LOGINLiam’s POVThe red taillights of Henri’s car disappear around the corner of Rue de Grenelle, their reflection bleeding into the wet asphalt like fresh ink. The exhaust mists in the cold air, a brief, pale cloud that hangs over the cobblestones for three seconds before the wind sweeps it away.I am still standing in front of the locksmith’s shop.The rain is starting again, thin and needle-sharp, tapping against the shoulders of my coat. I do not pull my collar up. I do not move. My hands are still in my pockets, my fingers curled into tight, rigid fists against the lining.Marcus walks up beside me. He is holding a black umbrella, tilting it slightly to shield me from the drizzle, his face completely expressionless. He does not ask if I am alright. He does not offer a glass of water or a seat in the car. Marcus has been with me long enough to know when the silence in my chest is too heavy for him to disturb."The car is at the corner, sir," Marcus says quietly."Did she look back?" I
Emma's POVThe words hang in the grey air between us, cold and sharp.The nursery window.My hand does not shake. I do not let it. But the stone pavement beneath my boots feels suddenly unstable, as if the ground itself is shifting. In my mind, I see the small white frame of the window at the end of the hall... the one that looks out over the quiet courtyard... the one where Willa stands in her pajamas to watch the rain.I see a hand reaching through the glass.I see the rabbit falling to the floor.A wave of heat rushes up my neck, hot and violent, followed immediately by a chill that makes the small hairs on my arms stand up under my coat.Beside me, Julian moves. He does not yell. He does not take his hands out of his pockets. He simply takes one step forward, placing his body slightly in front of mine, cutting off Talia’s view of my face. His shoulders are broad, his dark wool coat a solid wall between my panic and her smile."Julian," I say, my voice barely louder than the wind.
Liam's POVTalia's finger stays raised for three seconds.She is pointing directly at the window... directly at us. Her sunglasses reflect the grey sky, and her mouth is set in a thin, hard line that I recognize from a dozen dinner parties in Los Angeles, the expression she wore right before she dismantled someone's reputation over dessert.Then she lowers her hand. She picks up the leather travel bag from the balcony railing. She turns around and walks back inside the flat, and the green shutters swing closed behind her with a sharp, wooden crack that echoes across the narrow street.Emma lowers the binoculars. Her face is completely still, but her breathing has changed, short and controlled through her nose."She knows we are here," Julian says. He has not moved from the window. His hand is flat against the glass, his body angled slightly in front of Emma."She has known since we walked in," Emma says. "She has been watching this building
Liam's POVMarcus sets his tablet on the glass desk and swipes to the live feed."Team Two reports Henri's car left Rue de Verneuil twelve minutes ago," Marcus says, his finger tracing the route on the digital map. "Heading south across the river. Team One confirms Emma is in the back seat. Julian Beaumont is not in the vehicle."I look at the map. The blue dot representing Henri's car is crawling along Boulevard Saint-Germain."Where is Beaumont?" I ask.Marcus swipes to a second feed. A grainy street-level photograph of a man in a grey coat walking into a stone building on the Left Bank."He left the apartment twenty minutes before Emma did," Marcus says. "On foot. He walked to Rue des Saints-Pères and entered the building at number fourteen. Second floor. The brass plaque says Beaumont & Associés. It is his cousin's law firm. We confirmed the cousin's identity through the Paris bar registry this morning."I stare at the photograph. Julian walked out of Emma's apartment twenty minut
Emma's POVThe heavy oak door clicks shut behind us.I do not sit down. I stand behind my desk, my hands flat on the polished wood, my weight forward. Lucas remains standing near the leather chair opposite me. He is holding his plastic lanyard in his right hand, his thumb sliding back and forth over the embossed logo of my company."Lucas.""Yes, Ms. Bellamy?"He looks completely relaxed. His posture is loose, his head tilted slightly to the side, his mouth curved in the same polite, helpful expression he wears when he is delivering a courier package to my desk."You processed the residential security invoices for my apartment building last week...""I did," he says. "They were routed to my queue on Tuesday morning. I checked the line items against the vendor contract and approved the payment. Is there an issue with the amount?""No," I reply. "There is an issue with the access."His hand goes still on the la
Emma's POVI leave the apartment twenty minutes later.Adèle has the children settled at the kitchen table with toast and warm milk. Grey is eating his in the correct order... meat first, then cheese, then bread. Ace is feeding his dinosaur a piece of crust. Willa is watching me from her stool with her rabbit under her chin, and when I pick up my bag from the hook by the door, she slides off her chair and walks over to me."Where are you going?" she asks."To the office, baby.""For how long?""I do not know yet."She considers this. She reaches up and touches my hand with her small, warm fingers."Come back," she says."I will."She nods once. She walks back to her stool and climbs up and picks up her toast, and I close the door behind me with both locks turned by Adèle.Henri is waiting at the curb. He opens the rear door before I reach the car. His eyes scan the street, the rooftops, the parked vehicles along Rue de Verneuil. He does not say good morning, he just holds the door and
Emma's POVI do not sleep.I lie in that bed doing what I have quietly mastered over the past fourteen months... existing in complete stillness while approximately nine thousand things happen loudly inside my chest.At six forty three I get up because lying there waiting for the other shoe to drop
I LEFT BROKEN AND FAT, I CAME BACK HIS BOSS WITH TRIPLET HEIRSEmma's POVHere is something nobody tells you about being the fat wife of a billionaire.The staff learn his coffee order on Day One. Then they learn yours somewhere around month nine, if you remind them enough times, and even then they
Emma's POVI am at Cara's apartment. She has gone to stay with a friend of hers so that I can have some solo space. My mother arrives at two in the afternoon with an overnight bag, a casserole dish that smells like something that can fix most things, and the expression of a woman who has been wait
Liam's POVShe is gone by Thursday.Not just her things. Her.The apartment feels different without Emma in it and I cannot explain why in any way that would satisfy me if I try, so I do not try.I stand in the bedroom doorway and look at the cleared nightstand, the empty hooks behind the bathroom







