로그인Reed’s POV I balanced the bottle of vintage red wine in one hand and knocked on Sophia’s apartment door with the other. Honestly, l don’t know why l agreed to do this food tasting with her but l just couldn’t watch her struggle looking for a food taster to review her dishes. So l offered to help. A few seconds later, the lock clicked, and the door swung open. Sophia stood there in a cozy oversized sweater with her dark hair pulled back into a messy bun. She held her phone between her shoulder and ear, holding up one finger to tell me to wait a moment. "I'm so glad to hear he's doing better, Hazel," Sophia said into the phone, stepping back to let me inside. "Make sure you get some rest too, okay? Call me tomorrow after he gets home." She hung up, let out a soft breath, and set her phone down on the entry table. "How are they?" I asked, setting the w
Hazel’s POV"Grandma," I said, my voice shaking slightly as I stood on the cold stone steps outside ENH headquarters. "We have a massive problem at the office.""Take a deep breath, Hazel," Grandma Margaret’s voice came through the line, calm and steady as always. "Are you in a safe place to talk?""I'm in my car," I said, opening the door and slipping into the driver's seat. I pulled the door shut, cutting off the noise of the street traffic. "They just suspended me. The Internal Audit Committee brought me into the boardroom, showed me a modified bank slip tied to a five million dollar machinery contract I signed, and accused me of stealing three million dollars."There was a short silence on the other end of the line. I could hear the quiet click of her teacup setting down on a saucer."Did you sign the master approval, Hazel?" she asked quietly."Yes, for the real equipment lease!" I said, gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white. "But
Hazel’s POVI walked through the glass doors of E&H headquarters feeling lighter than I had in weeks. The morning air was crisp, and for the first time since Kai’s attack, I felt completely focused. I held my warm coffee cup in one hand, ready to head up to the executive suite and tackle the heavy machinery lease approvals for our upcoming site developments.Everything was moving according to plan. Damon and Melissa were trapped against the wall, and Moretti Group was hemorrhaging money by the day.But the moment the elevator doors slid open on the top floor, the atmosphere shifted.The usual busy hum of the executive floor was gone. Instead, an uncomfortable silence hung in the hallway. Two junior accountants standing near the printer stopped talking the second they saw me, quickly ducking their heads and hurrying off in the opposite direction.I frowned, setting my coffee cup on my desk as I reached my office.Before I could sit down, my desk phone buzzed, and Lisa walked in without
Hazel’s POVI woke up slowly, feeling a gentle warmth against my cheek. I was still curled up in the armchair beside Kai’s bed, my hand resting softly over his. When I looked up, I saw Kai staring down at me, a calm smile on his face. His fingers were gently twirling a strand of my hair."Morning, sleepyhead," Kai whispered, his voice quiet and raspy from sleep."Good morning," I murmured, stretching my neck and sitting up a little higher. "How are you feeling today? Are you in any pain?""I feel much better," he said, giving my hand a small squeeze. "Especially waking up with you right here."I smiled, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to his forehead. After everything we had been through over the past few weeks, sitting here with him in this quiet room felt like a blessing.Before I could say anything else, the heavy door to the VIP suite pushed open. Dr. Lorenzo walked in holding a metal clipboard, followed by a nurse carrying a fresh breakfast tray."Good morning, lovers," Dr
Melissa’s POVThe heavy oak door of Damon’s office clicked shut behind me, but the frantic sound of his pacing still echoed through the hall.I didn't stop to look back. I hurried up the grand staircase, my silk robe whispering against the marble steps, my heart hammering against my ribs. Damon was spiraling. He was making desperate phone calls to suppliers who laughed in his face, clinging to the pathetic hope that business negotiations could save us.He didn't get it. Hazel wasn't trying to do business—she was out for blood.Entering our private suite, I locked the door behind me, pulled my phone from my pocket, and dialed my mother’s private line. It barely rang twice before she picked up."Melissa?" Clara’s voice was sharp, immediate. "What’s wrong? It’s past ten at night.""We are running out of time, Mom," I whispered urgently, walking toward the balcony doors and staring out into the dark night. "Hazel has us trapped. She blocked every major supplier in the region under exclusi
Damon’s POVThe silence in my home office was heavy, broken only by the repeated, sharp clicks of my pen against the mahogany desk. Spread across the dark wood were supply sheets, delivery logs, and timeline charts.No matter how many times I recalculated, the result was the same. We were stuck."How is this possible?" I muttered to myself, shoving a hand through my hair.It wasn't like we didn't have any suppliers. I had spent the last two weeks signing contracts with smaller sub-suppliers and local vendors. But their delivery volumes were a joke. They brought in a fraction of the steel and concrete we needed. To meet the deadline for Grand Crest Towers, we needed the industry giants—the high-volume suppliers who could deliver tons of materials on a daily basis.And every single one of those major suppliers had suddenly backed out and put our orders on hold.I pulled up my contact list and dialed the head of Lombardi Machinery directly. I pressed the phone to my ear, listening to the
The emergency room was chaos.Doctors and nurses rushed past us in a blur of white coats and urgent voices. Melissa was already being taken deeper into the hospital, away from us, and Damon was following her, his hand on her shoulder, his expression a mixture of rage and desperation.I came through
I stood at the top of the stairs, completely frozen, unable to move, unable to process what had just happened."No," I whispered. "No, no, no. Melissa!"I hadn't pushed her.I hadn't meant for this to happen.It was an accident.But she was lying at the bottom of the stairs, not moving, and Miss Mia
Damon left early in the morning.He didn't tell me where he was going or when he would be back. He just kissed Melissa goodbye at the kitchen table while I was making breakfast, and then he was gone. Gone to handle the Moretti family business. Gone to do whatever it was that men like him did when th
I couldn't sleep.I lay in the guest bedroom for hours, staring at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the house. At some point around 2am, I gave up pretending and went downstairs to the living room. I curled up on one of the couches with a blanket, my mind racing with everything I had heard at







