Asher’s POV
A lot of things had gone wrong that fateful night, seven years ago. First, Asher was supposed to meet an investor, Laurel Mitchel, who he assumed had just flown into the country. They were scheduled to meet at the lounge, but after hours of waiting, he had been directed to meet her in her hotel room instead. Secondly, for some idiotic reason, someone had spiked his drink. Asher could only recall taking half a glass before everything became a haze. His senses were dulled, his judgment impaired, and instead of calling his driver to take him home, he had made the reckless mistake of heading to Laurel’s room. Whatever had been slipped into his drink had stripped him of his self-control. That night, Asher had entered the room expecting Laurel Mitchel, but instead, he found Raina Ross, lying there with that dazed look on her face. And in the clouded, heated moments that followed, they had slept together. The only good thing about that disastrous night was that it had been the most incredible night of his life. Seven years later, he still couldn’t forget her—how she felt, how she looked, or how the world seemed to stand still when they were together. He sighed, leaning back in his chair as he replayed the video clip of Raina rushing out of the hotel room the following morning. Her face filled the screen, and she still looked just as breathtaking and beautiful as she had been that night. What baffled Asher was the fact that someone had deliberately planned and led him to that room that night, because Laurel hadn’t even made it into the country—her flight had been delayed, and it still doesn’t make sense that he was yet to find the culprit seven years later. He was about to hit the replay button again when Nolan, his assistant, entered the office. Asher’s eyes immediately locked on the brown manila envelope in Nolan’s hand. Taking a deep breath, he leaned forward. “Tell me what you’ve found,” Asher muttered. Nolan sighed, dropping into the chair across from him and passing the envelope over. “She’s telling the truth, Asher. Her name is Avery Wellesley.” He said with a resigned tone. Asher’s brows furrowed in confusion. She had introduced herself as Raina Ross to him that night. Either she had lied, or he had misheard, which he doubted. “Avery Wellesley?” he repeated, his voice low with disbelief. Nolan nodded. “She’s the daughter of Cole Wellesley, the owner of Wellesley Publications.” He revealed. Asher frowned deeply. He knew Cole Wellesley and his family. He had met both of Cole’s daughters at an event before but he had not met Raina. Not before that night. “Daughter? He has another daughter?” he mumbled. Nolan exhaled. “That’s where it gets interesting. She’s not actually his daughter. She’s the widow of his late son, who died seven years ago. They didn’t know she existed until his son’s death. Cole treats her like his own.” He said. Asher froze. Seven years ago he had met her too. “His daughter-in-law?” he asked in shock. There was no mistaking it now. Raina Ross could be Avery Wellesley. They had to be the same person. Hell, he was looking at her face paused on his screen now. Which meant… he had slept with another man’s wife. Worse, if she was aware of her marital status, she had knowingly slept with him. “Shit,” he muttered, dragging a hand down his face. “This just got fucking complicated.” His mind raced. “Unless… when did Cole lose his son?” he asked, because he couldn’t imagine he had slept with another man’s wife. “Three months before that night,” Nolan replied grimly. The timeline left Asher reeling. If Raina was Avery, and Henry Wellesley had died months earlier, it was still an unthinkable mess. “Anything else I need to know?” he asked, his voice strained. Nolan hesitated, which earned him a sharp glare from Asher. At this point, he needed every little information about Raina that he could get. Finally, Nolan spoke, “Her medical records showed she was hospitalized at that time too. She was in a coma for six months.” “What?!” Nolan nodded grimly. “There was an accident, not sure what kind, but the record is there. She suffered severe trauma and was sent out of the country for treatment. She was also pregnant at the time.” “Fuck!” Asher hissed, his voice shaking. “Pregnant? And in a coma?” “Yes. Apparently, she lost some of her memories, too,” Nolan added. The room felt stifling as Asher struggled to piece it all together. While he had spent years searching for her, Avery had probably been fighting for her life in a hospital bed. She had carried a child, lost her memories, and somehow endured it all. For a long moment, he sat in silence, processing the tangled web of their pasts. When he finally looked up, his expression was hard. “You got her address, send it to me” he said. His voice was calm, but the storm in his eyes spoke volumes. He turned to look at his safe where he had kept the leftover from that night. There was only one path left for him to take. Finding Raina’s apartment hadn’t been difficult for Asher. The neighborhood was well-known—an upscale area nestled