LOGINANTHONY’S POVThe shop didn’t look like a shop.From the outside, it was just an old stone building tucked on a side street off Bond Street. No flashy signs or window displays… just a brass plaque.Inside, it was quiet and warm. Wood panels, soft light, a faint smell of polish and something floral. Not a mall, not a showroom—more like the living room of someone very, very rich. A woman in a dark dress approached me with a professional smile. “Mr. Möller?”“Yes.”“Welcome. We have a selection prepared for you. Right this way.”She led me into a smaller room with a round table and two chairs. That was it. On the table were just three velvet trays laid out like this was a tasting menu.“These are based on the criteria your assistant sent across,” she said. “Minimalist design. Strong lines. Nothing too flashy.”Mark had done well.When she left, I sat down and opened the first tray.Three rings.My heart was beating harder than it had in any board meeting.The last time I’d done this, I
OSTARA’S POVHe shifted his weight, eyes flicking away from mine. “I just… have something I can’t move.”Anthony always had “something.” A call, a crisis, a meeting in three time zones at once. But he’d just stepped down from Zenith and Möller and signed a Harvest Bloom contract. Noon tomorrow was supposed to be his official first meeting in my world.And now there was suddenly a mysterious “something” he couldn’t move?I studied his face. He wasn’t cold or distant. If anything, he looked… nervous? “You know,” I said lightly, “most new hires wait at least a week before they start dodging meetings.”He huffed out a laugh, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I swear I’m not dodging.”“What is it then?” I asked. “Can you move it?”His jaw tightened just a fraction. “I just need the morning,” he said. “Please, Ossie. I’ll be there for anything after lunch. Every day. I’ll make up for it.”The “please” did it.Old Anthony would have avoided answering, would have shut me out. This version of
ANTHONY’S POVI adjusted the laptop so my face was framed properly. Behind me, the Christmas tree still blinked faintly in the corner, refusing to accept that the holiday was over.“Alright,” came Mrs. Kaplan’s crisp voice as more little rectangles blinked into life on-screen. “We have Anthony, we have Mark. Is everyone here?”Faces appeared one by one—board members in their respective offices, some at polished desks, some clearly at home.“Thank you all for joining,” I began, slipping easily into the tone I’d used a thousand times. “I’ll keep this brief. We’ve had a strong year despite… unexpected turbulence.”A few people gave tight, knowing smiles at that.“I’ll send a full written review later this week,” I said. “But I do want to share one major change. Effective by the end of next month, I will be stepping down as CEO of both Möller Industries and Zenith.”Silence.For once, not even Mrs. Kaplan spoke. A couple of the newer board members glanced at each other onscreen like they
OSTARA’S POVThe holiday season finished in a blur of food, family, and an insane number of fairy lights. Eventually, reality called.It came in the form of emails, voicemails, and one particularly long message from Davina that began with: “I have IDEAS” and ended with three PDFs.By the first working Monday of January, I was back in the Harvest Bloom conference room with Elijah at the head of the table, Ethan half-slumped in a chair, and Davina with her laptop open and a notebook full of scribbles.“So,” Davina said, tapping the screen. “Festive flavours for this year. I was thinking we lean into comforting and nostalgic more than experimental. Last year’s smoked chili cinnamon did well but it scared some people.”“It scared me,” Ethan said.“You ate a whole bar,” she shot back.“Because I was trying to figure it out,” he said. “I couldn’t tell if I was eating chocolate or signing my soul over to the devil.”Elijah snorted. I bit back a laugh.Davina glared at Ethan. “You are either
ANTHONY’S POVI’d always thought “quiet work mode” happened in a glass tower, in a suit, with assistants hovering outside my office. Turned out it could also happen in an old London townhouse, in a faded sweater, with a gingerbread house on the table.I sat there with my laptop and a mug of coffee. Everyone else was out. Me and the quiet.I clicked into the video meeting.Mark’s face appeared, framed by the glass walls of the Zenith conference room in New York.“Morning, sir,” he said.“Evening, actually. Time zones.”He smiled. “Right. Evening. How’s London?”I glanced at the window; drizzle streaked the glass, and Christmas lights blurred in the distance. “Damp. British. Perfect.”“Sounds ideal.”We spent fifteen minutes on the usual: year-end numbers, projections, clients, rollouts.“Do we have enough people to train the staff on the new machines?” I asked.“Yes,” he said. “They’re coming from Japan; we’ve arranged everything.”“Good.”Silence hummed.He’d taken his tie off, sleeve
ANTHONY’S POVChristmas morning in London felt different.New York Christmases were all glass and steel and noise—a city trying to out-sparkle itself. But London was softer. Grey skies, damp air, breath in little clouds. The townhouse woke up slowly.Donna was the first one to stir, of course. She tiptoed into our room at some ungodly hour, climbed right between us, and went back to sleep with her cold feet pressed into my ribs.By the time the sun dragged itself up properly, the whole house was alive.Pans clanged in the kitchen. Someone put on a Christmas playlist. Elijah cursed softly in the hall after stepping on a rogue ornament. The smell of coffee and cinnamon drifted under the bedroom door.I lay there for a moment, watching Ostara.She was still half-asleep, lashes resting on her cheeks, hair a dark mess against the pillow. Donna had rolled onto her, one arm flung across her chest like a very small, very determined bodyguard.My phone buzzed on the nightstand.I reached for
OSTARA’S POVSunday evening rolled in quiet and gold, the lake reflecting streaks of light that looked like they were being drawn out by hand. The villa smelled like rosemary and baked bread. Donna had been playing in the sun most of the afternoon and was now inside, doing her best to choose which
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
OSTARA’S POVThe beautiful villa in Lake Como had become my prison.I could walk from one end to the other in under a minute now without looking at anything—no lingering on the terracotta tiles, no glance at the lake through the French doors, no pause at the windows when the sunlight painted the wa
ANTHONY’S POVLondon was restless that morning, but not in the way I needed it to be.The city outside my apartment windows moved like clockwork—cars slipping through the narrow streets, pale sunlight bleeding through the clouds—but nothing inside these walls felt orderly.Sabrina sat across from m







