LOGIN[POV: Yessica] [Location: Edinburgh — Rose's Bedroom / Home]Lewis knocked twice more before the door opened.Rose stood in the gap, still in her school uniform, her eyes red but dry now. She'd stopped crying and rebuilt enough of the wall to face him. That was very Rose — never let anyone see the full thing."I'm fine," she said."You skipped class this afternoon," Lewis said. "Your school called."Something moved across her face. Not quite guilt. More like the look of someone who had calculated wrong."I just needed some air.""With a bag packed."The wall went up the rest of the way. She turned back into the room and sat on the edge of her bed, putting distance between them in the only way available to her.Lewis came in. Sat in the desk chair across from her. Didn't close the gap.Yessica stood in the doorway. She didn't go in — this one needed Lewis, not both of them at once. But she stayed close enough to hear."Where did you go?" Lewis asked."Just walked around.""For two hou
[POV: Lewis] [Location: Edinburgh — Sterling Industries, Boardroom / Home]The boardroom was full by nine.Twelve chairs, twelve faces, the particular energy of people who knew something was about to happen but weren't certain what form it would take. Lewis had arrived early, which he rarely did. He was already seated when the others filed in.Marcus sat across from him. Their eyes met briefly. Marcus looked tired.Lewis waited until everyone was settled."Before we move to agenda items," he said, "I want to table an item that isn't on the document you received. It concerns a conflict of interest relating to the Whitmore acquisition proposal."The room shifted.Martin Bale, the chair, looked up from his papers. "This wasn't submitted for review.""It came to my attention on Tuesday. I've spent two days having it verified by legal counsel." Lewis set three bound folders on the table. "Eleanor Hayes's firm. I think most of you know her work."He waited while the folders were passed aro
[POV: Lewis] [Location: Edinburgh]He read the message twice.Tell Claire not to go to Stanford. Or I will.Lewis put the phone face-down on the table, excused himself with a word to Yessica — a look that said emergency, not catastrophe, stay here — and went back out to the corridor.He called Eleanor before the door closed behind him.She answered on the first ring. "I see it. He copied me.""He threatened my daughter.""He's trying to rattle you before Thursday. He doesn't have enough yet to file, which is why he's pushing personally instead of legally." Eleanor's voice was steady. She'd been doing this a long time. "If he contacts Claire directly, that changes our position significantly. Right now it's just a message to you.""What does he actually have?""A claim that you and Sienna had a professional relationship that damaged her reputation and that you used Sterling Industries resources to fund a suppression campaign after her stalking was exposed. It's thin. It relies on Sienn
[POV: Lewis] [Location: Edinburgh — Post-Graduation Restaurant]The restaurant was loud with celebration.Three long tables pushed together, the family spread across them — Ethan and Grace at the far end conducting some kind of competition involving bread rolls, Moira and Theron sharing a bottle of wine, Regina and David across from Yessica, Claire at the center of it all still wearing her graduation gown because Grace had asked her not to take it off yet.Lewis sat at the table and watched his daughter laugh and thought: not yet. Not this table. Not this hour.Eleanor's message was still on his phone.James Morton Junior knew everything. The acquisition plan, his father's litigation strategy, the leverage play against Sterling Industries. He'd known for at least three months.And in two weeks, Claire was supposed to leave for Stanford with James by her side.Lewis ate what was put in front of him. He answered when spoken to. He smiled when Claire looked at him, which she did often,
[POV: Yessica] [Location: Edinburgh — St. Andrews College Auditorium]The auditorium held four hundred people and felt like every single one of them was holding their breath.Yessica sat in the second row with Rose on her left, Grace on her right, and Ethan one seat over beside Lewis. The seats were padded and formal, the kind designed for occasions that required good posture. Rose had lasted approximately eleven minutes before she started drawing on the back of the program.On stage, the principal was finishing his remarks.Yessica glanced at Lewis. He was watching the stage, his expression controlled and present in the way he'd been all morning — the careful steadiness of someone carrying something heavy and refusing to let it show. She'd watched him choose this, minute by minute, since the call with Eleanor.She was proud of him for it.The principal said Claire's name.The auditorium applauded as Claire walked to the podium. Cap, gown, gold cords. Eighteen years old. She adjusted
[POV: Lewis] [Location: Edinburgh]He hadn't slept.Sienna's voice had been the same. Calm, controlled, carrying the particular precision of someone who had spent years planning a conversation and was finally ready to have it.She'd said: "I'm back in Edinburgh, Lewis. I have something you need to hear before Thursday's board meeting. Meet me, or find out the hard way."Then she'd ended the call.That was eleven hours ago.He stood at the kitchen counter now, watching the clock on the cooker. Six forty-three in the morning. In four hours, Claire would walk across a stage as valedictorian and deliver a speech she'd spent three months writing. His daughter, eighteen years old, Stanford-bound, the best thing he'd ever had a hand in building.He was not going to let Sienna take that day from him.Yessica came downstairs in her dressing gown, saw his face, and went straight for the coffee."She called again?" Yessica asked."She didn't need to. She said enough.""What does she want?""She
POV: Yessica | Location: New YorkThe Harrington dinner was three days after the anniversary.Lewis mentioned it Tuesday morning with the same tone he used to mention board meetings — logistical, assumed, her attendance implied without being requested."Eight o'clock. Le Bernardin. David Harrington
POV: Yessica | Location: New YorkShe should have gone back to sleep.She knew that. She was lying in the dark in the guest room with her hand on her stomach and her phone face-down and the silver box on the nightstand, and the rational thing — the self-preserving thing — was to put the pillow over
POV: Yessica | Location: New YorkSeven days.Seven days since the test, and she still hadn't told him.She'd planned it a hundred different ways. The right moment, the right words, the right version of Lewis sitting across from her long enough to actually hear it. But the right moment kept not arri
POV: Yessica | Location: New York"Conference call in twenty."Lewis didn't look up from his phone.Yessica set his plate down. Eggs perfect, bacon crispy, coffee at exactly the temperature he liked. Three years of mornings and he still hadn't learned to say thank you like he meant it."I made your







