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."
Alicia's POV I leaned against the cold hospital wall, phone pressed to my ear as Elena's voice cut through the fog in my head. "I've already told the office you're taking emergency family leave," she said, her tone brooking no argument. "I may have implied you're having a breakdown, but honestly,
Two pink lines. I stared at the pregnancy test on the bathroom counter, my reflection fractured in the mirror behind it. The lines remained clear, like scars that refused to fade. They stayed stubbornly clear, two vertical bars that split my life into before and after. Pregnant. The word felt for
Alicia's POV The coffee shop was tucked away on a side street, where people minded their business. I'd picked it on purpose—far from anywhere Edward might go, miles from the circles where someone might recognize his wife having a breakdown over coffee. Elena was already there when I walked in, sit
Alicia's POV "Straighten your shoulders." Edward's voice cut through the leather-scented interior of the car before we'd even pulled up to the restaurant. His hand reached across the seat, fingers cold as they adjusted the collar of my navy Chanel blazer with the precision of someone arranging a p







