ANTHONY’S POVThe next morning, I didn’t rush.I woke up before the alarm, left my phone face down, and took my time getting ready. For once, I didn’t jump straight into my inbox. I wasn’t in the mood to watch the silence.Mark was already downstairs when I made it to the sitting room. He had a mug of black coffee in one hand and a digital map pulled up on his laptop, marked with a dozen pins.“You’re up early,” I said.“So are you,” he replied, eyes still on the screen.I sat down across from him.“What is that?”“Checkpoints.” He turned the laptop toward me. “Foot traffic. Staff access. Service entrances. Public-facing routes. I’ve placed six spotters around Harvest Bloom for the next few days. If Miss Montgomery is anywhere near that building, we’ll have eyes.”I nodded, quietly impressed by the precision. “You’re not expecting to see her walk out, are you?”“I’m not expecting anything,” he said. “But I’ve learned to prepare for everything.”I didn’t disagree.He shut the laptop ge
OSTARA’S POVDonna was asleep. Finally.She’d curled into herself, one arm thrown over her deer plush, legs tucked high under the blanket. Her hair was a mess, and her cheeks were still slightly pink from the panic of earlier. I sat at the edge of her bed for a while, just watching her sleep. Her breathing was soft. Steady. Nothing like it had been an hour ago.I closed my eyes for a second, just to gather myself. Everything about today had spun me sideways.When I stood up, I closed her door quietly behind me and walked out into the hallway. The air felt too still. I needed to step outside, ground myself.The terrace doors were open just a crack. I pushed them wider and walked out barefoot onto the stone tiles. The wind was cool, steady. The sky was already turning dark.Elijah was sitting on the outdoor couch, legs crossed, his laptop on his knees, eyes narrowed at something. Ethan was curled up in the armchair across from him, one knee up, a thick book resting on it.They both loo
OSTARA’S POVBethany burst through the door without knocking.I didn’t even look up at first—I assumed it was Davina or Elijah, someone bringing samples or updates. But then I saw Donna clutched in her arms, her cheeks red, her curls slightly mussed, and I stood up so fast my chair scraped the floor.“Beth?”She was breathing hard. Her arms tightened around Donna like she thought someone might rip her away. Her eyes found mine, and I saw it. Panic. The kind that doesn’t show up unless something’s gone very wrong.“He was here,” she said.My heart dropped.“Who?”Bethany stepped forward. “Anthony. He came to the building.”I crossed the room in three strides. “What do you mean, he was here?”“I mean he walked right up to the front entrance. He saw Donna in the lobby. And she—” her voice caught, “she opened the door.”I looked at Donna, still pressed against Bethany’s chest. Her face was unreadable.“I didn’t know it was wrong,” Donna said quietly.Bethany set her down gently, but staye
ANTHONY’S POVShe arrived unannounced.The knock at the door was chipper, casual, like it was someone I was already expecting. Mark opened it. I heard the pause, the familiar register of her voice. By the time I walked out of the back room, she was already inside, already sitting on the arm of one of the chairs like she owned the damn place.“Natalie,” I said flatly.She smiled like we were old friends. “Anthony! London suits you.”I didn’t answer. I just looked at Mark.He shrugged lightly, a silent apology. “She wouldn’t leave.”Of course, she wouldn’t.She crossed one leg over the other, laptop under one arm, her whole posture suggesting confidence she hadn’t earned.“I came to help,” she said brightly.“With what?”“Harvest Bloom. Zenith. You’re clearly stuck. You approached it the right way, now it’s time to twist some arms!” “We’re not twisting arms,” I said firmly. “Well, if it comes to that…” “It’s not coming to anything, Nat, I don’t want you working on Zenith, it’s my pr
ANTHONY’S POVI refreshed my inbox for the thirtieth time that day.Nothing.The same silence I’d been staring at for weeks now. No new mail, no bounce backs. Just nothing. The kind of nothing that didn’t feel accidental.Ostara had said they’d be ready to enter the American market after a year. I remembered her exact phrasing. “We’ll be ready to look outward in a year.” That was the timeline she gave me—if not directly, then through the carefully chosen words in that handwritten letter she sent.So I gave her the time.A full year.In that time, I restructured Zenith from the ground up. I scrapped the old pitch, rebuilt it with strategy and intention. I even turned down meetings with other gourmet brands. Out of respect. Out of principle. Zenith would have one first client. Harvest Bloom.That was the plan.And now, they weren’t even opening our emails.I stared at the screen, blinking. The cursor hovered over the refreshed tab.Still nothing.It was past nine. I had an early meeting
OSTARA’S POVThe office wasn’t loud anymore. That used to bother me, back when we were still climbing—when silence meant hesitation, or worse, failure. But these days, it was different. Quiet didn’t mean fragile. It meant rhythm. Like everything knew what it was doing.Even the light through the windows felt... lived in. My desk, for once, was clean instead of being a war of sticky notes, moodboards, and markers. Just a single espresso cup. One folded napkin that used to have a chocolate croissant. I sat down, exhaled, and opened my laptop. My inbox loaded, slow for a beat, then settled.And there it was.From: Zenith ImportsSubject: Following Up – As AgreedTwelve months. Right on the dot.I remembered telling them we would expand after a year, and this wasn’t a refusal, just a minor delay. Well… now it was a refusal. Zenith, I knew now, wasn’t some elegant, upstart import company. It was Anthony, hiding behind one of his dozen puppet ventures. A man incapable of taking “no” as