ANMELDEN◆◆◆ Chapter 4 ◆◆◆Competition day arrived cold and clear.The sky was a sharp, endless blue, the kind that makes every breath feel like it’s cutting through crystal. I stood at the top of the run, surrounded by other riders, some I’d competed against since I was twelve, some new faces, but feeling utterly alone. My board felt heavier than usual, my stomach a knot of nerves and memory. Then I looked down the course and saw him.Garrett, in full patrol gear, red jacket stark against the white, standing at the midway checkpoint where he had no business being. Our eyes met across the distance. He didn’t smile, didn’t wave, just nodded once, slow and certain.That nod was enough.I dropped in.First run was cautious — clean, safe, no heroics. I finished solid, middle of the pack, and the announcers called it a “smart ride.” Second run, I pushed. I went bigger off the kicker, added the rotation I’d been too scared to try since the crash, modified the double cork 1080 to make it mine instead
◆◆◆ Chapter 3 ◆◆◆We fell into a pattern.Days, I practiced on the bunny hill, slowly building confidence, one cautious run at a time, then two, then linking turns without my heart trying to climb out of my throat. Nights belonged to Garrett.He took me to different parts of the mountain after hours: the terrain park lit only by moonlight, the gladed runs where trees whispered secrets, the back bowls where the snow was untouched and the silence absolute. And everywhere we went, we fucked.In the patrol cabin with the radio crackling static. In the first aid shelter at mid-mountain, door barely locked. Once, memorably, in the men’s room of the summit lodge, him covering my mouth with his palm while tourists laughed and ate lunch on the other side of the thin wall.“This is insane,” I gasped one night, pressed against the gondola controls while he took me from behind, one hand braced on the panel, the other between my legs. The cabin swayed with every thrust. “We’re going to get caught.
◆◆◆ Chapter 2 ◆◆◆I spent the day distracted, replaying last night. The way Garrett had touched me, looked at me, made me feel completely seen for the first time in my life. Every time I closed my eyes I felt his hands on my hips, his mouth on my throat, the way he’d whispered my name like it was something sacred when I came apart on his couch. I barely ate, barely spoke to my coach when he called to check in. My body still ached in the best way due to bruised ribs from the crash, yes, but also the deeper soreness between my thighs, the faint marks on my neck I’d covered with a high collar.At 8:00 p.m. sharp, I met him at the base gondola.The mountain at night was otherworldly silent, pale blue under moonlight, snow glowing like it had its own light. Garrett was waiting in civilian clothes: dark parka, jeans, no uniform, no authority. Just a man who looked at me like I was the only thing that existed.“You came,” he said.“Did you doubt I would?”“Little bit.” He gave a small, crook
◆◆◆ Chapter 1 ◆◆◆I woke up in the snow with no memory of how I got there.Bright Colorado sky overhead. Concerned faces around me. Kneeling beside me, checking my pupils with a penlight, was the most striking man I’d ever seen: silver hair despite looking late thirties, sharp features, ice-blue eyes that missed nothing.“Can you tell me your name?” His voice was calm, professional.“Clara. Clara Bennett.”“Good. I’m Garrett, head of ski patrol. Can you move your fingers and toes?”Everything worked. Miraculously. My snowboard lay twenty feet upslope, snapped in half.“What happened?”“You attempted a double cork 1080 on the Olympic training run. Lost your edge on landing, went down hard.” His hands checked joints, ribs, clinical, yet his touch warmed my skin through layers. “Lucky. Nothing broken. Mild concussion likely. We’re taking you down.”The Olympic training run. Right. Because I was Clara Bennett, nineteen-year-old snowboarding prodigy, favored to medal in next month’s qualif
◆◆◆ Chapter 5 ◆◆◆Three months later, Voltage was thriving. Our compromise approach, my atmosphere with his innovation, created something neither could have achieved alone. The LED accents glowed subtly along the edges of the dance floor, never overpowering the warm, intimate lighting I’d fought for. Kristov’s weekend sets packed the place, but Marcus’s residency nights still drew the loyal crowd who came for the vibe, not just the name. Profits were up twenty-three percent. The staff stopped flinching when we walked into a room together.And us? We were thriving too.“Move in with me,” Damien said one morning, watching me make coffee in his kitchen wearing nothing but one of his crisp white shirts, sleeves rolled to my elbows.I paused, spoon halfway to the French press. “That’s a big step.”“We already spend every night together. You have a drawer here. Your shampoo’s in my shower. Your books are on my nightstand.” He leaned against the island, arms crossed, looking unfairly good in
◆◆◆ Chapter 4 ◆◆◆ Opening night with Kristov was electric. The club pulsed like a living thing — bodies grinding under strobing lights, bass rattling ribs, cash flashing at bottle service tables. Voltage had never felt more alive.And Damien had his hand on the small of a blonde’s back.I watched from the VIP section, ice clinking in my glass, rage simmering low in my belly. We weren’t exclusive. We weren’t even dating. This was supposed to be just sex as stress relief with sharp edges. So why did the sight of his fingers splayed possessively against her black dress make me want to shove her over the railing?“That’s Svetlana,” our manager murmured beside me, topping off my champagne. “Kristov’s agent. Damien’s been negotiating with her all night.”Negotiating. Right. That’s why his mouth was close enough to her ear that her hair brushed his lips, why she tilted her head back and laughed at whatever filthy promise he was whispering.I downed the drink in one long swallow and turned a
◆◆◆ Chapter 2 ◆◆◆The guard carried Melinda over his shoulder like a sack of prize meat, her bare breasts bouncing painfully against his back with every step. She kicked and screamed, but his arm clamped around her thighs like iron. Eventually they reached the underground garage, and he dumped her
◆◆◆ Chapter 4 ◆◆◆(Nora’s POV)Two months of letters and stolen afternoons and I’d stopped pretending this was temporary.Noah photographed me one afternoon, candid shots while I read in his studio, curled on the worn leather armchair with a volume of Adrienne Rich open on my lap. I was unaware unt
◆◆◆ Chapter 5 ◆◆◆ The announcement came at 9:00 a.m. sharp. Chloe and I sat on opposite sides of the conference room, surrounded by our respective teams, trying not to look at each other. The tension in the air was thick enough to choke on — twenty executives, two rival pitches, one contract wort
◆◆◆ Chapter 1 ◆◆◆The security footage was undeniable.There I was, Sloane Harper, junior data analyst at WillianTech Industries, using a cloned keycard to slip into the executive server room at 11:47 PM. Downloading seventeen classified files on proprietary AI learning models worth millions, to a







