ログインAndrea had been doing fine all morning.She had cleaned up the breakfast things after Henry left, made herself another cup of tea, and spent a couple of hours on her laptop going through the restaurant supplier emails. The penthouse was quiet without Miss Carrie moving around in the background and she had gotten used to the silence after a while. It was actually nice, having the place to herself, no interruptions, no reason to pretend she wasn't thinking about everything she was thinking about.She was coming down the stairs just after noon when it happened.She missed the last step.One second she was moving around the house and the next her foot landed wrong against the stairs. Her ankle folded completely underneath her and she went down hard, landing at the bottom of the staircase with her hip taking most of the pain and her ankle twisted beneath her.She sat there for a moment not moving, waiting for her brain to catch up with what had just happened.Then she felt the pain.It cam
Marcus stepped back into the living room behind Mindy and cleared his throat."Okay so," he started, gesturing between them. "Mindy, this is Serena. My younger sister. Serena, this is Mindy. My girlfriend."Serena stared at him, then she looked at Henry, then back at Marcus."I'm sorry." She sat up slowly. "Your what?""My girlfriend," Marcus said, with the particular calm of a man who knew exactly what was coming."Wait, you have a girlfriend and Henry has a girlfriend too." Serena pointed across the couch at him. "Andrea.""You already knew that," Henry said."I know but I was still processing it individually." She looked between the two of them, shaking her head. "Marcus Barnes and Henry Moore. The two of you. In relationships. Actual committed relationships with actual women who have agreed to be with you on purpose.""Why do you say it like that," Marcus growled."Because I went to school with both of you." Serena turned to Mindy with a completely straight face. "Do you know what
Marcus stood in the doorway, not moving with his eyes blown wide and mouth falling apart."Marcus," Serena called.He still didn't move."Marcus, your mouth is open."He closed it. Then he opened it again. "What the h…" He looked at Henry. "Did you know about this?"Henry held both hands up. "Don't look at me."Marcus looked back at his sister standing in his hallway like she hadn't been gone for five good years and something in his face broke open completely. He stepped forward and grabbed her, wrapping both arms around her and lifting her clean off the ground."Marcus!" She was laughing and hitting his shoulder at the same time. "Put me down, you're going to break my ribs.""You've been gone for five years," he said into her hair, not putting her down. "Five years, Serena.""I know how long I've been gone.""Five years and you just showed up at my door on a randomTuesday morning without telling me?""Okay, okay. Put me down first and then we can talk about it."He put her down but k
Henry got to the car and Serena was already there leaning against the passenger side with her sunglasses on and a coffee cup in her hand, looking like she hadn't just flown in from another country the night before."You took forever," she said."I said twenty minutes.""You said at least twenty minutes. There's a difference." She pulled the door open and got in.Henry shook his head and got in on his side. He pulled out of the building into the morning traffic and Serena immediately kicked her shoes off and tucked her feet under her on the seat the way she had been doing since they were teenagers and it had driven his mother absolutely crazy."Some things never change," he said, glancing at her feet.She looked down at them. "Your car, your rules. But your rules are wrong." She took a sip of her coffee. "Do you remember when your mom caught me doing this in her car and she made me sit outside on the curb for twenty minutes?"Henry laughed out loud. "She was so serious about that car."
By the time Henry came upstairs Andrea had been in bed for a while. She heard the door open, felt the mattress dip and his arm came around her waist, warm and without any fuss but she didn't say anything and neither did he. Within minutes he was asleep.But she lay there a little longer before sleep finally took her too.The apartment was quiet the next morning in a way it usually wasn't. No sounds from the kitchen, no smell of coffee already brewing, no Miss Carrie moving around humming to herself like she did when she thought nobody could hear her. Andrea remembered as she came downstairs that Miss Carrie had mentioned it the evening before, her son was in the hospital and she needed to go be with him. But she had left everything organized and the fridge stocked before she went.Andrea tied her hair up, found an apron, and got to work.She was at the stove turning eggs when she heard Henry's footsteps on the stairs. He came into the kitchen still in his pajama pants and a plain whit
Andrea sat on the couch with her hands folded in her lap, watching them."Okay so picture this," Serena said, sitting sideways on the armchair with her legs dangling over the side like she owned the place. "Forty slides. Forty. I spent three weeks on that presentation. Three weeks, Henry. And I get up there in front of the whole board and my clicker stops working on slide two."Henry burst out laughing. "No.""Yes. I'm standing there clicking this thing like an idiot and nothing is happening and everyone is just staring at me and my co-lead, bless his heart, is pretending to check his phone so he doesn't have to make eye contact with me.""What did you do?""What could I do? I talked through the whole thing from memory. Forty slides. No visuals. Just me and my mouth and the grace of God."Henry shook his head, still laughing. "Only you. That could only happen to you.""And they still approved the project," Serena said, holding up a finger. "So who's the real winner here?""You're insa
Henry stood frozen in the shared living area, phone still pressed to his ear. Marcus’s voice was calm on the other end, but the words landed like stones. Apparently, Lindsay had been talking. She was telling anyone who would listen that Andrea had seduced Henry and that was the only reason she had
Andrea woke before the alarm, suitcase already by the door. She dressed in a dark brown skirt and cream blouse: buttons done high, sleeves cuffed and armor in place. Mindy’s voice echoed again “Just have fun. No overthinking.” The SUV for their departure waited outside. Henry was already in the b
It was the day for the gala, Andrea stared at herself in the mirror and barely recognized the woman looking back.Mrs Carrie had worked magic. Her hair was styled in loose, elegant waves that cascaded over one shoulder, a few delicate strands framing her face. Her makeup was flawless but natural so
Her first official day as Henry Moore's personal assistant started at exactly 8:00 AM the next day.She arrived ten minutes early, coffee in hand and her game face on. Lindsay's desk was hers now, it was right outside Henry's office, quite pristine but empty except for a computer, phone, and a sing







