LOGINSilas’s POV I stared at the cracked hospital ceiling for what felt like the hundredth fucking time that day, the sterile smell of antiseptic burning my nostrils. The doctors thought I was still playing the amnesia card, but my head was clearer than it had been in weeks. Stage four glioblastoma. Three months, maybe four if I was lucky. The bullets had just sped up the clock. Funny how dying makes everything crystal fucking clear.Vivian Moreau was the real snake in the grass. I'd pieced it together from the whispers Marcus let slip during his visits and the burner phone I'd kept hidden under my mattress. Julian's empire was crumbling because of her, and Serena? That overly pampered bitch was dancing right in the middle of it. If I was going out, I wasn't doing it quietly. Not while Lauren was still tangled up in this mess.I grabbed the disposable phone from the drawer, the one with the private line that cost me a favor from an old contact outside the Cross network. My fingers hovered
Julian’s POV I was losing my fucking mind, and I didn't know why.Every time I walked into a room in this goddamn penthouse, my eyes did the same thing. They scanned the corners, the hallways, the kitchen counter–looking for her. Not Serena. It was never Serena. My wife was usually exactly where she belonged, draped in some expensive designer clothes, smiling that perfect, rehearsed smile that suddenly made my skin crawl.No, I was looking for the twin. Lauren."Julian? Are you listening to me?"Serena’s high and smooth voice cut through my thoughts. She was sitting across from me at the long dining table, poking at a salad."Yeah," I lied, keeping my eyes on my tablet. "You were talking about the charity gala next week.""The Aurelia Trust event," she corrected, her tone carrying that slight edge of annoyance she always hid behind a pout. "It’s important we show a united front, especially after everything that happened with the security breach. People are talking.""Let them talk, I
Julian’s POVThe study was lit up with the amber glow of the desk lamp, a sharp contrast to the icy coldness radiating from the man sitting behind it. I watched her–my wife. She stood near the floor-to-ceiling windows, her silhouette looking perfect against the Seattle skyline."Serena," I said, my voice barely a whisper in the silence.She turned. Her eyes held mine with a terrifying, steady calm. "Yes, Julian?""I’ve been thinking," I said, leaning back, making the leather chair creaking under me. "My memory of the weeks before you returned is… fragmented. A black hole, if you will call it that. But I have a habit of noticing when a puzzle piece doesn't fit the picture."She didn't flinch. She just tilted her head, a gesture so practiced it almost annoyed me. "You’ve been through a trauma, Julian. The doctors said–""Fuck the doctors," I cut her off in a flat tone that was devoid of the heat that usually fueled my temper. I was actually fascinated. She was playing the role of my wif
Julian’s POV My patience was a fucking running thin, and it was running out a hell of a lot faster than Serena expected.Ever since she came back, she’d been acting like the woman I remembered marrying, the one who treated our relationship like a cold, legally binding contract. She was prepared for that version of me. She was prepared for the distant, predictable husband who didn't give a shit what she did as long as she didn't embarrass my name.But she wasn't prepared for the man I was now.I couldn't explain it, and it was driving me fucking insane. It felt like though my brain had been wiped clean of the last several months, but my body hadn't received the memo. My instincts rebelled against her. Every time she reached out to touch my shoulder, every time she flashed that perfectly practiced smile, my skin crawled. It felt fake. A cheap goddamn performance, and every single nerve in my body was screaming at me to push her away.I didn't want performed warmth. For some reason, my
Lauren’s POV The phone buzzed in the back pocket of my jeans while I was hiding out in the lower-level laundry room, pretending to sort through a stack of towels I had absolutely no business touching.I pulled it out, my fingers trembling slightly. It wasn't the burner phone Vivian had compromised. It was the one Marcus had slipped into my hand three days ago, a lifeline meant only for emergencies that Julian didn't know about. I swiped the screen, pressing the receiver to my ear. "Yeah?""Lauren, this is St. Jude's Hospital," a woman’s voice whispered. "The patient in room 412. He’s awake, and he’s asking for you. Specifically. He used your actual name, not the insurance alias."My breath caught in my throat, "Silas?""Yes. He refused his midday sedation and told me to place this call. He said you’d know what it meant.""I'm on my way," I said, my voice barely a raspy breath. "Don’t tell anyone else. Especially not Julian Cross. If anyone asks, you haven't seen or spoken to me.""U
Lauren’s POV It started on Tuesday.Julian didn’t say a fucking word about it, of course. He just started appearing out of nowhere. He didn't announce his presence, and he damn sure didn't acknowledge the fact that he was doing it on purpose. The first time happened right outside the security office. I was standing by the filing cabinets, stuffing a stack of recent incident reports into the metal drawers. My hands were stiff, my mind fried from trying to act like a low-level security analyst while carrying his goddamn baby inside me.I closed the drawer, turned around, and there he was.Julian was leaning against the concrete wall of the corridor, his hands shoved into his suit pockets. His dark eyes were fixed right on me, they were sharp and unblinking. He didn't say anything. He just watched the way I moved, his jaw set in that tight, aggressive line I knew all too well."Mr. Cross," I said, forcing my voice to stay level, keeping the fake professional distance Marcus had warned
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINELAUREN’S POVThe gun attack went for another twenty minutes while I covered unconscious Julian. I pressed my body over his, shielding the wound in his chest as bullets punched through what was left of the glass and buried themselves in the walls behind us. His blood soaked my su
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHTLAUREN’S POVThe Melbourne sun painted the skyline gold as our private jet touched down. Julian hadn’t let go of me since we left Seattle. His hand stayed at the small of my back through customs, his thumb stroking slow circles like he couldn’t stop touching what was his. It fe
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVENLAUREN’S POVThe bathroom door barely clicked shut before Julian’s mouth was on mine again, slower this time, deeper, like he wanted to taste every second of what we’d just done on the desk. Rainwater and blood still clung to his skin, copper and salt mixing with the faint whis
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIXLAUREN’S POVThe moment we got back to the penthouse, I turned on him.I waited until he disappeared into his study like he had not just kissed me in a dark office like a man trying to send a message through my skin.I pushed the study door open without knocking.Julian was in hi







