LOGINJulian’s POVThe car was quiet for a long time after we left the Grand Meridian.Streetlights slid across the windows in broken lines. Grandma Celeste sat with her hands folded in her lap, staring straight ahead. Gail had her arms crossed, jaw tight. Katia’s fingers stayed laced with mine, her thumb moving once in a while across my knuckles like she was checking I was still there.No one spoke until the gates of the house opened and the tires hit the long driveway.“Inside,” I said when the cars stopped. “Study.”We went in through the side entrance to avoid staff. Zane was already at the door. One look at my face and he simply nodded, then disappeared to make sure Aiden stayed upstairs and asleep. The study door closed behind the four of us with a solid click.Grandma Celeste walked to the window and stood there with her back to us for a full minute. When she turned, her face was set.“He came back,” she said. “Under a different name, on a stage he built himself, with half the city w
Delia’s POVThe Windsors walked out, and the ballroom did not know what to do with itself.One moment Julian Windsor was standing in front of Elliot Vesper, voice low and lethal, forcing an apology out of him in front of half the city’s elite. The next moment the entire table was on its feet and moving toward the doors in a clean, silent line. Grandma Celeste on Julian’s arm. Katia beside him in that silver dress that still made mine look like an afterthought. Gail is behind them. No raised voices. No dramatic exit lines. Just the kind of departure that told everyone in the room exactly who had won the exchange.The doors closed behind them.The silence that followed was worse than noise.I stood near the edge of the stage with a glass of champagne I had never sipped, the platinum band suddenly feeling like a brand on my finger. People were staring. Not openly enough to be rude, but enough that I could feel the weight of their attention sliding over me, then past me, then back again.
Julian’s POVElliot Vesper finished his speech to a fresh round of applause that sounded more like people performing interest than actually feeling it. He stepped off the stage with that same unhurried arrogance and came straight for our table. No detours. No polite pauses to shake hands with donors. He walked through the crowd like he already owned the air they were breathing.He stopped in front of me.“You must be Julian,” he said. The smile on his face was pure smug. “You look so much like your father.”I took a slow sip of my drink and set the glass down without rushing.“How would you know how my father looks?” I asked, my voice flat, as if I had never heard the name Elliot Windsor in my life.His eyes glittered. He was enjoying this.“Oh, I thought the old lady might have told you who I was.”The casual disrespect landed exactly where he wanted it to. I felt Grandma Celeste stiffen beside me. Katia’s fingers tightened around the stem of her water glass. Gail had gone very still
Julian’s POVNoah Vesper stepped back from the microphone like he had just delivered something holy. The side door opened. A man walked into the light with the unhurried arrogance of someone who had spent years watching other people bleed for him.Older. Silver at the temples. Same sharp jaw as Noah. Dark suit, no tie, hands loose at his sides like the entire ballroom was already his property. The room rose in polite, brainless applause. Cameras flashed under the limits Delia had so carefully set for a night she still thought belonged to her.I didn’t clap.Beside me, Grandma Celeste went rigid.I turned. The color had drained from her face so fast it looked like someone had reached into her chest and pulled something vital out. Her fingers were locked around the stem of her glass hard enough that I expected it to snap. She wasn’t looking at the stage the way the rest of these idiots were. She was staring at the man up there like she was seeing a corpse that had learned how to smile.
Delia’s POVThe lights in the ballroom dropped another degree. Conversation softened into a low hum. I stood at the side of the stage with my hands folded in front of me, the platinum band cold against my skin. A staff member gave me a short nod. It was time.Noah walked up the side steps first. He did not look at me. He never did when it mattered. He stopped at the center of the stage, adjusted the microphone once, and faced the room with the same unreadable expression he wore in every meeting.“Good evening,” he said. His voice carried cleanly. “Thank you for joining us tonight. Before we begin the formal program, I would like to make a personal introduction.”A ripple moved through the tables. People shifted in their seats. I felt the weight of hundreds of eyes turning toward the stage.Noah turned his head slightly in my direction. Still no softness. Only the signal.I stepped into the light.The heat of the spotlight hit my shoulders. I kept my chin up and my smile in place, the
Delia’s POVI arrived at the Grand Meridian in a black car Noah’s office had sent. The dress I chose was deep emerald, structured, expensive, and cut to remind every person in the room that I still belonged in places like this. The Vesper ring sat plain and heavy on my finger. I kept adjusting it on the ride over, as if moving it around might make it look like it meant something more than a signature on a contract.The steps outside the ballroom were already crowded with cameras and early guests. I stepped out of the car and felt the first flash go off. I lifted my chin and smiled the way I used to when the last name on my arm still opened every door.Inside, the ballroom looked exactly as I had planned it. Black and gold. Tall florals. Soft light that made jewelry flash. Staff moved in clean lines. For a moment I felt a thin thread of control return. This room still answered to me, even if the man who had married me that morning could barely stand to look at me.Noah was already ther
~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
~Katia~Vegas heat hit me like a wave the second I stepped off the private jet. The runway shimmered under the late afternoon sun, and I squinted past my sunglasses, already half-listening to the ping of updates on my encrypted racing burner phone. Six hours before the race, and my heart was alread
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







