Jayden’s POVThe night pressed in heavy, though the city below my penthouse glowed as if nothing in the world had gone wrong. But everything had.I stood at the floor-to-ceiling window, hands shoved into my pockets, jaw clenched tight. My reflection stared back at me, darker than the skyline. Mila was distant tonight. She had been quieter, distracted, her eyes darting away when I asked if something was wrong. I recognized the silence. It wasn’t fatigue. It was a secret.And secrets around me never stayed harmless.I turned away, grabbing my phone from the table. My security chief had been feeding me updates all evening. Logan’s movements, his new accounts, the shadow meetings. He was moving fast, reckless, too confident. Confidence meant leverage, and leverage meant someone was handing him strings to pull.I scrolled through the reports. Transfers from offshore accounts into shell companies. A sudden spike in entertainment gossip sites that had been running the same narrative painting
Jayden’s POVThe night pressed in heavy, though the city below my penthouse glowed as if nothing in the world had gone wrong. But everything had.I stood at the floor-to-ceiling window, hands shoved into my pockets, jaw clenched tight. My reflection stared back at me, darker than the skyline. Mila was distant tonight. She had been quieter, distracted, her eyes darting away when I asked if something was wrong. I recognized the silence. It wasn’t fatigue. It was a secret.And secrets around me never stayed harmless.I turned away, grabbing my phone from the table. My security chief had been feeding me updates all evening. Logan’s movements, his new accounts, the shadow meetings. He was moving fast, reckless, too confident. Confidence meant leverage, and leverage meant someone was handing him strings to pull.I scrolled through the reports. Transfers from offshore accounts into shell companies. A sudden spike in entertainment gossip sites that had been running the same narrative painting
Mila’s POVThe house was quiet when I woke, but not peaceful. Quiet in a way that pressed against my ears, like silence before a storm. I reached for the other side of the bed and found it empty. Cold. Jayden hadn’t slept much beside me these last few nights.I sat up slowly, pulling the blanket around my shoulders. The digital clock on the nightstand read 5:43 a.m. Too early, yet my chest felt tight, restless, as if I’d overslept hours of truth.Jayden had been careful. Too careful. Smiling at the right moments, keeping his voice calm, his hand steady when he touched mine. But beneath that control, something was coiled. Something he wasn’t saying.I padded barefoot into the living room. The faint hum of voices made me freeze. His office door was ajar, golden light spilling into the hallway. I leaned closer.“No, don’t delay the transfer,” Jayden’s voice was sharp, low, threaded with steel. “If Logan thinks he has leverage, it’s because someone’s feeding him. I want the name tonight.
Jayden’s POVI replayed the video again, my jaw tight enough to crack. Mila’s brother’s voice rang out with a cruel clarity, every syllable a nail driven into her already fragile standing.“Replacing her would be good for business.”It was one line. Just one. But stripped of context, it was a loaded weapon. Logan wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.I leaned back in my chair, forcing my grip to loosen before I shattered the phone. Rage was dangerous. Rage made mistakes. And mistakes were exactly what Logan wanted.The storm outside the office window mirrored my thoughts. Lightning flashed, throwing sharp shadows across the walls. I thought of Mila, alone in her apartment, holding that phone with trembling hands. I wanted to shield her from every blow, but every new twist made me realize how little control I had. Protection meant nothing when the battlefield stretched wider than my reach.I reached for the landline on my desk, voice hard as steel when my head of security answered. “I
Mila’s POVThe message on my phone felt like a hand closing around my throat. Four words. Short. Precise.“You think he’s protecting you. He’s the reason you were replaced.”I stared until the screen blurred. My breath came shallow. My heart thudded so hard I could feel it in my throat. For a moment, the apartment fell away. No sound, no shape, only those words searing through me like fire.I should have thrown the phone away. I should have called Jayden immediately and demanded answers. Instead, I sank to the floor, forehead pressed to the cool wood, and let the silence press against me.Who would say such a thing? Who would want to break me when the press had already stripped me bare?Logan. Of course Logan. He loved a slow unravel. He built chaos into stories that looked like truths. But this wasn’t just a journalist’s game. The message had weight. It hinted at knowledge from inside that only someone close could wield.My hands shook as I pulled open the hidden drawer where Jayden’
Mila’s POVThe photo on Jayden’s phone made my stomach drop. My jacket, my pace, the neon lights behind me every detail was from less than an hour ago. Whoever took it had been close, maybe even walking behind me.My fingers trembled as I shoved the phone back toward him. “He’s following me, Jayden. He knows where I am.”Jayden’s jaw tightened, his entire posture rigid. He reached across the table, steadying my shaking hands. “Listen to me. He wants to scare you. That’s all this is.”“No.” My voice cracked. “This isn’t scare tactics. This is proof. He’s showing you he can get to me whenever he wants.”The café suddenly felt too small, every pair of eyes on me. I could hear faint whispers at another table and couldn’t tell if they were talking about me or not. My chest tightened until I could hardly breathe.Jayden must have noticed, because he quickly paid the bill and guided me outside. His hand was firm at the small of my back, steady and grounding. But even with him so close, I cou