ログインAvery’s POV“You’ve checked your phone six times in the last ten minutes,” Elise said without looking up from her tablet.“I’m waiting for a supplier update,” I muttered, reaching for my phone again.Elise slowly lifted her eyes. “Arielle.”I looked down at my hand wrapped around the phone and sighed. “Okay, maybe I’m not waiting for a supplier update.”“That’s the most honest thing you’ve said all morning.”I dropped the phone back onto the table with a little more force than necessary and pretended to focus on the fabric spread in front of me.Wyatt had been gone for four days.Not ‘working late’, not ‘left before I woke up.’He was gone!And in a way that bothered me because even when we were fighting, he was still… there.He was still sending flowers to the showroom, still making sure the driver waited downstairs when I worked too late, still sending lunch through the driver even when we barely looked at each other at home.He never stopped taking care of me. Elise studied me qu
Wyatt’s POVSeven days of sleep in separate rooms, seven days of pretending the apartment wasn’t split straight down the middle.The apartment no longer felt like home and she hadn’t even left. Every night I heard the guest room door close. Every morning the coffee maker started before sunrise, cabinet doors opened and closed softly, and by the time I made it out of the bedroom she was already halfway out of my reach again.I could have handled her leaving. I didn’t know how to handle her staying and feeling this far away.I’d started waking up earlier to catch her before she left. It hadn’t worked once. By the time I made it to the kitchen she was already gone, out the door. My driver mentioned that she was at the showroom by seven most mornings and also worked late. Outside this apartment she still smiled at people, still worked, still carried on like her entire world hadn’t tilted sideways overnight.But in here? In here I could feel her pulling away from me everyday. She came
Avery’s POVThe door closed behind us and the silence that had been building in the car filled the apartment immediately.Wyatt dropped his jacket on the couch and loosened his tie roughly before turning away from me. He wasn’t confused, that was what kept bothering me.From the ballroom to the car ride home, Wyatt had looked tense, worried, and guarded but not surprised about the whole situation. I set my bag down. “I want you to tell me what the hell is going on.”He turned toward me, and took one step toward me. “Baby…”"No." I shook my head before he could continue. “Don’t do that soft voice thing right now. Just tell me what’s going on.”I wasn’t yelling. I didn’t want to yell. I wanted answers and yelling wouldn’t get me there.“Who was he?” I asked quietly when he still didn’t answer. “The man in the ballroom. He knew my real name.”My chest tightened.“He looked at me like he knew me.”"Who were those people outside? The woman. She said they'd been looking for me for years
Avery’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
Avery’s POVOn the third day I kicked Wyatt out, the beach house was already suffocating me because of its silence. I kept on checking the door, glancing at my phone expecting his name to light up the screen. No calls and no texts. He actually listened.I told myself this was what I wanted, space
Wyatt’s POVI didn’t sleep.I sat in my hotel room with my laptop open with running searches, making calls to contacts who specialized in things most people didn’t want to know about. Marcus also worked through all the night tracking vehicles, running plates and checking hotel registries within a
Avery’s POVI sat at the edge of the bed, staring at the wall for hours. Broken glass still littered the room floor. I didn’t have the energy to clean it.I heard voices through the thin walls. It was Marcus first, low and urgent. Then another voice cut through, louder and desperate.Wyatt...My ch
Avery’s POVI woke to an empty house.The couch where Wyatt had been sitting last night was empty. I found a note on the table in the kitchen.“Had to handle something urgent. Back by afternoon. - W”I stared at the note, the feeling, that familiar feeling of being left behind, story of my life...







