LOGINANABEL’S POV I sat on the bedroom floor, surrounded by nearly every piece of clothing I owned, most of it borrowed from Chloe’s closet in the first place. None of it looked any more promising than it had five minutes ago. I’d pulled out a soft blue sundress first and held it up in front of the mirror, only to realize how wrong it looked before tossing it aside. Then I tried a simple black cocktail dress, the kind of thing you wore to a friend’s birthday dinner, not an event where half the city’s most powerful people would be studying every detail of my appearance. “This isn’t going to work,” I muttered, more to myself than to Chloe, who was sitting on the edge of her bed, watching the growing pile with mild amusement. “You’ve only tried on four dresses,” she said. “Give it a second.” “I don’t need a second, Chloe. I need an actual solution,” I said, grabbing another dress off the bed, a deep red one this time. I held it up, immediately shook my head, and tossed it onto the pile a
ANABEL’S POVThe knock on my office door came later that afternoon, right around the time I’d finally started to settle into some kind of rhythm with the filing Priya had given me that morning. I looked up to find the same woman I’d seen briefly in the lobby a few days ago, the one who always seemed to be moving with purpose, a tablet tucked under one arm and an expression that gave absolutely nothing away. “Mrs. Wilson,” she said, stepping inside without waiting for an invitation, the way people who clearly outranked me tended to do. “Do you have a moment?” “Of course,” I said, sitting up a little straighter in my chair, already bracing myself for whatever this was. New employees rarely got personal visits from someone who looked this important unless something had gone wrong. “You’ll need to set aside next week,” she said, glancing briefly at her tablet before looking back at me. “You’ll be attending the Black Tier Gala, accompanying the chairman.” I blinked, convinced for
DMITRI’S POVI stepped out of the elevator and started down the hallway toward my office, shaking my head slightly at what had just happened. Some people really didn’t know how to take a hint. I’d lost count of how many times I’d tried, subtly, to signal to that man not to make such a scene over a broken elevator. A quick nod here, a small glance there, anything to keep him from turning a minor inconvenience into a full apology tour performed in front of an audience. He’d already apologized once over the phone, hours earlier. There was no need to repeat it, especially not in front of Anabel. What was his name again? I genuinely couldn’t remember. All I knew was that he was part of the maintenance team working on getting my private elevator back online, and apparently he considered every encounter with me another opportunity to grovel. I was lucky, at least, that Anabel hadn’t fully connected the pieces yet. She hadn’t looked at that bowing, stammering man and reached the obviou
ANABEL’S POV He didn’t look like someone who was married, not in any way I could immediately tell, and I’d already been to his house once before, hadn’t I? I quickly ran back through the memory, searching for anything I might have missed. I didn’t remember seeing another woman there, nothing beyond the maids quietly moving through the halls, nothing that suggested another woman actually lived there with him. Granted, I hadn’t stepped foot into his main bedroom or seen the parts of the house that would have told me anything for certain. Maybe she simply hadn’t been around that day, wherever she was. Then again, considering the state I’d woken up in that morning, completely disoriented and barely able to piece together where I even was, I couldn’t exactly blame myself for missing something as important as another woman’s presence in the house. My mind hadn’t been in any condition to notice details like that. Still, he already knew everything about my situation, who I was married to a
ANABEL'S POV"Mind if I join?" he said, stepping into the elevator just as the doors began sliding shut, his voice easy, casual, like the question was barely worth asking at all. The second it left his mouth, though, it struck me as strangely funny, almost cringeworthy in its own small way. It wasn't as though I could have stopped him even if I'd wanted to; the doors hadn't closed yet, and he'd clearly already decided he was getting in regardless of what I said back.I'd genuinely wanted to see him again before I left for the day, some small, stubborn hope I hadn't quite managed to shake, sitting quietly in the back of my mind through every folder I'd filed and every hallway I'd walked down. But I never expected it to actually happen like this, caught off guard in an elevator neither of us had planned on sharing at exactly this moment. It felt like every single time our paths crossed, it happened in the exact instant I least expected it, some strange, recurring pattern that was gettin
ANABEL’S POVToday was my first day at the office, and it wasn’t really the way I’d expected it to be. My office was small, barely big enough to fit the desk and the single filing cabinet crammed into the corner beside it, but it was mine. After weeks of feeling like a burden taking up space on Chloe’s couch, even four small walls and a door that actually closed felt like more than I’d had in a long time.I ran my hand along the edge of the desk for a moment before sitting down, letting myself truly absorb the reality of it.An office. A real job.Something that wasn’t the lounge, wasn’t Miles’s money, wasn’t anyone doing me a favor out of guilt or obligation. I’d take this over anything else. Over sitting uselessly at Chloe’s place, scrolling through job listings that never called back. Over ever setting foot in that lounge again for as long as I lived.A woman named Priya from two desks down stopped by not long after I settled in, dropping a small stack of folders onto my desk with
ANABEL’S POVA man stood there holding a glass loosely in one hand, his expression calm but amused. Even through my blurry vision, I could tell he was attractive. Very attractive.Tall, dark hair, sharp jawline.The kind of face people noticed immediately.I stared at him blankly for a moment befor
ANABEL’S POVI woke up the next morning emotionally exhausted.The moment I opened my eyes, reality settled over me again. Cierra remained in the house. Miles was still avoiding me. And somehow everything that had happened over the past few days still seemed impossible to process even after everyth
ANABEL'S POV I took a small breath, steadying my emotions and finally pushing away all the tears I'd been crying for the past few minutes. Every now and then, I could still feel the heaviness lingering in my chest, but I couldn't keep breaking down forever. There was no room for tears anymore. Y
ANABEL’S POVA low groan pulled me out of sleep.At first, I thought I was dreaming. My eyes stayed closed while I turned on the bed, reaching for Miles out of habit.The sheets beside me were cold.I frowned and opened my eyes. The other side of the bed was empty.The digital clock beside me read







