MasukRoman’s POVI stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows of my study in the West Wing, a crystal tumbler of scotch sitting untouched on the mahogany desk behind me. Rain poured down the heavy glass, distorting the bright yellow security floodlights that illuminated the courtyard below.Down on the East Wing driveway, a sleek black sedan pulled to a stop.The rear door opened. Damien stepped out first. He looked infuriatingly whole—wearing a fresh navy coat, his hair combed back to perfection, his chin tilted high. There wasn't a single trace of the steel handcuffs that had locked around his wrists two weeks ago.Then he turned, reaching back into the car to offer his hand.Amelia took it. She stepped out onto the wet cobblestones, wearing a long beige wool coat that draped softly over her six-month bump. She didn't look broken anymore. Her face was locked into an unshakeable, stone-cold mask of composure."Look at them," Ethan muttered from the leather armchair across the room, his laptop
Nina’s POV"Nillie! Nillie, slow down, please!" Marcus yelled, his sneakers squeaking on the wet pavement as he ran after me down the street.I stopped near the curb, my phone still pressed tight to my ear, my chest heaving with fast, shallow breaths."Roman, are you listening to me?!" I cried into the receiver, tears stinging my eyes. "Damien is going to be furious! He’s cleared of all those charges now, and he’s coming straight for you!""Let him come, Nillie," Roman rasped through the speaker, his deep voice deadly quiet. I heard the faint rustle of papers and the click of his office door closing. "He bought off his assistant to stay out of a cell, but he hasn't won anything. The board locked the interim chairmanship to my name yesterday. He can't undo that with a press conference.""He doesn't care about rules, Roman!" I pleaded, wiping a hot tear off my cheek with the back of my coat sleeve. "You put him in handcuffs on live TV! He’s going to try to strip Apex from you, or—"Befo
Nina’s POVThe rain hit my apartment window in long, heavy sheets, matching the dull, hollow ache in my chest.For three days, my living room had been completely silent. My box of belongings from Blake HQ sat untouched in the corner near the kitchen counter—my silver desk nameplate, my notepad, and my favorite coffee mug looking like relics from a past life. Victoria’s security team had delivered it right on schedule, exactly as promised.I sat on the edge of my small sofa with my legs pulled up to my chest, a cold mug of chamomile tea held between my hands. The television screen mounted on the wall flickered with bright lights and moving banners.BREAKING NEWS: BLAKE GROUP EMERGENCY BOARD DECISION.The broadcast cut live to the grand press room at Apex headquarters. The room was packed shoulder-to-shoulder with journalists, camera crews, and flashbulbs going off like a blinding storm. Victoria Blake stood at the center podium, her posture straight as an arrow, wearing a sharp navy su
Nina’s POVThe heavy entrance door of the East Wing slammed shut with a sharp, echoing BANG that vibrated straight through the high ceiling.Amelia was gone.My legs completely gave out beneath me. I collapsed onto the cold marble floor of the foyer, my knees hitting the polished stone as a broken, ragged sob tore out of my throat. Tears blurred my vision into a mess of smeared light and shadow. The room spun around me. Everything we had fought for—every secret we kept, every sacrifice Roman made to stop Damien—had just cost me the only sister I had ever known."Nillie," Roman rasped softly.In less than a second, he was down on his knees right beside me. He didn't care about the sharp glass scattered across the rug. He didn't care about his custom charcoal suit coat getting dirty on the dusty floor.His broad, strong arms wrapped tightly around my shaking shoulders, pulling me flush against his warm chest. He drew me in until my forehead was buried right in the crook of his neck, his
Nina’s POVThe television screen flickered, instantly cutting away from the chaotic scene at Blake HQ to a wall of loud, blaring commercials.My hands were shaking so hard I couldn't even drop the TV remote onto the coffee table. It slipped through my numb fingers and clattered onto the hardwood floor.Damien was gone. He had been led out of the grand auditorium in steel handcuffs, dragged away by federal agents in front of fifty national news cameras and millions of live viewers across the country.Roman had won. The corporate war was over, the chairman seat was locked, and the man who had tried to blackmail us was finally going to pay for his crimes.So why did it feel like my entire world was collapsing into ash?Amelia.The word echoed inside my head like a terrifying alarm. Amelia had gone back to the blake estate with him yesterday. She was in that house, pregnant, carrying his baby, while her husband’s face was being splashed across every headline in America as a disgraced crim
Nina’s POVThe heavy mahogany doors closed behind Damien and Amelia, cutting off the suffocating silence in the executive lounge.I stood frozen by the glass table, watching my sister walk out arm-in-arm with her husband. She hadn't given me a single hopeful word. She hadn't looked back once. Her face had hardened into an unreadable mask—caught completely in the crossfire between her love for me, her unborn child, and the husband who had lied to her face for months."He's furious, Nillie," Roman rasped softly, his big, warm hand resting on the small of my back. "Damien knows you just stripped away the last layer of control he had over Amelia.""She went with him anyway, Roman," I whispered, tears blurring my vision as I looked at the empty doorway. "They're married. She's carrying his child. She left with him.""Because she has to figure out her own survival," Roman said, his dark eyes fixed on the hall with lethal intensity. "Tomorrow morning is the press conference. Damien thinks he







