Jonathan’s POVI walked into the mansion and the stench of cigars, scotch, and expensive rot filled the foyer like a fog I couldn’t escape. Music pulsed low from the parlor. Laughter, too, the fake kind, hollow and sharp. My father was still celebrating. For what? For who? I didn’t ask. I didn’t eve
Jonathan’s POVI left Charlotte at the curb with a kiss on her cheek and a pit in my stomach. The night had been a disaster, and I had only myself to blame. Her eyes had searched mine the entire dinner, looking for something real, for something honest, and all I gave her was silence and evasion. I h
Charlotte’s POVIt was like dining with a ghost.Jonathan barely looked at me through the flickering candlelight. The table was set beautifully, the restaurant dim and romantic, the hum of soft music brushing against the silence between us like a feather dragged across a fresh wound. But his eyes st
Emily came in just as I was packing up the leftovers.She was flushed from the cold, her arms full of her purse and reusable containers, cheeks pink, hair tousled from the wind.“Hey,” she said, breathless and beautiful.“Hey,” I replied, going to her without thinking, wrapping my arms around her be
Damian’s POVI stared down at the boardroom table, barely hearing the last words Alfred was spitting through his too-white teeth, something about quarterly numbers and cautious investments. Celeste sat across from me, tapping one perfectly manicured nail against her water glass with a rhythm that ma
Emily’s POVThe kitchen lights shimmered like tiny spotlights, casting a warm glow across the counters as I angled the camera just right. “Okay, now flip the spoon upward,” I said with exaggerated cheer, adjusting the overhead ring light as Charlotte, of all people, stirred the pot of tropical peppe