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
I watched Edward's hand rest against the edge of the table. His knuckles pressed down. His presentation folder sat open in front of him. The one with the Singapore projections. He'd come in prepared. Confident. Ready to walk this board through a plan he'd built piece by piece. And now he was standi
Edward's POV The silence was unbearable. Edmund's pen hovered. David Park stared at the table. Priya's arms crossed. Vincent looked at his hands. Everyone waited. Alicia's hand stayed flat on the table. Fingers spread. Unmoving. I watched her face. Nothing. No tells. No hints. Just that same
The silence extended. Longer. No one defended her. No one spoke. Mitchell leaned back in his chair, someone who'd heard enough. Catherine's attention had already moved elsewhere. Edmund wouldn't even look in Margaret's direction. It was over. Whatever Margaret had tried to claim, whatever po
Edward's POV Your name is on the door. Mine is in the foundation. My chest tightened at the thought. Her words from the bar still sat in my throat like broken glass. Richardson was talking beside me. Singapore expansion. Quarterly projections. His mouth moved through numbers that should have mat







