LOGIN“I asked you a question. What are you doing here?” he said as he walked inside, taking in her tear-streaked face.His heart ached at the sight of her standing up to face him, her eyes filled with defiance even as she stepped sideways to cover the box.His gaze flickered to the table. The edge of the box was still slightly visible. The concern on his face shifted into something colder — anger.“What are you doing with that?” he roared, walking closer.Autumn instinctively moved to shield the box from his sight, as if that would change anything.“Nothing,” she answered automatically, trying to clear herself of anything incriminating.“Nothing?” Eric mocked, letting out a sarcastic sneer. “You broke into my office, went through my belongings, and you’re telling me it’s nothing?”“I did not break into your things,” she shot back defensively. “You invited me over.”He clicked his tongue at her reply. “I invited you over to see our son, not to rummage through my belongings—”Chloe stepped i
Eric stared at the phone in his hand as the familiar tone of the call being hung up rang in his ears.“She actually hung up on me,” he muttered to himself in disbelief, before letting out a quiet huff and placing the phone back on the table.He shifted his gaze to the sea of faces staring back at him. The softer expression he had worn while answering the call had already morphed back into his familiar aloof mask.“What are you looking at?” he asked coldly, snapping them out of their silent observation. “Continue with the next one.”They scrambled to resume the presentations.Eric sat through report after report, his mood plummeting with each one.His mind drifted to Autumn. He wasn’t listening to a single word being said.*I wonder what she’s up to right now,* he thought, absently turning the phone in his hand as he pictured the smile that must have bloomed on her face when she heard she could see Fin.*I want to see her. I haven’t seen her since last week—*His thoughts were cut shor
Autumn arrived at the Kingston estate a few minutes later. She was nervous as she stepped forward.The thought of seeing her daughter’s urn made her both excited and terrified at the same time. She didn’t know what she was going to say or do when she finally saw her.When she finally held her.She knew one thing for certain — she was going to cry. She was going to cry a lot.*And maybe apologize,* she thought. She would most definitely apologize to her.Tears were already glossing in her eyes as she thought about ‘her’, but she forced them back.“Now is not the time to think about that,” she murmured just as the door opened.A maid was there to greet her as she stepped inside. The house was quiet as she walked through the foyer.Her body moved toward Eric’s office before she could stop herself. She turned to the maid behind her.“Where is Mr. Kingston?” she asked to confirm if what he said was the truth.“Sir isn’t around,” the maid bowed.“Where are Fin and Chloe?” she asked again.T
Autumn was outside on site, supervising the project as they continued with the next phase. Her presence was required.This was what her days had mostly consisted of lately — being at the office and then returning to the site to oversee the work being done. The task was rewarding in its own way, helping to create something from scratch.She walked into the makeshift office, letting the hot air from the heater warm her up. She had been out all day in the freezing cold.She grabbed her phone to check for any updates or messages.“Hey, boss,” someone called out to her.“Yeah?” she answered, not looking up from her phone.“We’re getting lunch for ourselves,” he started. “You want something?”She dropped her phone on the table.“Yeah. A sandwich and a coffee with milk and cream.” She took out a few bills from her bag and handed them to him. “Thanks.”With that, she was left alone.She went through her emails before checking her messages and missed calls.Eric and Chloe?She frowned, stuck i
Autumn rounded the corner and reached her assigned office. She could still feel the burning weight of his stare on her back as she walked away.“What did he want?” she muttered under her breath as she closed the door behind her. They were divorced, for Christ’s sake. Why was he still bothering her?“If not for our son, I have no business with him,” she said, taking a seat and beginning to type out her reports from the meeting to submit to her superiors and add to her project file.The only sounds in the room were her quiet breathing and the steady clicking of keys.Her back was hunched over as she worked. When she finally pressed the last button, she stood up to stretch her limbs before sitting back down.“Now that that’s out of the way, I’m less busy for now,” she hummed softly, sending the report and saving a copy to her own files.“My afternoon is free now.” She stared out the open window.Her mind flashed back to the previous weekend.“He goes out to work, then stays in his room w
Sophia sat on the edge of the bed, empty bottles sprawled around her feet as she tried to think about the last twenty-four hours. She was still wearing yesterday’s clothes. She hadn’t showered — she had simply drowned herself in alcohol the moment she stepped inside the house.Her mind kept replaying the words Eric had said to her, calling her stupid, calling her foolish.And she couldn’t disagree with him. Her eyes were bloodshot from being awake all night, searching for a solution to her current dilemma.How was she going to get two hundred million pounds for William? Hell, how was she going to tell him she had thrown his money away on a dud?She raked her brain, trying to think of who she could ask for that kind of money.There were only a few people she could think of at the top of her head — one of them being Eric, the other being William, and a few other childhood friends.What would she do? Ask them all to donate a few million to her?“If I did that, I’m no better than that slu
It had been a few days since the incident at the bistro, and a heavy, suffocating silence had settled between Eric and me. We moved around the estate like two planets in a dangerous orbit—close enough to feel the pull of gravity, but terrified of a collision. I had managed to sneak a text to Marco
Autumn stood before the ornate mirror in the foyer, checking her reflection one last time. She adjusted the strap of her bag, her fingers lingering on the leather. She felt like herself again.Chloe, ever the observant shadow, wandered into the foyer with a bowl of sliced fruit, munching slowly. Sh
The car pulled up to the Seta by Antonio Guida, and we were led through the sleek, turquoise-accented halls of the hotel to Seta by Antonio Guida. Eric had reserved a private section, a secluded nook that felt worlds away from the bustling streets of Milan. The lighting was low, the air filled with
"No, no, no!" the man shrieked, his voice hitting a pitch that probably had the neighborhood dogs howling. "Dear God, I am going to die of a heart attack from how unceremoniously ugly your taste is!" He began fanning himself dramatically with a silk-bound lookbook, his face twisted in a mask of the







