ログインChapter 25The man from outside the hospital. The one who had said that name twice and looked at me like he was seeing something he had given up on finding.He was wearing a suit today, dark charcoal, and he looked composed in a way that was clearly costing him something. His jaw was set and his hands were loose at his sides and he was looking at me with those same eyes, that same particular quality of intensity that made my skin feel tight across my shoulders.I held his gaze for exactly two seconds.Then I looked back at the CFO.“You were saying the Q3 timeline has flexibility,” I said calmly. “Walk me through what that means in practical terms.”From my peripheral vision I saw the stranger pull out a chair midway down the table and sit. He did not announce himself. He did not apologise for being late. He just sat down and opened the folder in front of him and nobody at the table acted like anything unusual had happened, which told me he was expected.I took one note in my margi
Chapter 24Nathan’s POV “Lyra…” I breathed out shakily, holding the wheel of the car, that was Lyra, she was the one. But what’s happening? Why can’t she recognize me? After 5 years of searching, those people helping me to search sent her pictures to me and I quickly rushed out and went to the airport, but only for her faint. What’s happening? What’s wrong? I picked up my phone and dialed the guy who had been helping me to look for her. He was also the same person who sent me an image of her at the airport. He is my manager. “She said she is not Lyra,” I stated the moment the call connected, my voice coming out flat and controlled even though my hands were not.I was still parked outside the hospital.“Sir?” Kofi’s voice came through carefully, the same measured tone he used every time he had bad news he was building up to.“Are you there?”“Yes. I am here.” I pressed my thumb hard against the steering wheel. “Run a full background check on the name Angela Wyatt. Everything. Medi
Chapter 23Angela's POVMy head was pounding so hard that when I finally managed to crack my eyes open, the white fluorescent light above me felt like a direct attack. I shut them again immediately and just let the pain sit, because fighting it was making it worse., I lay there trying to remember where I was and how I had gotten there.The inside of my eyelids were orange from the light above me. Fluorescent, I thought, that particular flat brightness that only ever meant hospitals or airport bathrooms, and I was fairly certain I was not in an airport bathroom.My eyes snapped open.White ceiling, white walls, the faint smell of antiseptic and something chemical underneath it. A figure standing close, blurry at first, then coming into focus slowly. A male in white coat, stethoscope hanging around his neck."Are you awake?" the voice said, and I realised I had been watching their mouth move without actually processing the words.I turned my head carefully and looked at him. He was w
Chapter 22 I read it twice. Then I looked up and around the arrivals hall, half expecting to see her somewhere, watching from behind a pillar or something equally dramatic. She was not there, obviously. A laugh came out of me that had very little humour in it, and then before I had even finished laughing my eyes were stinging and I pressed my fingers against them hard because I was not going to cry in an airport over my mother signing me up to run a company without telling me. She knew exactly how much I hated this kind of thing, how much I had always pushed back against anything that came with that much responsibility and pressure and expectation. I did not want to be in charge of anything. I just wanted to be a normal person for a while, and she had flown me across the world and handed me a company instead. She had scammed me. My own mother had absolutely scammed me. "I cannot believe this," I said to no one in particular. I pressed the heels of both hands against
Chapter 21Angela's POV"Hi Mum, I am at the airport. I cannot see anyone matching the description you gave me, are you sure this is the right place?" I craned my neck over the crowd, scanning every face for tinted stubble and blonde hair, holding my phone tighter against my ear and wondering if my mother had lost her mind."Just look around properly, he should be there, Angela." She said it like I was the one being difficult, and then the line went dead before I could get a single word back in.I pulled the phone from my ear and stared at it. That woman.I clicked my tongue and shook my head, dragging my suitcase forward through the arrivals hall. The journey from California to London had already wrung me out completely and now I was supposed to play some guessing game in a crowd of strangers before I could even sit down. I was tired, my lower back ached, and the overhead lighting in this airport was doing absolutely nothing for my mood.I kept walking, eyes moving from one person t
Chapter 20Nathan's POVFive Years LaterThe movers had been going in and out for three hours and I had not said anything to any of them beyond what was necessary. I stood in the middle of the sitting room with my arms crossed over my chest and watched them work, and every time one of them looked at me for directions I pointed or gave one word and looked away. I did not have patience for small talk. I had not had patience for much of anything in the last five years.The house was new. That was the entire point of it. I had sold the other place 3 days ago to the government since it was close to Main Street, although I didn’t want to, because I was waiting for her. Marcus had said once, in the last real conversation we had before everything between us went silent, that I had a habit of staying in spaces that held too much of other people inside them. He said it like a criticism. I had moved anyway, just too late for it to mean what it should have.I had not spoken to Marcus properl
CHAPTER 5Lyra's POVI woke up with the sunrise streaming through the window, my body stiff from barely sleeping after Nathan's strange midnight appearance. I had spent hours lying in the dark trying to make sense of why he had been standing in my doorway like that, staring at me with that look of
Chapter 11He practically threw me away from him. I stumbled when my feet hit the floor, my legs were too shaky to support me properly, and I had to grab onto the wall to keep from falling.Nathan was backing away from me like I had burned him. One of his hands came up to his mouth and he wiped a
Chapter 6"Is Nathan around?" Marcus asked, confirming my fears. "I want to talk to both of you, make sure you're not killing each other."He said it like a joke but my smile felt painfully fake. "Um, let me see if he's available."I walked out of my room and down the stairs, my heart pounding with
CHAPTER 4Lyra's POVI sat on the edge of the guest bed, staring at the plain white walls around me, my suitcase lay open on the floor where I had abandoned it an hour ago, clothes still folded inside because I couldn't bring myself to unpack them, unpacking felt too permanent, like accepting this







