LOGINOlivia’s POV
Gosh, I’m so fucked.
I’m pregnant, but for whom?
Could it be my one night stand or my traitorous cheat of a boyfriend?
Nothing was certain about that, but I had to do something… but what?
“You have to contact Kane.”
Sally suggested, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I stared at her in disbelief, cheeks painted with tears.
The look on my face said it all.
“I mean, you have to let him know you’re pregnant for him.” She said.
“What? And then what?”
She wiped my cheeks, cleaning the tears on my face. “Look, whatever happened, you need to let him know about the pregnancy.”
I laughed within myself. What if he wasn’t the father? I mean I had a one night stand a week after I was with him.
What were the odds?
Sally turns my head toward her, eyes locked on one another.
“Trust me. No matter what, you have to go tell him.”
I sighed, contemplating on what choice to make.
“You have to.” She whispered to me.
Sally made it seem so easy. It wasn’t, but she was right.
I beamed her a faint smile.
“Alright. I’ll go see Kane.”
She pulled me into a tight hug. “No matter what, you’ve got me okay?”
I nod.
**
Since the whole incident, I’d refuse to pick Kane’s calls or see him. Even tho he had tried seeing me on several occasions.
But today I decided to finally pay him a visit. All thanks to sally.
I walked past a truck that was parked outside, with workers busy loading and unloading stuff.
Stanley met me at the door. His eyes lit up as he saw me, and just like that it fell.
“Miss Olivia, its good to see you.”
“Thank you Stanley. Is Kane home?”
He hesitates. “Yes. Master kane is inside.”
I moved past him and stepped into the Salander manor.
To my surprise, I saw my vile betrayal of a former best friend, Cynthia, sitted with a cup of tea in her hands.
She welcomed me with a smug grin on her face, her eyes burning with joy.
Without hesitation, I turned and moved to leave.
“Please don’t.” Kane said, exiting his seat as he saw me.
Kane closes the distance between us, stretching his hand towards me. I waved my hand in protest, signaling for him not to touch me.
His face falls. “Glad to see you.” He says, voice low and uneven.
From the look of things, he was both happy and sad to see me.
Did I come at the wrong time?
Cynthia made a faint sound, forcing me to glare at her direction.
“What’s she doing here?”
“Oli, I can…” he says before Cynthia interrupts him.
“Who you calling she? I have a name, you do well to remember that.” She shouted as she walked up to us, her arms crossed.
“You have the nerve!” I pointed my fingers at her, anger rising over me.
Cynthia laughs.
There was no atom of regret or sympathy from her.
I stared at her in disbelief.
“Why the hell are you looking at me like that?” She asked, her lips curled in a twist.
Kane intervenes, standing between the both of us. “Cynthia that’s enough.”
“No, it’s not. I want to hear what Olivia has to say.”
“You whore.” The words came out of my mouth like water falling down a hill.
“Whore? Is that what you think of me?” She laughs. “That’s rich of you.”
“Yes that’s who you are!”
“Why? Cause I fucked Kane? Is that it?”
Her words stung deep, I lunged at her.
Kane holds me at bay. “Stop it, Oli.”
Cynthia backs away, holding her tummy carefully. She leans back on a chair, smiling as she cradled her belly.
My eyes stood wide at the sudden realization.
Surely, she couldn’t be. There was no way she could be.
As if reading the thoughts in my mind, Cynthia laughs.
“Yes, sweet Oli.” A mischievous smile on her lips. “It’s exactly as you think. I am pregnant, and it’s for Kane here.”
I felt a cold chill run through me. I wished the ground could open up and swallow me.
“What?”
“Olivia. I’m sorry, I can explain.” Kane gestures for me to calm down.
Cynthia sighed like she’d rip his head off.
“What are you sorry for? You sorry about your baby?”
“Whore!”
Cynthia snaps. “Who you calling whore?”
She moved forward, standing right behind Kane.
“You’re calling me a whore? You think we don’t know about your little night affair?”
I froze. And before I knew it, my hand moved to strike her.
Kane stops me mid-air. “Don’t. Please calm down.”
I didn’t even know when my hand moved.
“Settle down.” He said to her before turning to me. “Oli, I’ve been trying to reach you for weeks now. And you’ve been avoiding me.”
“What does she mean by night affair?” I asked, trying to clear the suspicion.
I wasn’t here for this, the reason I came here was simple. Let him know about the pregnancy. And now I’ve found out my best friend’s pregnant for my boyfriend.
Cynthia rushed forward to speak before he could utter a word.
“We know you went somewhere with a man. And I’m sure you slept with him.”
Her words struck me cold. I wanted to storm at her. But my body wouldn’t move or react.
Cynthia was right.
“That’s enough Cynthia! That’s not important now, it isn’t.” He says to her and then turns to face me again. “You didn’t even wait for me to explain that day.” Kane said in a low tone.
Anger swelled inside me.
“Explain? Explain what!”
How dare they stand here and judge me after what they did?
I laughed. Still brimming with anger.
“You cheated on me!” I screamed at Kane. “And you..” I said to Cynthia. “I thought you were my friend, but you’re just a fucking whore.”
Quickly before Kane could say anything or even try to calm me down, I stormed away.
I was just at the door when I bumped into one of the workers holding a carton box.
The worker lost his grip on it and It’s contents came crashing to the floor as I nearly lost my footing. Lucky for me, Stanley caught me.
When I gained my feet, a familiar object caught my eyes. I’d remember it anywhere.
I saw the mask from my night at the masked bar. It was thesame mask the stranger wore.
The black mask with the tiny red rose etched into it.
