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CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Date de publication:
2026-04-03 02:36:11
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HIS SECRET ADDICTION CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
Damien's POVSophie sent the draft statement Monday morning.Short, factual, unambiguous. Damien Cross, CEO of Cross Industries, and his husband Alex Carter have been married for one year. The company continues to perform at record levels. No further comment.I read it three times."It's good," Marcus said over the phone. "Clean. Doesn't invite questions.""It invites every question.""It answers the only one that matters. You're married, it's not new, the company is fine." He paused. "Richard can't manufacture scandal around something you've already named publicly.""He'll find another angle.""He always does. But this removes his best one." Marcus was quiet for a second. "How's Alex?""Steady. Steadier than me.""He usually is."I didn't argue with that.Alex had spent Sunday evening reviewing every Cross Industries consulting contract his firm had touched, building a clean paper trail so thorough that Sophie had called him directly to say she wished she'd hired him years ago. He'd
HIS SECRET ADDICTION CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
Alex's POVThe gala was ten days away when Richard Sterling called me directly.Not Damien. Me.I was between client meetings when my phone showed an unknown number and something made me answer it. His voice was exactly what I expected. Measured, patrician, the kind of tone that assumed compliance before the sentence finished."Alex Carter. I think it's time we had a conversation.""About what?""About your position at Cross Industries. And your current situation.""I don't work at Cross Industries anymore.""No. But you're married to the man who runs it." A pause designed to feel generous. "I have nothing against you personally. I want you to understand that.""What do you want, Richard?""A quiet word. Coffee. Twenty minutes." Another pause. "I think you'll want to hear what I have to say before the gala."I said I'd think about it. Hung up. Sat in my car for a full minute.Then I called Damien.He picked up on the second ring."Richard called me," I said.Silence. Then: "When.""Ju
HIS SECRET ADDICTION CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
Damien's POVAlex had been quiet all week.Not the bad kind of quiet. The kind where he was turning something over in his mind, working through it methodically, and would tell me when he was ready. I'd learned the difference. Took me longer than it should have.I watched him across the breakfast table Thursday morning. Reading something on his phone, coffee going cold because he always forgot about it when he was thinking. Small thing. I noticed it every time."You're staring," he said without looking up."I know."He looked up then. Almost smiled. "What?""Nothing. Just looking."He held my gaze for a second longer than necessary, then went back to his phone. But the corner of his mouth stayed lifted.That was enough.The gala was three weeks away.I'd agreed to Alex's plan. Not because I'd stopped being afraid of the exposure, but because he was right and I knew it. Richard was going to manufacture a crisis either way. Better to remove the ammunition before he loaded it.Marcus appr
HIS SECRET ADDICTION CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
Alex's POVI’d stopped checking our bank account every morning out of anxiety. Casey had just landed her third independent contract. I was starting to think I'd actually done something right.Damien noticed before I did."You're not stress-eating anymore," he said one evening, watching me cook."What?""For the first two years of your business, you ate cereal at eleven p.m. when you were anxious. You haven't done it in weeks."I hadn't noticed. He had.That was the thing about him. He catalogued me without making me feel observed. Filed away my habits and patterns and pulled them out at exactly the right moment, not to use against me but to show me I was changing. Growing. That he was paying attention in the way that mattered."You're right," I said. "I think I actually trust it now. The business.""You built something solid. You should trust it."Simple. No grand speech. Just certainty, like it had never been in question.I turned back to the stove and thought, not for the first time
HIS SECRET ADDICTION CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
Damien's POVThe rebranding campaign launched on a Thursday.Alex had been building toward it for weeks, quietly, alongside everything else. While the legal situation unraveled and the board postured and the press ran their cycles, he'd kept his team moving. The new brand identity for Ross Industries went live across all platforms at nine in the morning with a precision that made me understand, not for the first time, exactly why I'd hired him.By noon the coverage was positive. By three the social response had outpaced projections by forty percent.I watched it from my office and felt something uncomplicated, which was rare enough to notice.Alex appeared in my doorway at four, jacket off, looking like someone who'd just finished a long run."It worked," he said."It worked.""Jordan's team handled the rollout without a single problem. I'm going to have to tell him that directly and it's going to be insufferable.""He'll recover."Alex dropped into the chair across from my desk. "Sop
HIS SECRET ADDICTION CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
Alex's POVChen called on a Tuesday, ten days after the exhumation, while I was in the middle of a campaign review.I stepped out and took it in the hallway."Preliminary toxicology confirms it," she said. "The same compound found in Eleanor Ross. Your mother was poisoned, Alex. We have enough to add two counts of first degree murder to Maya's charges."I stood there with my back against the wall and said nothing for a moment."Alex.""I'm here. Thank you for calling.""The DA will be in touch about testimony. Nothing immediate, but start preparing yourself." She paused. "I'm sorry. For what it's worth, she'll spend the rest of her life in prison.""I know."I hung up and stood in the hallway for another minute. People walked past. Someone from accounting said good morning. I said it back automatically.Then I texted Damien. *Chen called. Confirmed. Both counts.*His response came in under a minute. *Come to my office.*I went back into the campaign review, wrapped it in twenty minute
HIS SECRET ADDICTION CHAPTER TWELVE
Damien's PovThe police station smelled like bad coffee and bleach. Alex sat beside me, his knee bouncing nervously as Detective Chen spread photos across the table."These are Eleanor Ross's medical records from her final week," she said. "Her potassium levels spiked forty-eight hours before her d
Dernière mise à jour : 2026-03-19HIS SECRET ADDICTION CHAPTER ELEVEN
Alex's PovEleanor died at 3:47 AM with Damien holding her hand and me standing uselessly in the corner.I shouldn't have been there. But when I'd tried to leave, Damien had grabbed my wrist without looking away from his grandmother."Stay," was all he said.Afterward, Damien sat perfectly still, n
Dernière mise à jour : 2026-03-18HIS SECRET ADDICTION CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Alex's POVChris Morrison called on a Thursday.I hadn't thought about him in months. We'd dated for eight months two years ago, ended badly when he took a job at a competitor firm and decided his career mattered more than we did. I didn't blame him for that anymore. But I also hadn't missed him."
Dernière mise à jour : 2026-03-21HIS SECRET ADDICTION CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Alex's POVThe first consulting project went better than expected.Three weeks in and the client loved everything I'd presented. They extended the contract and referred me to two other companies. By the end of the month I had more work than I could handle alone.Damien watched me stress about it ov
Dernière mise à jour : 2026-04-05
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