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
Daniel's posture straightened beside me. I didn't need him to intervene. "Edward values control," I said. Soft. Precise. "There's a difference." Lucy's face drained of color. "You don't know him the way—" "The way you do?" I smiled. Small. Brittle. "No, Lucy. I suppose I don't." Let them hear
She wasn't gloating. Wasn't attacking. That made it worse. My hands went cold. I looked at the podium where Vivienne still stood. Then I walked. Not to my seat. To the podium. Slow. Two hundred people watched me. Vivienne stepped back when I got close. Her face pale. Eyes wide. I put both
The estate gates opened before I reached them. I drove through. The guard stepped back. I didn’t look at him. The driveway curved through the grounds. Trees lined the edges. Grass cut to precision. The fountain ran as always. Lights were on in the east wing. Vivienne’s wing. Seven-thirty. She was
Alicia's POV Daniel returned to his seat beside me. Edward's chair stayed empty. Three minutes became five. Five became ten. By the third minute, someone made a joke about the restroom line. Polite laughter rippled through nearby seats. By the tenth minute, conversations had restarted. The tabl