near the beach. He walked up to the door, pressed the doorbell, and waited. One… two… three seconds passed before the door swung open. Standing inside, with disheveled hair and still in her pajamas, was Raina Ross. For a brief moment, her blue eyes sparkled with confusion, then recognition before she blinked and frowned, her expression turning sour as she realized who was standing there. “What the fuck are you doing here?!” she snapped. Asher rolled his eyes, glancing past her into the apartment. “I heard you’re not supposed to curse if you have children. Are they home?” he muttered, brushing past her and stepping inside. “Hey!” Raina exclaimed, spinning around to stop him. But it was too late—he was already standing in the center of her living room. “Like hell I’m not allowed to curse! What are you doing in my house? And how the hell did you even find out where I live?!” she rasped, her annoyance plain on her face. Asher smirked and deliberately ignored her question. Instead, he sank into a nearby sofa, his gaze falling on a steaming cup of coffee sitting on the table. He picked it up and took a sip. Raina threw her hands up in exasperation. “Great! Just great! You barge into my apartment like you own the place and drink my coffee. I knew today was going to suck!” she huffed dramatically. He raised an eyebrow at her outburst. “You know, I could actually buy the entire building if I wanted to,” he said smoothly. Raina groaned, her tone shifting to something more serious as she spoke. “What do you want, Asher Storm?” Asher sighed, his gaze lingering on her for a moment before pulling a small velvet box from his jacket. He placed it on the table and gestured for her to take it. Raina frowned at him, hesitant at first, but finally gave in with a sigh. “Might as well get this over with,” she muttered, snatching up the box and flipping it open. Asher studied her closely, watching for any flicker of recognition in her face. But her face remained blank like she had no idea what she was holding. She arched a brow at him, not saying a word. “It’s yours,” he said firmly. “You left it behind after that night.” Raina scoffed. “… and we’re back to this again. I told you I’m not this Raina you’re looking for and There’s no way I’d wear something like this. I hate dangling earrings,” she mumbled, closing the box and handing it back to him. Asher’s eyes narrowed. It was now clear to him why she had no idea who he was and had even forgotten the night they had spent together. She had amnesia, and If this wasn’t enough to jog her memory, he had no choice but to confirm it himself. Without warning, he grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. “What the hell?!” Raina yelped, struggling against him. In a swift motion, Asher shifted her pajama top slightly, revealing her shoulder. And there it was—the small, unmistakable mole in the same spot he remembered. “Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. Raina Ross was Avery Wellesley. The woman he had spent seven years searching for. The realization left him speechless. “I’d let go of her if I were you,” a deep voice cut through the air, startling both of them. Asher turned sharply, his breath catching when he saw the man standing in the doorway. His sharp suit, dark eyes, and steely glare were unmistakable. Julian Edelman. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Asher muttered under his breath. “How much more complicated can this get?” Julian’s jaw tightened. “What the hell are you doing here, Storm?” Asher straightened, meeting Julian’s gaze evenly. “I should be asking you that question, Edelman.” With all the shocking revelations Asher had uncovered that day, nothing had prepared him for the sight of Julian Edelman standing in Raina’s apartment. But it wasn’t just Edelman’s presence—it was the way Raina moved toward him, her proximity far too close for Asher’s comfort. The ease with which she moved toward Julian set his teeth on edge. It was irrational, but the sharp pang of jealousy coursing through him made his blood boil. Would he now have to fight for her all over again, after seven long years?Laurel’s POV She ran a hand over her face, feeling the weight of it all settle in her chest again. “Every time I close my eyes, I still see that fire. The way the smoke swallowed the sky. And that ring, gleaming in the dark like it was mocking me.” She mumbled in a shaky voice.Callaghan was silent for a moment, then said quietly, “You said the files they burned could’ve proved who was really behind the transfers. Do you remember what was in them?”Laurel shook her head, her eyes unfocused as she tried to recall. “Not exactly. But I know one of the files mentioned offshore accounts and a project labeled ‘V-14.’ I never found out what that meant. But I think… I think that’s why they wanted me gone. Because I was starting to piece it together.”The detective jotted down the note and looked up again. “We’ll find out what ‘V-14’ means. You did good, Laurel. Really good.”Callaghan exhaled slowly. There was a brief silence where she felt that everything she was saying was perhaps too much
