LOGINI ordered wine. The work wasn't finished. The room was quieter. She took the glass without comment. Drank. Set it down and kept writing. She spoke about the eastern corridor communities directly, without framing or adjustment, as if they existed in the room with us. Her hand moved as she talked, m
Edward's POV The door opened behind me. No knock. She came in already talking. "I need your numbers from Rotterdam before we fix anything else," she said. "The version you gave him assumes—" She stopped. I didn't turn immediately. Just reached for the towel, dragged it once over my face, then
The auctioneer's cadence moved through the wall. I had built something without him. That was still true. It would stay true. Whatever I said next didn't touch it. "I don't know," I said. "That's the honest answer. Not the managed version." I met his gaze. "I don't know if what's left is enough to
Alicia's POV The older man was still talking. "Seven years," he said. "Four jurisdictions. We moved water infrastructure across borders that hadn't spoken to each other in a generation." His hands traced corridors in the air between us. "The archive is the proof it happened. That it worked." He tu
“You entered without cause,” I said. “You stayed without one.” “I don’t know what this is between you two but—” “My wife.” No variation in tone. No additional weight needed. Alicia’s hand lifted a little, then halted mid-motion and settled again without completing the gesture. The woman exhaled
Edward’s POV “Forty thousand. Do I have forty-five?” The paddle was already raised. Alicia’s hand remained under mine, unchanged in position, as though neither of us had adjusted to its presence since it settled there. “Forty-five.” I raised. “Fifty. Fifty-five.” On the left, a man leaned forw
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'
They had plans. Tonight. My fingers tightened around the phone. The screen blurred. I blinked, forcing my vision to clear. I wanted to throw it. Watch it shatter, hear the glass fracture like the quiet fault line splitting through me. But I didn't. I set it back down. Exactly where I'd found it.
"Jennifer Caldwell just arrived. She's important. Her husband sits on three boards. Don't embarrass me again." The words came out wrong. Harsher than I meant. She went very still. Then she pulled her arm free and walked away without looking back. I stood there, alone in the hallway, tie too tigh







