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 stepped closer. "You introduced me to Alicia. You knew about her family. Which means you knew what my father did." Philip's expression hardened. "I'm protecting you." "From what?" "From making a mistake you can't undo." The words sat heavy between us. "Talk to Alicia," Philip said. "Not me.
"No. I was just... sitting." “Good. I need to ask you something—and I want you to hear me out before you say no.” I frowned. "Okay." "I want you to come to dinner tonight." A weight settled on my chest. "Dinner?" "At the Valentine Family estate. Seven o'clock." I stood. "Margaret, I—" "Bef
Marie crossed the foyer. Opened the door. Alicia stepped inside. Emerald green dress. Hair pulled back. Flawless. My chest seized. She didn't pause. Didn't scan the room. Just walked in like she'd been expected all along. The room shifted. Conversations faltered mid-sentence. Heads turned.
Alicia's POV The law office was on the fourteenth floor. Glass walls. Thick carpets. Everything arranged to make you think lives didn’t crumble here. Elena sat beside me in the waiting room. Her leg bounced. "You sure about this?" I nodded. "I'm sure." A woman appeared at the end of the hall:







