LOGINCODE RED{Playlist Suggestion: "Monster" by Starset / "Let Me Down Slowly" by Alec Benjamin}~KOLT POV~I wasn't even supposed to be looking at the security feeds because I had spent the last two days trying to convince myself that I could actually operate like a normal human being and keep my distance from her. But my eyes automatically flicked to the monitor for the main floor just out of habit, and the second I registered who was standing by the bar, the blood in my veins literally turned to ice.Reed Mitchell.Antonio was giving him a walkthrough because my father was still trying to appease the Mitchell family for some upcoming real estate merger, but that wasn't what made my heart completely stop beating in my chest.It was the girl standing ten feet away from him, squeezing a plastic bag like a shield, her face draining of color so fast she looked like a ghost on the grainy black-and-white camera feed.Chelsea wasn't supposed to be here during the day, she was supposed to be s
THE TRIGGER{Playlist Suggestion: "Saturn" by Sleeping At Last / "bury a friend" by Billie Eilish}CHELSEA POVI walked into The Mirage through the back service entrance on Thursday afternoon, the metal door shutting behind me with a loud, echoing clank that made me jump, because I had finally made the absolute, non-negotiable decision to quit.The club smelled completely different during the day....just a depressing mixture of industrial bleach, stale beer, and cold air conditioning....and I kept my head down as I walked straight to the employee locker room, terrified that Kolt might actually be in the building even though Antonio had sent out a memo saying the executive offices were closed until the evening.I just couldn't do it anymore.I couldn't keep pretending that I was okay, I couldn't keep looking at Kade's sweet, trusting face while the memory of my bare back pressed against his brother's desk burned through my mind on a continuous, shameful loop. I was toxic, I was ruini
THE CONFRONTATION{Playlist Suggestion: "Blood // Water" by grandson / "The Night We Met" by Lord Huron}~KADE POV~I shouldn't have been driving, and I definitely shouldn't have been putting my full weight on my reconstructed knee as I dragged myself out of the Uber in front of The Mirage.But I literally could not sit in Knox's empty townhouse for one more single second while my brain replayed the image of Chelsea crying in the hallway with her clothes torn to pieces.The club was closed to the public since it was barely three in the afternoon, the neon signs switched off and the glass doors locked.But I still had my Kingston access card in my wallet, and I swiped it against the scanner with a shaking hand until the light flashed green and the door clicked open.The main floor smelled like musty alcohol, cleaning products, and bad decisions, completely stripped of all its glamorous nighttime magic.And I didn't stop to talk to the daytime cleaning crew who stared at me as I swung m
THE LIE AND THE GUILT{Playlist Suggestion: "Traitor" by Olivia Rodrigo / "Favorite Crime" by Taylor Swift}~CHELSEA POV~If the floor had simply opened up and swallowed me whole right there in the hallway, I would have thanked God, because staring at Kade leaning on his crutches with his eyes completely shattered was a fate worse than actually dying."Chelsea," he whispered again, his voice trembling so badly it sounded like it was breaking in half. "What were you doing in there?"My brain was screaming, a chaotic, white-hot panic short-circuiting every single nerve ending in my body as I looked down at my ripped pantyhose and my hastily buttoned shirt, knowing exactly what it looked like and knowing that I was quite literally seconds away from destroying the sweetest boy I had ever met.I had to lie.I couldn't tell him the truth, I couldn't tell him that his own brother had just taken me on his desk while I screamed his name, it would literally kill Kade while he was already so bro
THE SURPRISE VISIT{Playlist Suggestion: "Jealousy, Jealousy" by Olivia Rodrigo / "Glimpse of Us" by Joji}~KADE POV~I couldn't sleep because the pain pills were wearing off and my knee was throbbing with a dull, sickening ache that traveled all the way up to my hip. But honestly the physical pain was absolutely nothing compared to the toxic little voice in my head that sounded exactly like Valerie Prescott.'She works very late nights in the VIP sections.'I tried to drown the words out.I tried turning on the TV in the dark guest room of Knox's townhouse and staring at some stupid late-night infomercial.But my brain just kept doing the math and adding up all the little inconsistencies I had been willfully ignoring for weeks.The sudden inrush of cash that paid for Chase's top-tier ICU room, the brand new expensive clothes, the way she completely avoided making eye contact with me at the bleachers this morning, and the fact that she hadn't answered a single text of mine in over fo
THE BREAKING POINT{Playlist Suggestion: "Desire" by Meg Myers / "Call Out My Name" by The Weeknd}~KOLT POV~I didn't even care anymore, I just completely let go of the steering wheel and crashed my mouth against hers, and the absolute second our lips met it was like a lit match hitting a pool of gasoline.She tasted like champagne and adrenaline, her hands immediately flying up to tangle in my hair, gripping the strands so tight it actually hurt as she pulled me closer.Her mouth opening for my tongue with a desperate, starving kind of heat that completely shattered whatever restraint I had left.I groaned, a rough, animal sound tearing out of the back of my throat, and I backed her up until her thighs hit the edge of my desk.I didn't even look at what I was doing, I just swept my arm across the polished wood, sending stacks of weekly reports, a heavy brass lamp, and my half-full glass of expensive scotch crashing to the floor in a shower of shattered crystal and liquor, but neithe
THE WATCHER{Playlist Suggestion: "Eyes on Fire" by Blue Foundation}~KNOX POV~The forty-second floor of Kingston Tower was silent, save for the hum of the server room down the hall and the rhythmic tapping of my finger against the desk.My father called this office the "Cockpit." I called it what
THE OFFER 2(Playlist: 'The other side" by Ruelle)~CHELSEA POV~I set an alarm for tomorrow and closed my eyes. Sleep came in fits and starts, interrupted by dreams of Kolt's smile and Chase's hospital room and Kade's hands on my face telling me I wasn't alone.When I woke up the next afternoon, m
OVERLOOK 1(Playlist: "Somebody Else" by The 1975)~CHELSEA POV~The bus ride to Highway 9 took forty minutes that felt like hours. I sat in the back with my phone clutched in my hand, staring at the dark windows and trying not to imagine what Kade looked like right now. His voice on the phone had
OVERLOOKED 2~CHELSEA POV~The kiss started gently. Hesitant. His lips were soft against mine, moving slowly like he was afraid I might break or disappear. One hand stayed on my face, thumb brushing my cheekbone, while the other found my hip, fingers curling into the fabric of my jacket.I kissed h







