Masuk[Zevyn]"Do you know the scariest part of it?" Alma's voice cut through my thoughts. I blinked and realized I was still clutching her phone. My fingers slowly loosened around it before I lifted my eyes back to her."Is that the number doesn't exist." She reached for the phone, and I let her take it. "That one you see right on top of it was the first one I received. I tried calling the number that day, but it didn't exist. And I can tell you for a fact that I called this same number just a minute after I received the message on my way back, and it still didn't exist."I stared at her.My mind was already moving before she finished speaking, dragging the pieces together whether I wanted it to or not."You don't have an idea who it might be?" I asked, forcing my voice to sound as confused as hers.Even though I already knew.Henry.Her father.That bastard.He knew exactly what he was fucking doing."I don't." Alma shook her head as she looked down at the screen again. Her thumb moved a
[Zevyn]Even when I knew this was what I wanted, I still couldn't control the tightness in my chest as I watched the sadness settle over Alma's face. My eyes stayed on her, on the way her lips had curled downward as she stared at her phone, and something about that expression made my jaw clench.This had nothing to do with my company or my shareholders.It had affected it the first day Mason published that narrative, yes, but then I did what I knew how to do best. I cleaned it up, and it had remained exactly like that ever since. None of my shareholders were pulling out. They wouldn't even dare. They chased, and I didn't do the chasing.But Alma didn't have to know that.Her job was to do exactly what I wanted until I got what I wanted.That was all this was supposed to be.Simple.Yet my eyes remained fixed on her.The way her brows stayed drawn together. The slight downturn of her lips as she stared at her phone.My jaw tightened again.I hated that look.I hated seeing her like tha
[Alma]"You went ahead and read them again?" His question came so quickly that I stopped.He was staring at me like I'd just confessed to doing something completely ridiculous.And maybe to him, it was that simple.Right after we'd seen the comments, Zevyn had told me not to read any of them. He'd told me to ignore everything people were saying and not let strangers get inside my head.I'd nodded.I'd even agreed.But that didn't mean I'd listened.Because before he'd told me to stop, I'd already read at least ten of them.Ten.And almost every single one had been about me.Calling me names.Calling me a whore.Calling me a liar.Saying things about me that made my stomach twist every time I remembered them."You did?" Zevyn asked again.His voice pulled me back. I blinked, realizing I'd been staring somewhere over his shoulder.My fingers tightened around the back of his neck as I finally looked down at him."It's not that easy to ignore, Zevyn, and you know it.""It is..." He said i
[Alma]I stared at the number for what felt like an eternity, my thumb hovering over the screen as a strange uneasiness settled in my stomach.Then my gaze shifted to the new message that had just come in."You need to listen to me... This doesn't seem like what it looks like. Get away from him... Leave!"My brow knitted as I stared at the message again and again.I shook my head and then read the words slowly, as if doing that could somehow make them make sense.I shifted my gaze to the first message.It had the same meaning.The same warning.And it was from the same number.The two messages were driving at one particular thing.Leave him.Who?My thumb moved over the screen immediately as I swiped through the number and pressed dial, only for the memory of what had happened the last time to flash through my mind.The number suddenly didn't exist.I pressed the phone to my ear.Silence.I waited.Three seconds passed.Then the mechanical voice... the same one I'd heard the last time
[Alma]Zed raised a brow, his eyes still fixed on the road. "What am I supposed to say?"I turned my eyes toward the window again, watching another car pass us for barely a second before disappearing behind us."Anything... You barely talk. I can literally count how many times I've heard you talk.""If you tell me what you want me to say, ma'am, I'll go ahead and do just that," Zed said.I swallowed, my fingers curling loosely against my lap."You don't have to call me ma'am. You already know my name.""Oh." That was all he said. Just one word before his eyes returned to the road like the conversation was over.I stared at the side of his face for a few seconds, waiting for something else.Nothing.I almost sighed.My hand dropped to my phone when the screen lit up again. Zevyn had texted, asking if Zed wasn't here already and why we were taking so long.I read the message once.Then again.I didn't bother replying.My gaze shifted back to Zed."Did you see it?"He didn't say a word.
[Alma]"Don't let you say what?" I asked, and Elara blinked. She bit down on her lower lip, lowering her gaze back to the dining table as if suddenly finding something there more interesting than looking at me."Nothing," Elara said, then muttered something under her breath that I didn't catch.I stared back at Sienna.She hadn't moved.Her eyes were still fixed on Elara, and something was burning in them that made my brow crease. It wasn't just annoyance. There was something else there... something sharp enough that I could almost feel the tension sitting between the two of them."I don't think it's nothing," I said, looking between them. "You definitely wanted to say something but held back. What was that?"Sienna didn't say anything.She just kept staring at Elara, her eyes burning straight into hers.Elara cleared her throat before finally meeting my gaze again. "It's nothing... I was just about to say she's being super annoying because this is not the right time for what she's sa
[Zevyn]A damn bold one. Captivating green eyes.That was the first thought that cut through me the moment she grabbed my shirt and crashed her lips onto mine.And then those curves—locked into a red dress that shouldn’t have looked that dangerous on her.I am a man people learned not to breathe to
[Alma]The moment my lips touched his, everything in me went still.His lips were warm against mine, and for a moment my mind simply… stopped working.My fingers tightened on his shirt like it was the only thing keeping me grounded, my lips moving slowly over his as if I was trying to understand wh
[Alma] I gulped down, my eyes fixed on the closed door as if Mason would walk back in if I looked hard enough Walk back in and take back those words. "Tessy needs me." "Nothing is more important than making sure she's safe." "You’ve been terribly out of shape." The words echoed in my he
[Alma]I stood by the window longer than I should have, my fingers lightly gripping the edge of the curtain as my gaze drifted once again toward the dining table behind me.Everything was setToday wasn’t just our anniversary. It was also my birthday.My eyes lingered on the table, taking in every







