LOGIN**MERRICK**The moment I saw Astrid sitting across from me, I felt the walls closing in, leaving no exit for my next breath.The air in the room grew heavy as Boss's eyes drilled into mine, and I realized I had nothing left but my next lie.“Mr Fairfax, you must have had quite the eventful past few days. Care to…share with the room?” Boss waved her glass around, but I could not take my eyes off Astrid.She had no right to look so devastatingly beautiful in her betrayal, but she was. And she glared back at me with eyes like daggers.“Some chemistry you two have.” “There is no chemistry,” said Astrid, eyes still bleeding my soul, “...there is just Merrick, and his multiple failed attempts at providing results.”“Trust me, I'm well aware of that fact.” Boss lifted the glass to her lips.“I see what this is about,” I smiled, nodding in Astrid's direction, “but I don't understand how she climbed to the top so fast.”Bloody snake.“I'd forget about the logistics, if I were you, and focus o
**MERRICK**My mother survived the fall. The version of Astrid that loved me did not. The metal chair bit into my back, but it was a mild comfort compared to the state of Grace Fairfax. I could not tear my eyes from the oxygen mask covering her face, the neck brace, the tube that kept her jaw hanging open…My good hand gripped my left knee, squeezing tight as Astrid's words played in my head like a fucking curse.I kept replaying the moment Astrid’s fingers let go and my mother disappeared down the stairs, searching for the exact second she stopped loving me.She had looked right at me, like she wanted me to hear every crack, and I did. Every single one. The world had blurred before my eyes, and I had scrambled to the edge of the staircase, racing down to find a small pool of crimson forming under my mother's head.I had looked up to the staircase, and she was gone, door slamming in the hallway as I held my mother's limp body.I was right. The Winslow women were all shades of crazy,
**CALISTA**I watched the black Mazda vanish into traffic through the lobby windows, unease settling heavy in my aching ribs because that car had been behind me all morning.I barely noticed the receptionist greeting me, not until the plate numbers vanished into traffic, fading from my memory like a hallucination.But I was not seeing things. That car had been at the coffee shop, putting enough distance between us to not look too sketchy.Paranoia wrapped its claws around my throat and held tight.I gulped, missing the cup of coffee I handed to the valet as I nodded to the receptionist and walked towards the elevator down the hall. I felt it all—the stares, the whispers and exchanged glances, the confused frowns because God forbid a woman runs her empire without a husband leading the way.Every move hurt, every click of my heels against the bright marble floors a constant reminder of the spectacle that I was now.But for the first time in my miserable existence, their glares did not
**ATLAS**If Calista Winslow ever discovered the things I did in the name of keeping her safe, she would run from me too.Maybe I should have run from me too, for somewhere between protecting Calista and obsessing over her, the line disappeared.I should have left for home that night. Instead, I bought surveillance equipment. The next morning, Calista was gone, but not before fixing me with a glare that sat in my chest like a rock.Ledger did not wait around no matter how much I begged. Calista was dead to him, he said. Ungrateful, he said. Cruel, even. And I hated that he was right, hated that I clung to that truth viciously…until I thought of her again, and all I saw was a trapped doe chewing off its own limb to escape a bloody trap.I hated that I understood.So I did the only logical thing—I let her go…with a tracker in the necklace that she never took off. That was all…save for the one in her phone and the button of her coat.Yes, you read that right. Merrick Fairfax was not th
**ASTRID**“Baby…look at me.”I used to love it when Merrick said that, but the human mind was a cruel thing. Once suspicion entered it, even love began to rot.I did not look at him. Not when Calista's words played over and over in my head, and trust me when I said that my sister knew exactly where to cut.I could not reconcile the man sitting across from me in his living room, to the one who held me like I would never break.Not that he was the purest of the lot, no. Like a moth to a flame, I was drawn to the abyss that was Merrick Fairfax. There was something invigorating about finding a soulmate, a person in whom you found a mirror that did not just hold your beautiful, but your ugly too. Every shred of it.But as dark as he could be, Merrick was no rapist…not until I had to believe the words that came from Calista's lips. I had spent the entire drive home trying to decide which terrified me more—the possibility that Calista was lying…or the possibility that she was not.“Astrid
**CALISTA**The cigarette pack sat untouched on the vanity table while I stared at my reflection, because if I started smoking tonight, I feared I would never stop.There was something deeply pathetic about trying to prepare for war with smeared mascara, trembling hands, and a half-empty wine glass.For the longest time, I used to think mirrors reflected the truth, but as I sat in front of mine, all I saw was a woman trying to numb herself before the war reached her doorstep.One more glass, and I would be ready. My silk robe slipped down my shoulders, and I cursed the shower for being too warm, for not burning off the memories etched in my brain. Sleep was a luxury I could not afford—not even on the jet. With every passing hour, I had perched by the oval window, teeth chattering at the slightest turbulence.So many questions had plagued my mind, forcing me to take my first Bloody Mary in months.What the hell was I doing? Cutting Atlas out of my survival plan felt less like survival







