MasukIt’s a Sunday, I literally had to squeeze time to write this. So it’s short. 😫 You’ll get another update or a double. Don’t hold back your thoughts. Xoxo.💋
Chapter 90Estelle✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦Inside my apartment, I immediately called Vivian.“How was it?” she answered on the first ring.“Complicated.” I collapsed onto my couch. “He kissed me.”“And?”“And then Harrods called and wants to place a massive order and now I’m panicking and I don’t know if I can actually do this.”“Wait, back up. Harrods? As in the Harrods?”I explained everything—the dinner, the connections, the impossible deadline, the kiss.“Okay,” Vivian said when I finished. “First of all, congratulations. This is huge. Second, we’re going to help you. You, me, and Millie. We’ll figure this out together.”“But—”“Not another but. This is your dream, Estelle. We’re not going to let you fail because you’re scared.”After we hung up, I sat in the darkness of my apartment and thought about that kiss. A girl always does. Reid was perfect. Almost too perfect.My phone vibrated. Speak of the devil: *You’re amazing. Don’t forget that.*How sweet and thoughtful. I fell asleep on my co
Chapter 89Estelle✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦Reid picked me up at exactly seven o’clock in a sleek black Aston Martin.“You’re punctual,” I said as he opened the passenger door for me.“My mother raised me with manners,” he replied with that easy smile that had charmed me at the gallery. “Plus, I’ve been looking forward to this all day. Didn’t want to risk you changing your mind.”“Why would I change my mind?”“Because you seem like the type of woman who overthinks everything.” He closed my door and walked around to the driver’s side. “Not a criticism. Just an observation.”Well, he wasn’t wrong.The restaurant was tucked away on a quiet street in Soho—a place that didn’t need a sign because everyone who mattered already knew where it was. Inside was all warm lighting and exposed brick, with tables spaced far enough apart for actual privacy.“This is beautiful,” I said as we were seated in a corner booth.“I’m glad you like it. The owner is a friend from university. Antonio makes the best risotto in
Chapter 88Kegan✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦The Selena Foundation launch had been a success by every measurable metric.Five hundred attendees. Seven million euros raised. Press coverage in every major Italian publication. Politicians, business leaders, and family members all gathered to celebrate the establishment of a charitable organization dedicated to protecting vulnerable young women from exploitation.It was everything we’d hoped it would be.And I’d felt absolutely nothing the entire time.“You good, baby boy?” Nikolai asked, appearing at my elbow with two glasses of whiskey. We were in my study—my actual study in my actual house in Sicily, not Russel’s house, it was too crowded at this time. “You zoned out.”“First off, I'm not a baby boy. Secondly, I’m reviewing the foundation’s first-year budget,” I said, gesturing to the spreadsheets open on my laptop. “Making sure we allocated resources appropriately.”“It’s three in the morning.”“Your point?”“My point is that you’ve been ‘reviewing bu
Chapter 87Estelle✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦“Absolutely not,” I said for the third time.“Absolutely yes,” Vivian countered, holding up the yellow dress. “You’re going to this gallery opening whether you like it or not.”“I don’t even like art.”“You don’t have to like art. You just have to stand there, drink expensive champagne, and look beautiful while rich people pretend to understand abstract paintings.” She thrust the dress at me. “Now put this on before I physically wrestle you into it.”Four days had gone by since the encounter with Adrian, and my friends had apparently decided that the solution to my Kegan-shaped depression was to keep me so busy I didn’t have time to wallow.Monday: boutique hunting. We’d looked at seven different spaces before I’d finally signed a lease on a gorgeous corner shop in Notting Hill with floor-to-ceiling windows and exposed brick walls.Tuesday: furniture shopping. Vivian had dragged me through every high-end home store in London, insisting that my boutique ne
Chapter 86Estelle✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦It had been three weeks.Twenty-one days since Kegan walked out of his penthouse and left me standing there with ninety minutes to decide our entire future.Twenty-one days since I’d let that deadline pass, frozen with indecision and fear and the overwhelming certainty that whatever choice I made would be the wrong one.Twenty-one days since he left me. “Earth to Estelle,” Vivian waved her hand in front of my face, pulling me back to the present. “You’re doing it again.”“Doing what?”“Staring at your phone like if you look at it hard enough, he’ll magically call.” She plucked the device from my hands and set it face-down on the café table between us. “It’s been three weeks, babe. If he was going to call, he would have called.”“I know,” I said quietly, wrapping my hands around my latte even though it had gone lukewarm ages ago. “I just—I keep thinking maybe I should reach out. Say something. Apologize for—”“Girllll.” Millie cut in from across the table
Chapter 85 Kegan ✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦ Letizia cried twice during the meal, sending Allesia into a panic both times until Russel calmed her down and the baby quieted. Adelio spilled his juice and tried to blame it on his sister. Marcel made an inappropriate joke that had Dylan swatting him with a dish towel. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect. And I felt like I was watching it all from behind glass. “You’re usually the liveliest, chattiest person on this table,” Dylan said from across the table. “I’m just tired.” “Brooding, more like. I can literally see the storm cloud over your head.” “I’m not brooding. I’m eating.” “You’re pushing food around your plate like a depressed teenager.” He grinned. “Want me to call her? I’ll call her right now. Tell her she’s an idiot for—” “Quit bringing her up.” “Why not? Someone needs to tell her.” “Because it won’t change anything.” I set down my fork. “Mind your own damn business.” Marcel leaned over, eavesdropping shamelessly. “I do think you’re







