LOGIN"I don't want to go back to what we were," she said. "I'd burn it down before I let that happen." Her chin lifted slightly. "So whatever this is," she said, "it has to be something we've never been." "From the ground up." The air between us had changed. Nothing had moved to change it. My finge
Edward's POV A flight of stairs. Elena's door was ajar when I reached the landing. I pushed it open and stepped inside. She was at the window. Coat still on. I shrugged mine off and set it on the chair by the door. The click of the latch made her shoulders tighten once before they released. "Y
Thursday. The registry doors opened before I fully reached them, air still adjusting around the gap, carrying paper dust and ink heat and the low sound of decisions being processed without ceremony, none of it pausing for me. My name came almost immediately. Not because I was expected—because the
Alicia's POV Apartment light warmed the room before I crossed the threshold. Elena stood at the counter, spoon tracing slow circles through a pot resting on low heat. Steam rose in thin strands, breaking apart under the ceiling light before it could gather into anything defined. My shoes paused b
Edward's POV I didn’t remember walking into the estate. I remembered the gate. Then nothing clean after that—just fragments of motion stitched together without pause. Headlights fading into the drive. The slow roll of tires over stone. The way the house lights adjusted as if it had already antic
The car didn’t stop at the main entrance. It passed the glass frontage of the building, continued past the visible entry point, and turned into the service approach that only functioned as an entrance once the guard stepped aside. No signage. No announcement. Just controlled access. I didn’t que
Edward's POV The estate gates opened as I pulled through. I hadn't decided to come here. My hands had just turned the wheel. Away from the convention center. Away from the exhibition hall where Alicia had stood in front of sixty-three press outlets and proven she didn't need anything I'd ever giv
Alicia's POV Twelve fifty. The cab slowed at a red light three blocks from the address. I glanced at my phone, though nothing had changed. The text sat there exactly as it had all morning, plain, unambiguous. Lunch. 1 o’clock. 140 Franklin St. Buzzer 4B. “Almost there,” the driver said, catchin
The world tilted. “What?” “Edward Valentine. Your soon-to-be ex-husband. He’s my brother.” “What Edward?” My chest tightened, breath stalling. “No.” I shook my head. “That’s not possible.” “Alicia.” “You can’t be his brother.” My hand went for the door. “You can’t.” “I didn’t tell you because
Edward's POV I was already standing. Didn't remember deciding to. My chair had scraped back, my hands were flat on the table, and I was staring at her as if she'd materialized out of nothing. She looked different. Not the careful elegance she used to wear for my mother’s approval. This was confi







