LOGINBriggs POVHours had passed since we’d collapsed onto the bed, bodies slick and spent, the kind of exhaustion that comes only after you’ve poured everything into someone and they’ve taken it without asking for mercy. The penthouse was quiet now, Lumi lay curled against my side, her head tucked under my chin, one leg thrown over mine like she’d claimed the territory even in sleep. Her breathing was deep and even, the soft rise and fall of her chest brushing my skin with every inhale. The sheets were a tangled mess around us, carrying the sharp, intimate scent of sweat and the faint trace of her perfume that always lingered like a challenge.I didn’t sleep, couldn’t. My mind kept replaying the way she’d looked up at me on that desk—eyes wide, lips parted, body yielding completely while I drove into her like the world was ending. The way her walls had clenched around me, pulling me deeper, demanding more even as I gave her everything I had. It had been raw, punishing, the kind of fuck
LumiThe elevator ride up was pure torture. Briggs didn’t say a word, but his hand stayed pressed to the small of my back like an anchor, fingers splayed wide enough to claim every inch of skin through my dress. My legs were still trembling from the car, from the way his fingers had curled inside me while the city lights streaked past the windows. I could still taste the almost-kiss on my lips, still feel the ghost of his breath when he’d stopped just short of ruining me completely.The doors slid open directly into his penthouse. Floor-to-ceiling glass looked out over a glittering Manhattan that felt a million miles away. Briggs didn’t give me time to breathe.One second I was stepping out of the elevator on shaky heels, the next his hands were on me. He moved like a man who’d been holding back for too long. His palms gripped my waist, lifting me clean off the floor as if I weighed nothing. My back hit the nearest wall with a dull thud that knocked the air from my lungs. The impac
Lumi POVThe words are still hanging in the car when I realize I’ve said them out loud.I don’t know what made me say it. Maybe the way Briggs looked at me when I challenged him, like he could already see every weak spot I had and every one I was trying to hide. Maybe the way his voice dropped when he said good girls get punished, like he wasn’t threatening me so much as promising something I’d been too stubborn to ask for.Maybe I just wanted to see what he would do.The car felt smaller instantly, the leather seats creaking under my shifting weight as Briggs kept one hand on the wheel and stared straight ahead. Streetlights dragged gold across his sharp jawline, highlighting the faint scar that ran along his collarbone, the one he never talked about, the one that made him look like a man who'd survived worse things than me.My heart hammered against my ribs. I hadn't meant to say it. Or maybe I had. "Careful, Lumi," he says at last, voice low and rough, like gravel dragged over vel
Briggs’ POVThe words are still hanging between us when the music slams back in.She looks at me like she wants to argue, like she should. But she doesn’t.And the second she goes quiet, I made the decision for both of us. My hand closes around her wrist firmly, but not rough. But there’s no space for hesitation in it.“Come on.”“Briggs—”“Now.”I don’t raise my voice, I don’t need to. I turn and move, and she follows. Not willingly, but she doesn’t pull away either. That tells me everything I need to know.The club swallows us as we push through it, lights flashing, bodies pressing in, noise swallowing words that don’t matter anymore.Her fingers flex once in my grip, testing. I tighten just enough for her to feel it. A warning not to fight me. To stop pretending.By the time we hit the exit, the air changes, colder. She yanks her hand free the second we step outside.“What is wrong with you?” she snaps.I didn't answer, so I opened the passenger door.“Get in.”She laughs, not qu
Lumi POVMusic vibrates through my head the second we stepped inside. “I think this is a bad idea!” I yell over the noise.Brianna doesn’t even turn back. She just grabs my wrist and pulls me deeper into the club like she owns the place.“Relax!” she shouts. “You think too much!”I stumble slightly in the heels she got for me, catching myself as lights flash across the room—purple, blue, red—faces blending into shadows and movement.“I don’t even club like this!” I protest.“That’s exactly why you need it!” she throws back, finally turning to look at me.Her grin is wild, and somehow contagious. Before I can argue again, she shoves a drink into my hand.“Drink,” she says.“I just got here—”“Drink.”I sigh, then I drink. And immediately regret how easy that went down.Brianna watches me like she just proved a point.“See?” she says. “You’re alive.”“I was alive before,” I mutter.“Barely.”I roll my eyes, but I didn’t leave. Because the truth is i needed something. Something that did
Briggs’ POVDara doesn’t answer immediately. She studies me first, like she’s deciding whether I’m asking as Briggs, or something else.Then she leans back, slow, relaxed.“Mhmm,” she hums. “I do.”I don’t react, I wait for her to talk. She likes to be watched when she talks.“It’s an old company,” she continues. “Been running long before you disappeared.”“Doing what?”“Logistics. Quiet contracts. Import, distribution… the kind that doesn’t scream money but always has it.”Stable…clean on the surface.“Who runs it?” I ask.She smiles. “That’s the interesting part.”Of course it is.“They keep it layered,” she adds. “Ownership shifts, signatures rotate… you don’t really know who’s behind it unless you’re looking very closely.”My fingers tap once against the glass.“You’re recommending it?”“I’m saying,” she tilts her head slightly, “it’s worth your attention.”A beat.“And I don’t say that often.”No, she doesn’t. I nod once.“I’ll look into it.”Her gaze lingers.“Don’t take too lon
Briggs’ POVDon’t get me wrong. I never knew I parked that long in front of them. If I had, I would’ve moved. I’m not that careless. I don’t do unnecessary inconvenience. At least, not without reason.When I first noticed them, I assumed they were waiting for someone. Two women standing by a car,
Lumi’s POV“We should drop by the nearest pharmacy and get a pregnancy test strip,” Clover says from behind me, her voice echoing through the silence that had settled between us after that last conversation.I keep my eyes on the road.“Yeah… we should,” I replied.The words feel heavier than they
Lumi’s POV I didn’t remember getting into the car. One second I was walking out of that house, the next, I was seated, door slammed, breathing too fast. “Lumi.” Clover’s voice. I blinked, my hands were shaking. Still, I pressed them against my thighs, trying to steady them. It didn’t work. “Hey
Lumi’s POVA few minutes later, we finally got to Clover’s apartment. The moment we step inside, the world outside feels… quieter. But not enough to silence my thoughts.“I’m going to shower first,” Clover says, already kicking off her shoes and heading toward her room.“Go ahead,” I reply.She dis







