Mag-log inAvery’s POVThe ballroom heavy doors closed behind us and the cold hit me immediately.The street outside was still alive, valet attendants moved around, headlights flashed across the pavement, cameras snapping somewhere farther down the entrance for people whose nights were still normal.I breathed in the sharp night air and felt my chest start to loosen a little.Then I looked at Wyatt. He was walking too fast."Wyatt."He kept moving, his hand firm against my back, steering me toward the car fast that I almost had to keep up with him."Wyatt, seriously."He stopped and turned toward me. And whatever I saw in his face made my stomach tightened instantly. "Are you okay?" he asked.The question hit a nerve immediately because I was the one standing here confused out of my mind.“Wyatt! Who the hell was that?” He rubbed a hand down his face before speaking. "Avery…""Do you know him?"He didn’t answer immediately, and somehow that tiny delay in his answer unsettled me more than if he
Avery's POV“Avery,” he said again, quieter this time.He said my real name carefully again, like he was afraid I would disappear if he said it too fast. His eyes searched my face over and over, desperately, trying to convince himself I was actually standing here.Then he took a small step toward me.“Where have you been?” His voice cracked. “I looked everywhere for you.”He dragged a hand across his face roughly before looking back at me again.“Jesus Christ,” he muttered under his breath, still staring at me, he couldn’t believe this was real.A cold feeling slowly spread through my chest.I frowned slightly. “I’m sorry… Do I know you?”He went completely still and stunned. The look on his face cracked something uneasy in me. He let out a rough breath, as if the words had knocked some air out of him. “What?”“I don’t think we’ve met, have we?” I tightened my grip around the champagne glass. He stared at me in complete disbelief before he shook his head.“Avery, stop.” His voic
Avery’s POVBy the first hour of the gala, I understood why people called rooms like this dangerous.Not because of the money, not because of the power.Because attention in rooms like this could change everything.I’d barely finished one conversation before another person approached me. A fashion editor wanted to talk about the bridal feature running next week. A luxury buyer from Chicago asked whether Monochrome planned to expand into evening wear. And somehow my dress had become part of almost every conversation.“Who designed it?”“How long did this take?”“Wait, you made this yourself?”I answered the questions with a smile, still trying to get used to hearing Monochrome spoken rooms like this.One woman asked for my card before our conversation even ended.Another quietly said, “You’re going to be impossible to book next year.”I laughed at that. My gaze shifted to Wyatt. He was quieter than he’d been in the car. I noticed it within minutes of us arriving. His hand at my wa
Wyatt’s POV“Babe.” I looked toward the stairs. “We’re going to be late.”Her voice echoed down from the bedroom. “Relax. Fashionably late exists for a reason.”I exhaled through my nose and looked at my phone. Then I heard her on the stairs and I turned.She appeared at the top of the stairs and every thought in my head disappeared immediately. I’d seen the dress hanging in the bathroom. I’d even seen her try it briefly yesterday but none of that came close to what I was seeing now. The gown hugged every curve of her body before falling smoothly against her legs with every step she took. The slit revealed enough of her thigh to make my jaw tightened immediately. Her makeup was soft, not overpowering her face. And her hair, damn it…It was pinned up loosely enough to expose the line of her neck and shoulders while soft strands framed her face perfectly. She looked elegant, expensive, completely way out of my league.And every man at that gala was about to look at her. The realiza
Avery’s POV"We have four same-day fitting requests," Elise announced the moment I walked through the door. No good morning.I set my bag down. "From?" “Manhattan socialites who saw the magazine preview last night and apparently all woke up this morning deciding they had nothing to wear to the gala.”I looked around the showroom, already calculating. “All four want something by tomorrow?”“All four want something by this afternoon.”I looked at her. “We do bridal, Elise. Not gala.”She gave me a look that said she was fully aware of that. “I told them twice.”“And?”“They don’t want to hear it.” She held up her tablet. “They just want a dress for tomorrow evening and they’ve decided Monochrome is making it.”I let out a deep breath. “Tell the first two we can accommodate with what we have and adjust. The other two go on the emergency alteration list with a rush fee.”“The rush fee…”“Double,” I said. “Non-negotiable.”Elise was already typing. “California confirmed three new retail
Wyatt’s POVI'd been awake since four.I lay still thinking about the gala, thinking through every possible way that night could go wrong.Nate in the same room with Avery was bad enough already. Avery shifted beside me. Her arm came across my chest. She murmured something that wasn’t quite a word and pulled herself closer without waking up. Her breathing evened out again within seconds.She had no idea. She was warm and happy and excited about an invitation she’d earned. And she had absolutely no idea.Fuck.She woke up in a good mood. She got ready faster than usual, talked more, and laughed at small things. I sat at the edge of the bed pulling on my watch when she came to stand between my legs, tablet in one hand, already running through the showroom schedule out loud.The conversation somehow moved to the gala.She’d been sketching the night before. Dress silhouettes in the margins of her work notes. She turned the tablet toward me and showed me one. It was very Monochrome. “W
Avery’s POVNina’s hands gripped the steering wheel, her knuckles almost turned white as she drove fast through the traffic towards the emergency clinic.I sat folded in the passenger seat with arms wrapped around my belly, trying to breathe through another wave of cramp pain that hadn’t stopped si
Avery’s POVThe whispers had started small.A friendly customer who wouldn’t make eye contact with me, a woman at the grocery store who pulled her child closer when I walked past, like me being close will contaminate him.I told myself it was nothing. But by the third day, I couldn’t deny it anymor
Avery’s POVI was still standing on Nina's apartment building stairs with heavy bags weight on my shoulders, staring at Jessica.“You’re Marcus’s girlfriend.”The words didn’t make sense in my head.Marcus… Wyatt’s head of security, the man who was always beside him in Seabrook, watching everything
Nate’s POVOne week in Paris was done, now we are in Italy, the second stop on this endless honeymoon.I sat on the hotel balcony with my laptop open to the same articles I’d read a dozen times already. Jason Shortman’s attempted murder case against Celeste, the police reports, hospital records an







