LOGINThe fifth lot began. Edward moved to speak to someone at the side of the room. I watched the auctioneer. She crossed the room toward him. He turned when she spoke. She laughed. It had worked before, that laugh. I scanned the sixth lot. Mixed media, authenticated 2019, provenance verified. Her h
Alicia's POV Volkov was already at the door when we came in. His eyes went to my dress and came back up. Lazily. He turned to Edward, and they shook hands. It ran a half-second longer than it needed. "You both came," he said. "You invited us," Edward said. "I invite many people. They don't alwa
Edward's POV He still thinks he came here for the meeting. The room absorbed it. Nobody spoke. Alicia studied the table. Volkov’s attention stayed on her, patient, certain of the space he occupied. I picked up my water glass. Drank. Set it down. He leaned forward. "What I bring isn't only cap
"Two weeks," he said. "Who handled it?" "Me." He looked at me steadily. "You built a structure to reduce dependence on any single person. And the first time it was tested." "I was there and it needed handling." "You're always there." His eyes moved to Edward and back. "That’s what I’m trying to
Alicia's POV The building was ten minutes from the hotel. We didn’t speak in the car. I ran through the framework. Ownership structure. Rotterdam timeline. Enforcement protocols. Edward sat to my left, close enough that our shoulders nearly touched, and not a word passed between us the entire driv
Dubai watched me. Martens did the same. The third one tilted his head, like he had heard something he could not place. "Are you her lawyer?" Dubai asked. "No." "Then why do you know about the paperwork?" "I just." I breathed. "I am familiar with the situation." "Familiar," the third one repeate
Alicia's POV The drive from the hospital took twenty minutes. I made every light green. Took the turns on autopilot. My hands knew the route even when my head was somewhere else. The hospital smell was on my clothes. I noticed it when I stopped at a red light and the air in the car went still. An
The choice hung in the air between us, raw and bleeding. I had shown her I could want her. I had also just shown her I wouldn't take. She stepped back. Not because I had. Before the air had fully settled between us. One step, clean, her own decision made before mine had finished landing. Her hands
Edward's POV The click of the door latch was the only warning. "You're going to rip it." Her voice. Low. No pity in it. I turned. She was there. Bag dropping from her shoulder, her hair a dark frame around a face I'd seen in my head for a week. She'd seen enough: the defeated angle of my should
I met her gaze, letting her see everything. “I would have wished it was,” I said, my own voice quiet. “You were his wife. You deserved everything. But it isn’t. Before Valentine, there was Voices Beyond Borders. There was other work. This came from me. From my accounts. It’s clean.” She searched my







