LOGINIRIS"What the hell is wrong with you?"The tissue in my hand trembled slightly. For a second, neither of us moved.The blood felt warm against my skin.Tristan's eyes stayed fixed on it.I quickly pressed the tissue harder against my nose."It's nothing."His jaw tightened."That's not nothing.""I'm fine.""You said that yesterday."I swallowed."And the day before that."His voice was calm, but somehow that made it worse.I looked away."I said I'm fine.""You nearly collapsed two days ago."My heart skipped.Had he noticed that too?Of course he had.Tristan noticed everything.I grabbed another tissue and turned toward the sink."It's just stress.""Stop lying."The words came immediately. My chest tightened."You don't know anything about me."His eyes narrowed."Then explain it.""No."The answer slipped out before I could stop it.Silence filled the kitchen.Dangerous silence.The kind that always came before Tristan got angry."Iris.""No." I said in a haste.His expression
IRISI spent the entire morning trying not to think about what Tristan had said.Unfortunately, that was impossible.Because every few minutes, my stupid brain replayed it again.Because nobody speaks about what belongs to me that way.I groaned softly as I folded another towel.“He obviously didn’t mean it like that,” I muttered under my breath.“What didn’t he mean?”I nearly jumped.Lila stood beside me with her arms crossed and a look on her face that already told me I was in trouble.“Nothing,” I said quickly.She narrowed her eyes immediately.“You’ve been acting weird all morning.”“I’m not acting weird.”“You are,” she replied without hesitation. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed.”I sighed quietly.“Lila…”“No seriously,” she continued. “First, I find out you’re dating Tristan Ross which still feels fake by the way, then suddenly there are pictures of you two online looking like some billionaire romance movie.”Heat rushed to my face immediately.“Can we not talk about that?
TRISTANBy the next morning, the pictures were everywhere.I knew that before I even stepped into my office.Adrian was already sitting on the couch with his legs crossed casually, scrolling through his phone with an amused expression on his face. Dylan stood near the window drinking coffee while looking far too entertained for that early in the morning.The moment I walked in, Adrian looked up.“Well,” he said. “Congratulations.”I ignored him and walked toward my desk.“On what?”Dylan chuckled quietly before tossing a tablet onto the table in front of me.“Your relationship.”My eyes moved down to the screen.Several articles filled the page.TRISTAN ROSS SPOTTED WITH MYSTERY WOMANBUSINESS HEIR FINALLY OFF THE MARKET?WHO IS THE GIRL BESIDE TRISTAN ROSS?There were pictures from outside the restaurant. Some showed Iris holding onto my arm while cameras flashed around us. Others showed me with my hand against her back while leading her toward the car.I stared at the screen for a f
IRISI barely slept.Every time I closed my eyes, I kept replaying the conversation from the night before.The list.The way Tristan had looked at it.The way he had gone quiet after reading it.It should not have mattered that much to me. He had not promised anything. He had not even said yes. But somehow, I still found myself thinking about it the moment I woke up the next morning.I stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before finally sitting up slowly.My body still felt weak.That part was becoming harder to ignore.I pressed my fingers lightly against my nose out of habit before getting off the bed carefully. Thankfully, there was no blood this morning.At least not yet.I got ready quietly and left my room, expecting the penthouse to be empty.Instead, one of the maids approached me almost immediately.“Mr. Ross asked for you downstairs.”I blinked.“Now?”“Yes.”A strange feeling settled in my stomach immediately.I nodded slowly before making my way downstairs.Tristan was
TRISTANI reached for the pager twice that afternoon.Both times, I stopped myself.The small device sat beside my laptop as I worked through reports, untouched. Normally, by now, I would have already interrupted her shift for something insignificant. Sometimes just to test how quickly she would come running.Today, I didn’t.The realization irritated me more than it should have.I leaned back slightly in my chair, eyes moving over the document in front of me for what felt like the tenth time without actually reading it.My thoughts kept drifting.To her.To the way she had looked the previous night after Vanessa walked into the penthouse.There had been a shift in her expression. Small. Almost unnoticeable But I noticed things other people didn’t.And I knew what I saw.My phone rang suddenly, breaking the silence in the office.I picked it up immediately.“Yes.”“Mr. Ross,” the voice on the other end said quickly. “Your brother is back. He asked to see you.”My expression remained
IRISI could have sworn I slept off on the couch yesterday.My eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the soft light in the room. For a moment, everything felt… normal.Then like my memories were waiting for me to wake up, I remembered everything. The way Tristan had looked at her. The way he told her to follow him like it was nothing. Like it was routine. Like it meant nothing.I swallowed hard and sat up slowly, my chest tightening. Why did that even bother me?I frowned slightly, staring at nothing.It shouldn’t. We weren’t anything.This whole thing between us was fake. An arrangement. A deal I didn’t even have control over.So why did it feel like something twisted inside me when I remembered it?Why did it stay on my mind like that?I let out a quiet breath and shook my head.“Stop it, Iris,” I muttered.This wasn’t my place. None of this was.I had no right to feel anything.I pushed the thoughts away and tried to get out of bed but the moment my feet touched the floor, my legs gave







