FLORENCE’S POV“That’s impossible,” I said. I hoped Daniel couldn’t see how shaken I was. It was absurd. Why would Serena sabotage her future family’s empire?“Impossible?” Daniel echoed with a sarcastic twist in his voice. “Why?”“Because it makes no sense,” I replied firmly. “What interest would Serena have in exposing the Whitehills’ failures? She’s about to marry into their fortune, their name—why ruin that?”Daniel leaned back comfortably in the chair, his eyes dancing with amusement, clearly enjoying my confusion.“Oh, Florence…” he drawled slowly, savoring every word. “You’re overthinking it. Sometimes, love is love!”I laughed out loud, incredulous. “Love? Are you seriously trying to convince me Serena Montclair is in love with Jason?”“You know about their affair, don’t you?” Daniel asked casually, as if we were discussing the weather.I shook my head. “Please. Jason is just a young boy with a crush, and Serena enjoys playing power games. That’s not love.”He cocked his head
FLORENCE’S POVI stared at the screen in front of me, watching the cursor blink relentlessly. I had been sitting here for over two hours, and yet, not a single email had left my inbox. Not one reply typed. Every word seemed to slip through my fingers, evaporating into nothingness before it could form a coherent sentence.The office buzzed gently around me—the comforting hum of the air conditioning, the distant murmur of conversations, the occasional laughter floating down the hallways. But it all felt muffled. Distant. Irrelevant. I couldn’t latch onto any of it, and my thoughts refused to cooperate.Every time I tried to focus, my mind drifted right back to my father, the haunted look in his eyes as he told me the truth, his frail voice echoing in my memory. Melissa Whitehill, the woman I’d once dismissed as just another superficial, status-driven socialite, had single-handedly orchestrated my family’s ruin. And yet, even knowing the truth, nothing felt resolved. It only left
MASON’S POVDaniel strode through the front doors as though he owned them. His shoulders were pulled back, chin raised just high enough to show us all he’d never once looked up at another person in his life. The four men flanking him—huge, stone-faced, silent—moved in perfect sync, and suddenly our spacious foyer felt crowded. Suffocating.My father’s face turned pale—ghost-white, as if he’d just been punched in the gut. Beside him, my mother collapsed onto the couch like her knees had given way.“Dad?” Clarke muttered, the question hanging in the air like smoke.The silence was deafening. My father’s chest rose and fell rapidly. I watched his hands curl into fists, knuckles white as he clenched and unclenched them repeatedly.“Daniel,” he finally said, voice tight. “You don’t belong here.”Daniel’s smile didn’t waver. He didn’t even blink.“Funny, Howard,” Daniel replied, intentionally using my father’s first name with the sharpness of a blade. “I don’t recall you being particularl
MASON’S POV“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?”The words ripped me out of sleep so violently, I thought I was dreaming at first. Or falling. Or choking.I blinked hard. Sunlight poured in through the balcony curtains, sharp and golden, far too cheerful for the tone booming through the house.I turned to my side.Empty.The pillow beside mine was untouched. The sheets were cool.And the suitcases Jade tucked into the back corner of the closet?Gone.I sat up too fast. The inside of my skull throbbed with last night’s whiskey. My shirt was half-buttoned, my mouth dry. But the cold pit in my stomach didn’t come from the hangover.It came from knowing exactly what had happened. I had left Jade by the pool last night. I was knocked out the second my head hit the pillow. She must have come in later, packed her things, and bolted in the dead of night. I couldn’t blame her. The yelling got louder.I dragged myself out of bed, my feet hitting the cool wooden floor. My heart pounded harder with ev
MASON’S POVI wasn’t in the mood for anything when I got home—not for conversation, not for food, and definitely not for fake smiles. Work had been hell. Half the team at Rising Row didn’t show up to the concept review, and the supplier in Milan decided to “pause” our collaboration due to unnamed financial irregularities.The second I walked into the house, I knew something was off. There was this… tension in the air. Not the usual, passive-aggressive family tension. This was sharper. Like glass waiting to be stepped on.I loosened my tie, tossed my keys into the tray, and stepped toward the hallway.That’s when I saw her.Jade.Sitting in the backyard, facing the pool. A glass of red wine in hand.I froze.Then stormed forward. “What the hell are you doing?”She didn’t even flinch. Just swirled the wine lazily, like it was juice.“You’ve lost your mind,” I snapped, snatching the glass away. “You’re drinking? Are you insane? You’re pregnant!”She looked at me over the rim of the glas
FLORENCE’S POVMelissa Whitehill.Of all the names my father could’ve spoken, hers was the very last I expected to hear. Melissa was someone I'd known for years, yet never felt I understood. To me, she'd always seemed like a woman floating just on the edges—glass of wine in one hand, pill bottle hidden somewhere discreet, eyes glazed with quiet indifference. I’d watched her drift from party to party, chasing status with the kind of careless hunger that made me uneasy. Even her presence around her sons seemed distant, detached—like they were accessories she wore but never truly wanted.Not a good person, but technically, harmless. Or so I’d thought.Harmless was the last word I’d use now.My father’s words echoed in my mind as the taxi pulled out of the hospital driveway. Rain tapped softly against the car window, blurring the streetlights into hazy circles of gold and white.“It was Melissa, Florence. It’s always been Melissa.”He had spoken quietly, exhausted by the truth. I reme