MasukJace’s POV The second Zena whispered in my ear, my mind just—blinked out. Empty. Gone.“I’m ready now, Jace.”I turned to her, slow, still catching up. “Ready for what?”She slid her fingers slowly across my chest, then stepped around until she was right in front of me.“Ready to stop pretending.”The way she looked at me made the room feel like it had shrunk. Everything warmed up. Or maybe it got more dangerous. It's hard to tell.For weeks, everything between us built up, quiet but insistent. All those long talks. The late-night calls that always went on too long. She listened, really listened, especially when nobody else bothered. She always seemed to know just what to say—or when not to say anything at all.And after everything that happened with Charlotte… Mallory vanishing like she never existed… my dad turning into someone I barely recognized… Honestly, I was just wiped out. Bone-deep tired.Zena stepped closer and set her hand against my jaw. “You’re overthinking again.”I ga
Jace’s POVThe garden felt colder than usual.I stood there, staring at my father, waiting for him to crack. Just say it’s crazy, I thought. Admit this is all nuts.He didn’t. Instead, Mr. Norman poured himself another drink, as smooth as ever.“There is no Mallory,” he said again, almost bored.I laughed, but it came out rough. “I dated her for years.”He just shrugged. “You entertained a distraction for years.”“That’s not the same thing.”He looked so relaxed. My head was splitting in two.“She was pregnant.”“So she claimed.”“I saw the DNA results.”He didn’t even blink. “Documents can be created.”I couldn’t help staring at him.“You think somebody faked an entire pregnancy?”He stayed calm. “I think emotional people believe whatever they want to believe.”That answer hit something raw in me. God, I hated how calm he sounded. Like he always knew more than me.I stepped in, voice dropping. “What did you do to her?”He met my eyes and smiled. Not friendly, just faintly amused.“Ja
Jace’s POVI went back to the café.Same building. Same tables. That never-changing jazz still trickling out of the speakers.The waitress from last week glanced at me without recognition—like I was just another customer.“I’m looking for someone,” I said. “Mallory Kane. Blonde. Sits by the window.”She frowned, polite but blank. “Sorry, sir. I don’t know the name.”I just stared.“She was here with me.”She gave me that uncomfortable, customer-service smile. “A lot of people come here.”I yanked out my phone. Opened my texts.Nothing.Every message Mallory ever sent—gone. The whole conversation just wiped out, like it’d never happened.Pressure squeezed my chest.I checked my calls. Nothing there, either.And that’s when panic set in—not dramatic, more like this steady, crawling dread that gets inside your head and starts pulling out questions you don’t want to ask.I left and drove straight to Mallory’s apartment building.The elevator dragged upward, way too slow. My nerves burned
Zena’s POVI hated Mallory.Not because she was smarter than me. I could handle that.I hated her because she was slipping out of reach.I watched from inside a parking garage, arms folded, as one of my men tucked a weapon into the back of a shiny black SUV.“You know the plan?” I asked.He gave a curt nod. “We grab her after the spa. In and out.”“And her guards?”“We handle them.”He sounded sure. Too sure. That should’ve set off alarms for me.I stood there, arms tight around myself, eyes glued to the garage across from us.Three days.I’d spent three days tracking Mallory everywhere she went.Morning appointments. Lunch meetings. Shopping. Always somewhere fancy. Two spa visits a week.She moved all over Atlanta like she owned the city.And she never went alone anymore.At first, I thought Mr. Norman was paranoid. Then I found out Jace assigned those security details himself.For whatever reason, that stung. Jace still went out of his way to protect Mallory, even if he sounded hal
Zena’s POV Something about Mallory just got under my skin.It wasn’t the way she’d fill a room with noise or start drama over basically nothing. That part was almost predictable. What bothered me was how hard it had become to figure her out.So there I was, hovering at the dining table well past midnight—laptop open, hunting through years of articles, Instagram posts, snapped photos nobody should’ve kept, and even trashy gossip blogs. Anything tied to Mallory and Jace, I wanted it. I expected to catch a mistake. Something in the timeline. Maybe another man. A secret Mallory hoped nobody’d notice.Instead, I kept running into the same damn thing: history. Photo after photo. Mallory and Jace glowing at charity events, on yachts, wrapped around each other on a balcony in Miami, laughing like they could never break. I swear every search just brought up more of them, tangled together—breakups, makeups, constant drama that rich people like to call love.I leaned back in my chair and sighed
Jace’s POVMallory’s message showed up just after lunch.Can we meet? It’s important.I stared at the screen for long, honestly.This last month, everything’s felt out of place. The mansion’s colder without Charlotte. Dad acts like nothing ever happened—business as usual, dinners, fake smiles, all of it.Life keeps moving.But I don’t.And I hate that.Charlotte Hayes should’ve been nothing more than a memory by now.Except, she’s everywhere. In stupid, random ways.The dark hush of the library at midnight.Her habit of drinking cold coffee because she couldn’t remember where she set it down.The way she looked at me in the hospital, right before security dragged her out.Like I’d broken something in her.I rubbed my jaw and forced myself to type back.Location?Mallory answered instantly.Lennox Café.Of course. Out of all places. We used to love it years ago.I almost bailed.But I tossed my keys in my pocket and left.---Mallory’s POVI looked perfect. I had to. Guys like Jace not
The conference room had changed completely in less than twenty minutes.When Charlotte first entered, the atmosphere felt cold.Professional.Distant.Now?People were actually listening to her.The Singapore executives no longer looked at her like a billionaire’s emotional wife trying to save a co
The protest started with twelve women.By nine in the morning, it became almost fifty.By ten—News vans had already arrived outside the Atlanta Police Department.Charlotte stood near the front of the crowd wearing a cream-colored coat over a black dress, her hair tied neatly despite the wind blow
JACE’S POVThe cameras started flashing before the handcuffs even locked properly.White lights exploded across Jace Norman’s face and the second officers escorted him outside the mansion.Reporters screamed over one another behind the barricades.“JACE! DID YOU KILL DANIEL PARK?”“MR. NORMAN, ARE
The rain finally stopped sometime after midnight.The streets of Atlanta looked strangely calm again.But inside Detective Raymond Cole’s car, tension still sat heavily in the air.The anonymous messages remained glowing on his phone screen.ONE MILLION DOLLARS.NO QUESTIONS. NO PROBLEMS.Cole star







