LOGINWe entered the kitchen with... Zach taking off his denim jacket casually, a simple movement that somehow still managed to make God and every sinful woman on earth lose focus. And when the fabric slid down his shoulders, the edge of a black tattoo on his upper arm peeked out from beneath his T-shirt.I saw it, and it's enough to make something in my head jerk awake. A flash of last night. My fingers touching that line of ink. My mouth briefly pressed there.I froze for a fraction of a second. I had been drunk last night. I wasn’t supposed to remember details like that.So why did I remember?Why did it feel too clear?He moved toward Max, who was standing in front of the sink... then Zach walked to him and bent down to him.“Rinse until the soap is gone,” he said.Max wrinkled his nose. “I did.”Zach glanced at his hands.Max looked too. Soap was still stuck between his fingers. “Oh.”“Again.”Max didn’t argue. If I had said it, he would have demanded scientific evidence about soap.
“I didn’t invite you.”“I know.”“Good. So your brain still works. Now use it to go back to your brother’s house.”He lifted the paper bag slightly. “I brought dessert.”“I have a door.”“I can see that.”“I can close it.”“You could also let me in.”I looked at the paper bag. It bore the logo of an Italian bakery in Portland that usually required reservations for its cakes and charged prices that made sane people question the value of sugar.Then I looked back at his face. “No.”Zach put on a wounded expression, lowering his brows slightly and tilting his head like a man who knew his face had opened doors, dresses, and bad decisions before. Unfortunately, it had.“I haven’t eaten anything yet,” he said.“Tragic.”“I had something to take care of as soon as I woke up,” he said casually, as though there were nothing strange about him standing on my doorstep like this.“You should be taking care of your fiancée.”The words escaped before I could stop them.His smile didn’t exactly disap
Twelve minutes later, I turned into our driveway with one Jeep still following behind me and the other pulling to a stop across the street.I couldn’t tell whether they were deliberately trying to be discreet or genuinely didn’t understand that two enormous black vehicles in a quiet Lake Oswego neighborhood had all the subtlety of a tank parked outside a flower shop.I drove into the garage.The door was only halfway up when Issa unbuckled her seat belt.“Don’t get out until the car stops.”“I’m just preparing.”“You’re standing.”“I’m preparing with my feet.”I pressed the brake, turned off the engine, and looked over my shoulder.Max had pressed an empty gelato cup to his ear like a phone.“Hello?” he said. “Chocolate King speaking.”Issa rolled her eyes as she unbuckled herself. “There’s no one there.”“You don’t know that. It’s Italian technology.”I opened my door and got out before the conversation developed into an international conspiracy theory.Cold, damp air drifted into th
Portland was wet outside. A thin drizzle clung to the glass, making the street look like a photo that hadn’t finished developing. Traffic lights stretched long across the asphalt.The twins’ preschool stood behind a white fence and wet maple trees, far too pretty for a place where my two children started daily riots. The building was low, all glass, pale wooden doors, neat flower pots, and one little sign that read “Spring Gelato Day!” in a cheerful font that made me suspect no adult in there had children like Max and Issa.I parked in the drop-off lane.Before I could open the door, the first Jeep stopped two cars behind me. The second one rolled past slowly, then parked across the street, facing outward. Whoever was inside didn’t get out.From the Jeep behind me, a man stepped out.Tall. Plain black jacket. Dark jeans. No obvious earpiece like some cheap-movie bodyguard, but the way he scanned the area made everyone near the fence suddenly look like part of a map. He walked toward m
The morning finally ended the way all mornings in my house ended: not actually over, just surrendered. Bianna came downstairs fifteen minutes later in a sage green hoodie, her hair clipped up with a claw clip, wearing the expression of a woman who immediately knew there was drama but was smart enough to prioritize caffeine consumption before interrogation.By eight-twelve, the twins had left for preschool with her.By eight-thirty, I was already sitting in my own office.Not Northlake.Not in their building that smelled like marble, old family secrets, and money that had never learned how to apologize. Not in their walnut conference room. Not in front of people who used the word “principal” like it wasn’t just another name for Zachary de Sanctis standing behind dark glass, controlling my life with a remote.My own building made much more sense.Floor-to-ceiling glass overlooking wet Portland. The dev team outside my office moved with its usual rhythm: keyboards, coffee, hoodies, heads
My house was too quiet. Just the sound of the key I forced into the lock with frozen fingers, my own short breathing, and the soft rain tapping against the large glass windows in the living room.I slipped inside like a thief.A thief with her dress on backward, bare feet, heels in hand, thighs cursing her in a universal language, and a mark on her neck that would make Theo immediately go out and buy a shovel.I closed the door softly.Very softly.Then I stood in the foyer for three seconds, listening.No Bianna.No Theo.No Max announcing himself as the “king of breakfast.”No Issa rejecting life because her hair had “no emotional support.”Good.Finally, the universe had given me one small gift after slapping me with a naked Italian man at six-thirty in the morning.I crossed the living room quickly and climbed the stairs while gripping the railing like a rich old woman getting off a ship. Every step gave my body a new report. Thighs. Hips. Neck. Head. All of them taking turns fili
“Max. Issa.” My voice came out neat. Too neat. “We’re going home.”Issa didn’t look back. “In a minute, Mommy. Sofia is bonding with me.”“Sofia will survive without additional bonding.”“No, she needs me.”“She’s a cat.”“Mommy, Cannoli is almost choosing Arsenal.” Max half turned, still crouched.
“My royal belly.”I looked at Issa’s little stomach, which she was patting with great authority, then at Max, who immediately started making stomach noises with his mouth.“Belly belly belly,” he said, giggling.“Nathan,” I said without taking my eyes off my children. “If they start calling me Bell
He leaned slightly against the side of the mansion’s black gate, coffee tumbler still in hand, his gray hoodie falling perfectly across his shoulders. His hair was dark, damp at the ends, like he had either just showered or just come back from a run that somehow had not made him look like a regular
I had just finished brushing my teeth when my bedroom door opened slowly, and Issa appeared there with hair like a baby bird caught in a storm, her stuffed bunny dragging from one hand, hazel eyes wet, bottom lip pushed out.I knew before she even spoke.“Mommy,” she said in a small, broken voice.







