LOGINCallum POV I noticed Mara was acting strangely almost the second she walked onto the site. She still arrived early, the way she always did. Still had her coffee in hand. Still started talking about the day’s work before she had even fully sat down at the table. But something was different about her today. She kept looking at me. Not staring, exactly. Just looking. The kind of look someone gives you when they’re trying to decide whether today is finally the day they say something they’ve been holding onto for a while. Every time I caught her doing it, she immediately snapped her eyes back down to the blueprints on the table like nothing had happened. I noticed. I just didn’t say anything about it. Not yet at least. We worked through the morning the way we always did. We argued about paint finishes for almost twenty minutes, going back and forth over two shades of white that, to me, looked nearly identical, but apparently meant the difference between “elegant” and “cheap hotel h
Nadia POV Priya showed up at my apartment around seven that evening, carrying a thick leather folder stuffed so full of paper that it barely closed properly. In her other hand was a bottle of wine. The second I opened the door, she held the bottle up like a trophy and grinned at me. “This,” she announced, “is for after the paperwork. Nobody on this earth deserves to drink before reading legal documents. That’s just basic self respect.” I laughed and stepped back to let her in. “Good to know your priorities are perfectly in order.” “They always are.” The moment she walked through my door, her attention shifted somewhere else entirely. Past me. Straight toward the studio room. She didn’t even take off her coat. She just walked right past me, folder and wine bottle still in her hands, and headed directly into the room like she already knew every corner of my apartment. I smiled and followed her. Priya walked slowly around my studio, taking her time with every single corner of i
Dorian’s POV Dinner finished successfully. Everyone shook hands. Mr Smith said he would be in touch with our legal team within the week to start drawing up the actual agreement. As my father and I walked together toward our cars in the parking lot, he spoke almost absentmindedly, like the thought had just occurred to him in passing. “That’s unfortunate,” he said. I looked over at him. “What is?” “Your girlfriend. Missing tonight.” I waited for more. A lecture, maybe. Some kind of disappointed speech about responsibility and showing up for important things. It didn’t come. Instead, after a small pause, he just added, very simply: “Nadia never missed one.” That was it. No criticism. No lecture. Nothing else attached to it at all. He got into his car and drove off. One sentence. That’s all it was. And yet somehow, that one sentence followed me the entire drive home, sitting in the passenger seat of my mind like it had every right to be there. ~~~ When I got home, Lena wa
Dorian POV My father called me into his office about an hour before the end of the workday. I knew it was something important the second his assistant told me. My father didn’t usually call people into his office that late unless it actually mattered. I walked in. He was standing by the window, looking down at the city, his hands in his pockets as he stood probably thinking about something serious. “Sit down,” he said, without turning around. I sat. He finally turned and looked at me. “Tonight’s dinner is the most important meeting we’ve had in months.” “Okay,” I said. “I know it’s important. You already told me that yesterday.” “I don’t think you understand how important.” He walked over and sat down across from me, leaning forward slightly. “This international investment company has been considering a partnership with us for almost a year now. If tonight goes well, I’m putting you in charge of the entire project.” I blinked. “The entire project?” “Yes,” he repeated. “It wou
Nadia’s POV The next day I made the brand page official.I took photos of the coat in the best lighting my apartment had to offer, which honestly wasn’t great, but it would have to do for now. I posted it. Wrote a small caption. Then immediately tried very hard not to obsess over it.I failed within five minutes.Five minutes after posting: one like.Ten minutes after posting: three likes.Half an hour after posting: seven likes.Nothing exciting. I told myself I didn’t care about numbers like that. I told myself this was just the beginning and beginnings are always slow.I absolutely cared.Then, almost out of nowhere, my phone exploded.I mean that literally. Notification after notification, stacking up faster than I could read them. Fifty likes. Then a hundred. Comments pouring in. Shares. Saves.Confused, I sat up and tried to figure out what on earth had just happened.Then I saw it.Priya had shared my post on her story. And Priya, it turned out, had an enormous following I had
Nadia POVThe morning after lunch with Richard, I sat in front of my laptop for almost ten minutes before I actually did anything. The card was sitting right next to my keyboard. I kept looking at it like it might disappear if I looked away for too long.Finally I typed in the numbers.I pressed enter.And then I just sat there.Staring at the screen.The balance updated right in front of my eyes, and for a second I forgot how to breathe properly. It wasn’t really about the number. I mean, yes, it was a lot of money. A ridiculous amount of money. But that’s not what made my chest feel so tight.It was what the number meant.Freedom.Options.A future that didn’t depend on Dorian, or Vivienne, or anyone else who thought they had the right to control my life just because they had more money than me.For the first time in years, I felt like I could actually breathe. Like there was room in my lungs that wasn’t there before.I sat back in my chair and just let that feeling sit with me for
Ariel stared at him, her mouth slightly agape, completely taken aback. “Are you serious?” she breathed, unable to fully process the magnitude of his sudden change of heart. “Yeah. Invite him over for dinner or something. I’ll play nice. I promise.” A faint smile touched his lips. “Wow. That’s… I d
Ariel's POV Stacy sat across from me in the noisy cafeteria, she had just returned from a long trip. I couldn’t contain my joy. Her presence was like watching the sun rise after a week of relentless rain. We sat across from each other, our lunch trays forgotten, laughing like we were the only two
Professor Grayson sat in his office, the video playing again and again on the screen of his phone like a cursed loop that refused to break. Ariel’s soft moan echoed through the tiny speakers, a sound that had once been intimate and precious, now weaponized against them both. The way he had kissed he
Ariel had never been this sure of anything before. Her fingers trembled slightly as she clutched the hem of her blouse, standing in front of Professor Luther’s office door. She had thought about it for days… no, weeks. The feelings that had started out as fascination had grown into something deeper.







