people within the next couple of weeks."My heart skipped a beat. I looked down at my food, trying to hide my sudden interest, before looking back up at Julian and clearing my throat."I've actually been thinking about looking for a new job."There was an awkward silence as the whole table turned their attention to me. Andrew raised a curious brow."Oh?" he said.I gave a small nod. "I was wondering if there were any openings at Meridian."A long, tense pause hung between us as his gaz







