MasukNoah’s POVI noticed the change before I could name it.Delia had always been sharp with me. She pushed. She tested. She told me when I was wrong and did not soften it. That was the woman I married, and I liked her for it. But lately she had gone quiet in a way that was not peace. She smiled at the right moments. She asked about my day. She kissed me when I came home. And underneath all of it, there was a distance I could not reach.I stopped asking her to explain it. I started watching.She left the house more. Not for work. Not for errands she could name. She would say she was going out and come back two hours later with nothing to show for it. No shopping bags. No coffee. No story.She flinched when my father was mentioned. Not a big flinch. A tightening around the eyes that lasted half a second. I had seen it three times now. Once at dinner when his name came up. Once when I mentioned his office. Once when I asked if she had seen him.The third time, I stopped pretending.“Delia,”
Delia’s POVThe call came three days after the wedding.I was in the kitchen, still in my robe, still pretending the weekend had been normal. Noah had gone out for coffee. The house was quiet in the way it always was when he left—like it was holding its breath.My phone lit up.Elliot.I stared at the name for a long moment before I answered."Hello.""You looked beautiful at the wedding," he said. "Emerald was the right choice. She looked like a bride. You looked like a threat.""I was trying to look like a threat.""I know. That is why I am calling."I sat down on the counter stool."What do you want?""I want you to do something small. Something easy. Something that will make you feel useful for the first time in years.""I am not doing anything illegal.""It is not illegal. It is information. That is all.""What kind of information?""Julian has a meeting next week. A private one. With a man named Aldous Crane. Crane runs a shipping company that has been trying to get into Windsor
KatiaThe morning of the wedding, I woke up in my own bed in my own house and for the first time in months, I was not afraid.Clara was asleep in the bassinet beside me. Aiden was downstairs with Grandma, already in his little suit, asking every five minutes if it was time. Julian was in the shower. The estate was full of people who loved us, and outside the windows the gardens were dressed in white and gold.I stood in front of the mirror in my robe and looked at myself. A mother of two. A woman who had survived a car that was meant to kill her, a hospital bed, a note with her son's name on it, and a sister who had spent years making her feel like the leftover.Today was not about any of that.The dress arrived that morning in a case carried by two women who did not speak. Custom-made. Ivory silk that moved like water. Diamonds sewn into the bodice in a pattern that caught the light and threw it back in small sparks. The train was long enough to make the whole room feel smaller.When
Delia’s POVI went to him because the invitation would not leave my hands. Noah was out. The card was still on the fridge like a slap; I kept walking past. Katia gets white. Katia gets vows. Katia gets a day the city will swallow whole. I got a signature and a man who was told to take me.Elliot opened the door like he had been waiting for the jealousy to ripen.“There she is,” he said. “The extra guest.”“Do not start.”“Come in and start for me.”I walked in. The place was quiet. No staff in sight. He poured nothing. He watched my mouth.“She is having a wedding,” I said. It came out raw. “A real one. Estate. Family. Aiden in a little suit. The baby in someone’s arms. Honour of your presence. Honour. Like, I should curtsy because they remembered I exist.”“And you signed a paper at a restaurant and a family thing kind of gathering with no press.”“I signed a paper. He did not even put the ring on my finger. No aisle. No one crying on purpose. Katia fucks her way into the will, and t
Delia’s POVThe envelope was thick. A cream stock with black ink. My name was written like I was still someone they had to be polite to. Mrs. Delia Vesper. As if that title sat in the same room as Mrs. Julian Windsor.I opened it at the kitchen counter with my coffee gone cold. Noah was in the other room on a call. The house was quiet in that expensive way that still did not feel like mine.I read it once. Then I read it again because my brain refused the first time.Julian Windsor and Katia Windsor request the honor of your presence at the celebration of their marriage.Honor.I laughed. It came out ugly.“Honour,” I said to the card. “She wants honor now, after she took the man, the house, and the name. Now she wants flowers so the city can clap.”Two months since Clara. Two months of pictures I did not ask to see. Katia glowing. Julian looking at her like she invented air. Aiden holding the baby like a prince in training. That old fool called Celeste in the frame like a blessing.A
Katia’s POVThe first pain came in our kitchen. It wasn't a small one, a real fucking one. It put my hand on the marble and took the morning with it. Aiden was talking about toast crusts and whether Clara, if it was a girl, would like dinosaurs. Julian was pouring coffee he would not drink. I waited for the tightness to pass. It did not pass. It came again, lower, harder, and I knew.“Julian.”He looked up and read my face before I finished.“Now?”“Now. I am not getting in a car.”He did not argue. That was the difference between our life and everyone else’s. The world came to this house.He was already on the phone.“Dr. Lang. It is time. East suite. Bring your team. No hospital run unless she tells me she wants one.” He stopped and looked at me and then spoke again. “Grandma first.” Another call. “Sam, lock the gate. Family only. Aiden stays on this floor until I say, "Aiden stood on the stairs with his dinosaur book.“Is the baby coming here?”“Yes,” I said. “This is home.”“Can
KatiaI woke up to the sound of people singing badly.“Happy birthday to you...” I blinked hard against the sunlight filtering through the curtains, my brain slow to reboot. The voices were getting louder, and for a second, I thought I was dreaming. A really weird, off-key dream.“Happy birthday, d
~Katia~“Get out!” my mom screamed, her voice tearing through the hallway like a bomb going off in a small room.The sound hit the walls and bounced back so violently, like the house itself was flinching. Even the air felt startled, buzzing with the kind of tension that makes your skin crawl. My he
~Katia~I woke up to the sour taste of bile creeping up my throat, and my legs threw me out of bed before my brain could even catch up. The morning light seared into my eyes like punishment, and I stumbled across the cold floor, my feet slapping against the wood, straight into the bathroom. My knee
~Katia~"Do you know how hard I've been holding myself?" I didn't answer because all I wanted was to get laid. I could still feel the ache between my legs. He carried my bridal style and led me to his hotel room. "Now, I can fuck you however I want because you are now my wife, princess." The room







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