LOGINCHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND THREE Jade's POV The next morning, the bedroom was flooded with bright, golden sunlight.I woke up to the faint, distant sound of muffled voices echoing from the eastern wing of the house. Beside me, the sheets were cold. Killian was already gone. I sat up, pulling the silk duvet to my chest, a lingering emotional hangover weighing heavily behind my eyes.After the raw, desperate vulnerability of his apology last night, I expected to feel lighter. I expected the air to be clear. But as I slipped out of bed and pulled on a soft cashmere robe, a strange, persistent unease tightly coiled itself around my stomach. I needed to get ready for work. I had a team waiting for me, and a roadmap to execute.I left the master suite, my bare feet making no sound on the heavy hardwood corridors as I walked down the hall toward the grand staircase. But as I neared the entrance to Killian’s private home office, the muffled voices grew distinct.The heavy mahogany door was un
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWO: Jade’S POVThe tires of my SUV crunched violently over the gravel of a roadside park I had never noticed before, somewhere on the jagged edges of the city overlooking the grey, churning expanse of the Atlantic. I killed the engine. The sudden silence that rushed into the cabin was deafening, heavy with the phantom echo of my own screams and the frantic, suffocating beat of my heart.I didn't get out of the car. I just gripped the leather steering wheel until my fingers throbbed, staring out through the windshield as the afternoon light began to decay into a bruised, melancholy purple.My mind was a hall of shattered mirrors. Every piece of glass reflected a version of the last three months that I no longer recognized. I thought about the proud tilt of Killian’s chin when I told him about the Logan account. I thought about the way he had packed my laptop bag, the way he had touched my blazer, the way he had sat in those interviews like a dark, protective d
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ONE: Killian’S POVThe glass doors of her office suite were still vibrating from the force of her exit.I stood in the center of the room, my chest heaving, a violent, foreign heat roaring through my veins. The air felt thin, stripped of her scent, stripped of her warmth. She had walked out. She had looked at me with tears in her eyes, tears I had caused, but tears that had been born of a stubborn, foolish pride and she had turned her back on me.Nobody turned their back on me. Nobody walked out on a Montclair.A sudden, savage impulse flared in my gut. I wanted to take the slate desk, the sleek monitors, the neatly stacked folders of her precious roadmap, and slam them into the floor until the glass walls shattered. I wanted to destroy the space if she wasn't going to be in it. My fingers curled into fists so tight the bones clicked, my jaw aching from the pressure of my teeth grinding together.I hated when she was angry with me. It felt like a physical sick
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED: Jade’S POVThe silence in my office was no longer the peaceful, creative vacuum I had spent months trying to build. It was heavy. It was suffocating, thick with the phantom scent of expensive cologne and the crushing weight of a revelation that had just hollowed out my chest. I sat frozen in my executive chair, my fingers digging so hard into the fabric of the armrests that my knuckles turned a stark, bloodless white.On the slate surface of my desk lay the Logan contract. Ten minutes ago, it was the crown jewel of my career. Now, it looked like a gilded cage, signed with my own hand.The heavy glass doors pushed open with a quiet, smooth whoosh."I managed to cut the London briefing short," Killian’s voice preceded him, low, confident, and entirely untroubled by the storm brewing in my chest. He stepped into the room carrying a sleek, insulated bag from one of the exclusive bistros downtown. "I missed you, Jade. Three hours in a room full of data analysts is ent
CHAPTER NINETY-NINE: Jade’S POVBy the time the clock struck one, the air in my office felt like pure oxygen. I was intoxicated. Every time my eyes flicked to the Logan contract resting on the slate surface of my desk, a fresh wave of heat bloomed in my chest. For the first time in my life, I didn't feel like a Moretti failure, and I didn't feel like a Montclair accessory. I felt like me.The heavy glass doors pushed open, and Killian strolled in. He didn't knock, he never did but for once, I didn't mind the intrusion. He was carrying a bag that smelled of spicy basil and peanut satay, a small, triumphant smirk playing on his lips."Thai?" I asked, leaning back in my chair and let out a breathless laugh. "You remembered.""I remember everything, Jade," he said, his voice dropping into that low, resonant register that always made my pulse skip. He began unpacking the food on the lounge table with practiced, elegant ease. "And a win of this magnitude requires a proper celebration."We
CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT: Jade’S POVMonday morning arrived with a sharpened edge, cutting through the lingering haze of the weekend. The past forty-eight hours had been a fever dream of soft linens, the heavy scent of Killian’s skin, and a deliberate, delicious kind of distraction. Camille had taken Aurelia for one more night, promising to bring her home Monday evening, which meant the house was unnervingly quiet, a silence that only amplified the static of my nerves.I was pacing the length of the walk-in closet, my mind a frantic Rolodex of slides, data points, and counter-arguments. My heart was already performing a frantic, uneven staccato against my ribs, a reminder that no matter how much I grew, the ghost of the "Moretti failure" still lived in the hollows of my chest."Jade," Killian’s voice drifted from the bedroom, low, gravelly with sleep, and utterly composed. "Stop pacing. You’re going to wear a path in the marble."I stepped out, my hair still in a silk wrap, clutching a h
Chapter Forty Jade’s POVThe courthouse didn’t feel like a building.It felt like a battlefield.Cold marble floors. High ceilings. Echoes of footsteps that sounded too loud no matter how carefully you walked. Everything about it carried weight. Authority, judgment and today, it felt like all of
Chapter twenty nine Killians povThe room was silent now.Too silent.The call had ended minutes ago, but the tension it brought with it hadn’t left.It lingered.In the air.In my chest.On the way I hadn’t moved from where I stood.I rarely lost control of situations.It wasn’t just discipline.
Chapter eighteen Killian ’s POVI have never liked chaos.In my world, things function best when they follow a plan.Contracts are negotiated.Deals are structured.Problems are solved efficiently.Which is why the past week has been deeply….. inconvenient.My phone vibrated on the desk just as I
Chapter nineThe contract sat lightly on my hands. I had already read most of it.The terms were exactly what Killian had described earlier. A three-year marriage, public appearances when necessary, no romantic obligations, and a financial settlement that would secure my independence once everythin







