MasukMom claps. “See? Good sense.”Dad groans, drops into a chair, and rubs his forehead. “Fine. Sparklers. But I get to choose the color.”“Deal,” I say, leaning over to kiss his temple. He pretends not to smile but I see it anyway.I never thought I would have this again—a father who tries, really trie
Maya’s POVFrance changed me. I did not expect it to. I thought all I wanted was revenge, a reckoning, a balancing of the scales that would make everything feel right again. But standing at the kitchen window of our townhouse with the late-morning sun warming the old stone, watching Oscar toddle aft
After a few minutes, Emma sits beside me, nudging my shoulder. “How are you really,” she asks, her voice softening.I smile. “Good. Really good. For the first time, everything feels... quiet.”“You deserve quiet.”I nod, my eyes warming. “He is different now. Softer. Present. You should see him read
Emily’s POVSix Months LaterI wake before the alarm, before the morning light even filters through the curtains, to a soft flutter beneath my ribs. A tiny kick, gentle but unmistakably there. I smile into the pillow, pressing my palm over the swell of my stomach. The baby is awake, stretching, gree
Damian’s POVI do not think I exhaled until the plane door shut behind us.No reporters.No blinking notifications.No family emergencies.No corporate disasters waiting like open jaws behind every email.Just Emily beside me, fingers loosely threaded with mine, her head resting on my shoulder as if
Emily’s POVThe morning light over the farm looks unreal, soft as milk, drifting across the grass in wide strokes that make everything glow. It is the kind of light you only see on days you remember forever. A gentle breeze carries the smell of lilac and fresh earth, the decorations swaying slightly
Louis’ POVI was halfway through a limp turkey sandwich, the kind I always told myself I’d stop ordering from the building café but inevitably reached for anyway, when I felt the rising boil of frustration hit me again. The fluorescent lights above me hummed like a mosquito in my ear, relentless and
Jonathan’s POVThe city buzzed below our brick high-rise, the skyline flickering with office lights and red blinking cranes. I sat by the window, shirt unbuttoned at the collar, tie flung across the armrest like a lazy snake, sipping a lukewarm glass of rye and staring out at nothing. My mind wasn’t
Jonathan’s POVI sat in my office, nursing a lukewarm espresso and scrolling absently through quarterly projections I had already memorized. Numbers were usually my sanctuary, a silent language I understood better than people, but today they gave me no peace. Not after last night. Not after everythi
Albert’s POVThe meeting had barely adjourned, yet the stench of smugness still lingered in the room like cheap cologne on old velvet. I rose from my leather chair slowly, deliberately, while the others milled about with that self-congratulatory air they all wore like shiny medals on their puffed-up







