LOGIN"Finish that sentence." My voice cut across hers. A beat passed. A shift crossed her eyes. Then she said it anyway. "Cleaned houses for people like us." The room went completely quiet. "My mother." I stopped. "Worked with her hands for people who believed that made her less than them. People exac
Alicia’s POV The pen was in my hand. I hadn't moved since the door closed. The page in front of me, the same line, and now I knew someone had been observing me return to it, watching long enough to count each return. I had spent three years believing he never saw the parts that weren't performed.
"He also mentioned Vera Sorel has made her attendance at the follow-up conditional on yours," I said, letting the other piece of the weight land between us. "He wanted me to know that." The pen halted in her hand. She took a breath, slow, through her nose, and the line of her throat moved once befo
Edward's POV Phillip arrived at twenty past ten. He settled into the chair across my desk and set his coat on the arm of it. The draft was already in his hand before he opened his mouth. "Signed and filed as of this morning. Your name on the minority position. Clean." He set a single folded page
"I don't know." "You said it to him. Not here." The pause that followed remained too long to be casual. "What are you afraid of?" I didn't rush it. "That I'm seeing it right. And it still falls apart anyway." She shook her head slightly. "That's not uncertainty. That's you refusing to close y
Alicia's POV Elena didn't turn when I came in. She was at the counter, spoon hovering over a bowl she hadn't touched in a while. The kettle had gone cold long enough to feel intentional. My bag hit the floor by the door. She didn't look at it. "You came back wrong." "I came back two days ago."
“Board meeting materials. She said you’d need them before Monday.” Edward reached for it. But Lucy shifted. Extended it toward me instead. “Actually, Alicia, would you mind holding onto this? Edward’s about to be pulled away—” She glanced across the room where some tech CEO type was clearly waiti
Alicia’s POV I pushed through the bathroom door. The hallway was empty. Music drifted from the ballroom. Voices layered over piano. I walked back, heels clicking against marble. Deep breath. Smile. Perform. The ballroom opened before me. Still packed. Still glittering under chandeliers. I scan
A hallway. A door. Gold letters. Ladies’ Lounge. I shoved through it. Empty. Thank every god that ever existed. I made it to a stall. Barely. Everything came up. The salmon. The cheese. The prosciutto wrapped around my broken dreams. Every single canapé I’d eaten while watching my marriage b
Alicia’s POV Edward's hand rested at the small of my back as we stepped out of the car. Light. Impersonal. The kind of touch that looked intimate from a distance but felt like nothing up close. Flash bulbs exploded in bursts of white. Voices called out, Edward's name, my name, questions we wouldn'







