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 The office was quieter than it had any right to be. High enough that the city looked unreal. Corner suite. Windows overlooking a slice of downtown I'd never paid attention to before. The kind of quiet that came from thick walls and expensive construction, the kind that made every smal
Twenty minutes later, I was in my car, moving through Manhattan with no destination. That was a lie. I hadn’t planned it consciously, but my hands knew where they were going. Muscle memory. Habit. Instinct I hadn’t broken yet. Twenty-five minutes after leaving the estate, I pulled over half a blo
Alicia's POV The kitchen smelled like butter and warmth. I’d started baking before dawn, my hands working from memory. Rolling dough. Cutting circles. Lining them up on the sheets. The kind of work that kept my mind quiet. Elena sat at the counter with her laptop open, attention split between wh
Ending it was the right call. The only call. So why couldn't I make myself do it? I stood. Looked at my keys sitting on the entry table. I could go out. Do something. Anything was better than staying here spiraling. Except I didn't want to go anywhere. I wanted to drive to Elena’s apartmen







