LOGINMASON“Huh,” she finally broke the silence after what felt like hours of waiting. “I want to say I’m surprised, but I’m really not.”“Great.” I adjusted my posture on the leather seat. “We can get straight to the point then.”“We both know it’s not that simple.” She leaned back against the door and it shut with a light click. “Straightforward, but not simple.”The purple-haired newlywed strutted toward the large round table with a patient air, then tossed a folder toward me before she’d even neared my seat.It landed with a soft thud, and emboldened on the cover page was the headline:**[Partnership Proposal.]**“Now, what on earth would an investor like yourself be doing all the way here? Sticking his nose into Lang Corp business?” Sabrina said.“The same thing you and your husband did when you bought shares at Northline,” I easily answered. “Can a businessman not choose to spread his wings as he likes?”Neither shock nor confusion flickered across her face. She wasn’t surprised I kn
MASONI wasn’t a fan of stress balls.The idea of them alone was ridiculous to me. Venting your frustration on a lifeless rubber shape in hopes of clearing your mind.Definitely looked as stupid as it sounded.Yet here I was, tossing one toward the ceiling and waiting for it to fall back into my hands every couple of seconds.In my defense, this wasn’t exactly frustration.I still didn’t have a word for it, but I wouldn’t call it frustration.I tossed the ball toward the high ceiling again, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Kayla standing by the dining room.The whole messy-hair-and-pajamas look was new for her, but oh well. I’d noticed a lot of “new” stuff since we came to New York.“Gonna keep staring at me? The view can’t be that nice.”“Trust me. It isn’t,” she grumbled as the ball landed in my palms again, only for me to toss it up once more.“I see. You’re thinking the same thing I’m thinking, huh?”“If what you’re thinking is that we’ve overstayed our welcome in New Yo
TIFFANYMy first day at work. What was the best way to describe it.Surprising? Different? No. Eye-opening. Eye-opening was definitely the right word for it. If you'd told me three weeks ago tthat I'd be working at one of the most renowned company's in the city, and after that, Theo Campbell would be driving me home… I'd have called you crazy.But, right now, I'd be lying if I said I wanted to be in here.Theo didn’t take me straight home after work.He took the longer route, the one with fewer lights and more room to pretend silence was comfortable. The city slid by in clean streaks of gold and brake-red. His hands stayed steady on the wheel. Mine stayed in my lap because if I folded my arms he would know exactly how hard I was working not to start something.I had been fine for most of the day.That was the lie I kept offering myself.Fine through the desk work. Fine through the messages. Fine through every polished corridor that smelled like money and other people’s access. The s
MIAThe restaurant was the kind of expensive that made people behave.Soft lighting. Heavy linen. A dining room open enough that every table could see every other table if they wanted to. No one here would throw a glass. No one would raise their voice high enough to become a story. Whatever happened tonight would have to happen through smiles, pauses, and the kind of politeness that bruised harder than shouting.Which was inconvenient, because nobody at our table liked anybody else.Matt sat like a man hosting a performance he already owned. Sabrina looked composed in the way only women with sharp histories managed. Brian had not forgiven me for accepting the invitation, and he made that clear every time his eyes cut to mine over the rim of his glass. I kept my posture easy and my mouth useful. If they wanted a quiet dinner, they should not have put a journalist between them.“So,” I said, after the first course had been reduced to elegant debris, “how long have you two been married?”
Chapter 254MIAIf I had to rank the perks of being a journalist one through three, curiosity would sit at the top and still pretend it was a virtue.Access came second. The ability to disappear into other people’s lives without immediately being asked why.And third… the one nobody liked admitting out loud… was the high of finding a name that did not want to be found and dragging it into the light anyway.Matt Majors did not want to be found.Not properly. Not beyond the polished version that bought shares, smiled for boardrooms, and walked into Northline like investment was the only language he spoke. After the meeting, that version stopped being enough. Brian’s warning sat in my head all night.*Do not go anywhere alone.*So, as any sane journalist would, I suspected someone was off, and did what I was trained to do. I went looking.My office screen was a mess of tabs by late afternoon. Public records. Old clippings. Shell companies that dissolved too quickly. Mentions that never
Chapter 253ADRIANI started the second game of the tournament on the bench.Not injured. Not tactical. Just… punished, I guess. In Coach's defense, I played like shit lastt time out.But this time was differentThe arena was louder. More bodies in the stands, more phones up, more of that restless energy that made a college gym feel briefly important. Our makeshift side still looked like a project held together with tape and spite, but the crowd had decided we were worth watching anyway.I leaned forward with my forearms on my knees, then scanned the seats without meaning to.That's when I found her.Bianca.A few rows up, dark hair, attention fixed on the court like she’d come for the game and not the mess attached to the people playing it. For a second, the noise thinned. All the wrong memories tried to stand up at once… the bathroom door, her frozen face, Julia under me, a name that should never have left my mouth.I looked away first.“Bro, you’re seeing this?” one of the ben







