LOGIN“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
His eyes moved from my hair, to my neck, to the dress I had thrown on all wrong.Slowly.Too slowly.Like he had all the time in the world to enjoy every piece of evidence that last night had not been a dream.“That dress looks better now,” he said.I picked up one of my heels from the floor. “If you finish that sentence, I will make sure you can’t have children ever again.”He chuckled.I hated that the sound still had the same effect as a warning light in a chemistry lab.Danger. Do not touch. Do not inhale for too long.“You’re sexier than you were five years ago,” he said.My heel flew.Unfortunately, his reflexes were still very good. Zach caught the shoe an inch before it hit his face. The bastard didn’t even look surprised. He only looked at the heel in his hand, then back at me.Right. Damn overachieving MIT jock with a superiority complex.“I see your aim has gotten worse.”“I’m hungover. Don’t get arrogant.”“You’ve always looked good when you’re mad.”“I’ll look even better
Max finally got bathed, although the entire process involved him yelling like he was being torn by force from his former life. Issa was worse. She stood in the bathroom like a tiny queen graciously tolerating a coup, demanding that the water be “not too hot, not too cold, not too aggressive.”Now t
I stared at the little card for a few seconds too long.Then I let out a soft huff, set it down on the island, and forced my body to move.I transferred the kunafa to a white serving plate. Its edges were golden, the pistachios glinting, the syrup still clinging sweetly to the bottom of the box. It
By lunchtime, Oregon looked like an ad for a peaceful life written by rich people with standing appointments with their therapists.I pulled into the driveway still thinking about charcoal cubicles, white shirts, and the audacity of the universe for making my ex look like a very expensive inconveni
I let Ethan keep talking for another two minutes after the word done left his mouth, just so I’d have a legally defensible reason not to look at Zach.The second the meeting broke up, Claire pulled Tania and Arun toward the badge-access area to deal with temp cards, workstation permissions, and all