Laurel’s POV Laurel nodded, shame flickering across her face. “They blamed him, too. Said he was part of it, that he helped me disappear. The board nearly tore him apart in the media. They said he colluded with me to move the money offshore. But I never even got to that meeting.”“What happened instead?”“The night before, I got a call from someone in the office. A woman I barely knew. She told me not to come in the next morning. Said they knew I’d been talking about The Grove, and if I showed up, I’d be next.”Callaghan leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Next, as in, dead?”Laurel’s throat bobbed as she swallowed. “Yes.”The detective was quiet for a long time, eyes studying her. “So you disappeared.”“I grabbed Kael, he was just a baby, and ran. I thought I could protect him if we stayed off the radar. I changed my name, changed cities every few months, worked in cash jobs. I burned every document that tied me to Storm Capitals.”He let out a slow breath, tapping the edge of his
Laurel’s POV“There was a group,” Laurel said quietly, her voice hoarse from hours of questioning. “They called themselves The Grove. Sounded harmless, like a gardening club or some local charity.” She gave a small, bitter laugh. “But they weren’t planting trees. They were laundering money, moving funds through shell companies, fake accounts, small businesses that didn’t even exist. On paper, it all looked legitimate.”Detective Callaghan leaned back slightly, pen poised above his notepad. “And you were involved?” he asked.“No, I wasn’t… not directly. I worked for someone who was,” Laurel replied quietly, her voice carrying the weight of memory. “At Vorenth Holdings. I was an assistant in the finance division back then. Handling scheduling, payments, invoices. I thought I was just doing my job.”Her hands trembled as she spoke, the faint rustle of her cuff brushing against the table as she clasped them together tightly in her lap. Laurel could still picture the glossy office floors
Laurel’s POVThe fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, a cold, relentless hum that burrowed into her skull. The air smelled like burnt coffee, disinfectant, and something faintly metallic, fear, maybe. The chair beneath her was metal, unyielding, every edge a reminder that she didn’t belong here. Nothing in the interview room was meant for comfort. It was meant for control.Her fingers curled around the edge of the table, knuckles whitening. She’d been running for so long that stillness felt unnatural. Every nerve in her body itched with the instinct to flee, to grab Kael and run until her lungs burned and her legs gave out. But there was nowhere left to go. No dark alleys, no back roads, no motel rooms under fake names.Now, there was only this.Laurel had to be officially investigated, just like Asher had warned her. There was no way around it if they wanted her case reopened.When he’d first told her that, she remembered how his tone had shifted, calm, careful, but honest. “It won’
Asher’s POV “She’s brave,” Avery said quietly, her voice barely rising above the whisper of the night breeze drifting in through the half-open window. Her fingers brushed along the edge of a folded blanket resting at the foot of the bed, tracing the soft fabric as if the motion itself grounded her thoughts. “I’m talking about Laurel.” She whispered.Asher knew who she was referring to, even without being told. The name hung between them, heavy with meaning.Asher leaned back against the headboard, his expression thoughtful. “She is,” he said after a pause. “Smart, too. She knew what she was up against and still found a way to fight back. Keeping all that evidence… that couldn’t have been easy. She risked everything just to make sure it got out.” He said.Avery’s gaze dropped to her lap. The dim light from the bedside lamp softened the edges of her face, catching the faint shimmer in her eyes. “She protected her son,” she murmured. “I understand that.”There was something in the way
Asher’s POVThey had barely stepped back into the hallway when Asher’s phone buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket and saw Nolan’s name on the screen.He answered with a low, “Yeah?”“You’ll want to come down to the precinct first thing tomorrow,” Nolan’s voice was curt but steady. “They have reviewed the contents of Laurel’s flash drive. It’s… substantial.”Asher glanced toward the parlor where Laurel now sat, quietly sipping tea beside Georgia. Avery and the boys were nestled on the rug in front of the fireplace, Kael included. The house felt full, warm, for the first time in years.“I figured as much,” Asher replied. “You’ll need her testimony?”“Yes. And she needs a full security detail. The files name names, Asher. Real ones. High-profile investors, offshore banks, fake companies, bribes, this isn’t just corporate theft anymore. This is political.”Asher felt the chill creep back into his bones, the weight of what Laurel had carried for seven years settling heavily across his shou