Quickly I moved over and picked it up. My fingers hovered over it.
I look up.
“Who’s mask is this?”
The worker stutters. “I’m….sorry ma’am. That’s the boss’s.” He said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.
Kane and Cynthia were right behind me, outside.
My boyfriend moved over to me.
“Are you okay?” He asked, getting a loud sigh from Cynthia.
“Is this yours?” I showed him the mask.
“Oh, no. That’s my dad’s. He used it a few weeks ago. What’s the matter?”
I froze. Realization taking over.
But the ache in my chest finally feels a little lighter.
My one night stand…. I knew who he was now.
OLIVIA’S POVThe Salander Group’s headquarters had a way of making one feel small on purpose.I stood on the pavement outside it, craning my neck up at the glass and steel facade that caught the early morning light. Forty-two floors of corporate power, legacy, and old money. I looked down at myself.Black wrap dress, low heels, hair pulled back, one hand gripping the strap of my bag, the other pressed flat against the swell of my bump like a reflex.“You’ve delivered babies in a blackout,” I muttered to myself. “You can walk into a building. You’re that bitch..and would forever be that bitch.”I walked into the building.The lobby was all marble and a cathedral was dedicated to the religion of wealth. The woman at the reception desk looked up at me with the look of neutrality. “Olivia Benson,” I said, keeping my chin level. “I have a meeting with Mr. Virgil.”She checked her screen, nodded once, and handed me a visitor’s pass with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.Virgil was waiti
KANE’S POVThe vial was smaller than I expected.I turned it between my fingers, the thin glass catching the dim light of my bedroom as I sat on the edge of the bed. It looked almost harmless. “Good” I smiled in relief. My phone buzzed against the nightstand.It’s confirmed. He’ll flip. Cynthia’s text came in while Jonah called me an hour ago. He’s in.“Damn right, he is” I exhaled slowly, setting the vial down on the duvet beside me. I stared at it.One problem solved now, remains the other.The board meeting was locked in for next Friday. Seven days for Lucious to wake up fully, regain his strength, sign whatever documents Virgil had been hovering over him with, and blow my entire plan to pieces with one signature.Seven days was too long.I picked up the vial again.Cynthia had explained it simply, it won’t kill him, she’d said, filing her nails as she spoke. It’ll just… slow him down. Keep him foggy. He’ll be alive, Kane…technically.I pressed my thumb against the cool glass.T
MICHAEL REEVES’S POVI made three calls after they left.The first was to my lawyer. Short, procedural, the kind of call that was less conversation and more confirmation — a series of contingencies I’d put in place years ago that needed to know they were still relevant. They were. I kept it under four minutes.The second was to a woman named Patricia who worked a floor below the federal prosecutor’s current office and owed me a favor that had been quietly accumulating interest since 2019. I didn’t ask for much. Just a temperature reading. Just enough to know whether the timeline I’d given Kane and Lucious was still accurate.It was. Possibly tighter than six weeks now.I kept that to myself for the moment.The third call I sat with for a long time before making.Ellis was still in the townhouse when I came back downstairs.He was at the table with the remnants of the evening’s water glasses and his perpetually open laptop, doing the quiet, thorough work that made him indispensable in
OLIVIA’S POVI knew something had shifted the moment Kane walked in.I’d never met him before — not properly. I’d seen photos, heard the name spoken in a dozen different tones depending on who was doing the speaking and what the conversation was about. Lucious said it carefully, like handling something that could cut. Other people said it with a kind of cautious reverence, the way you talk about weather patterns that have a history of turning.In person he was — not what I’d expected.Taller, for one. Same bone structure as his father, same quality of stillness, but where Lucious had refined his into something smooth and almost architectural, Kane’s was rougher. More recently acquired. Like a man who’d taught himself to be still because he’d learned the hard way what happened when he wasn’t.He’d barely glanced at me when he came through. Cordial, distracted, already somewhere else in his head. That was fine. I hadn’t needed the attention.What I’d needed was to read the room.So I di
KANE’S POVI didn’t sleep.I lay on top of the covers fully dressed until about 2 AM, staring at the ceiling with the laptop open beside me, rereading Cynthia’s document like the words might rearrange themselves into something less catastrophic if I looked long enough.They didn’t.Lucious Grant. Twelve years ago. A buried case, a resigned prosecutor, and a clean paper trail that had stayed clean for over a decade because my father was exceptionally good at the things he was good at.I kept waiting to feel something clean about it. Righteous anger, maybe — the kind that clarifies and points you in a direction. Or even satisfaction, the cold kind, the I knew it kind that I’d been stockpiling fuel for most of my adult life.Instead what I felt was tired.Deeply, structurally tired in a way that had nothing to do with the hour.I sat up at 2 AM, put the laptop on the nightstand, and just sat on the edge of the bed with my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands.He looked tired. That
KANE’S POVI didn’t say much on the ride back.Neither did my father.The city moved past the windows in streaks of light and we sat in the back of his car with about twelve inches of leather seat between us and about fifteen years of everything else. The driver had the partition up. Good man.I kept the folder on my knee with my hand flat on top of it like it might try to leave.Six weeks.I turned the number over in my head, examining it from different angles the way you probe a sore tooth with your tongue. Six weeks to sit still and play a role in someone else’s game while my own pieces collected dust on the board. Six weeks of watching Jonah Levine breathe the same air as me and knowing what I knew about him and doing absolutely nothing with it.The thought made my skin crawl.But the alternative — Reeves had been clear enough about the alternative without ever actually spelling it out, which told me he was good at his job in the specific way that the best people always are. He ha







