LOGINThe movement woke Amelia.She opened her eyes, still dazed, and saw Lincoln's profile above her. His jaw was set, his focus fixed as he hurried toward the elevator."Mr. Spencer…" Her voice came out weak, rough with congestion.He glanced down at her, his tone softening. "You're awake? Hang in there. We'll be at the hospital soon."She looked at him, close enough now that it made her pause."I…" she spoke, but he cut her off."At a time like this, you don't need to keep your distance." His gaze stayed steady. "You're Evie's mom, and you matter to Nathan. Helping you is the least I can do."Amelia turned her head and looked toward the dark outside the elevator, something unsettled shifting in her chest.The elevator reached the first floor. Lincoln carried her straight out to the parking lot, settled her into the passenger seat, and draped his coat over her."Are you cold? Just hold on. We'll be there soon."She shook her head and leaned back, closing her eyes.As the car pul
By the time Amelia got home, it felt like something heavy was pressing on her chest, making it hard to breathe.She braced herself against the wall by the entryway and stood there for a while before she could steady herself. The dull ache in her lower abdomen had worsened, each wave tugging at her nerves until a fine layer of sweat formed on her forehead.She didn't have the strength to change her shoes. She dragged herself to the couch and dropped onto it.She pulled out her phone to call Jasper, but the screen blurred into overlapping images. Her eyelids felt unbearably heavy.She told herself she would rest for just a minute.She leaned back against the couch and closed her eyes.Outside, the sky darkened. The living room lights stayed off.Her awareness faded little by little. The tightness in her chest and the pain in her abdomen were slowly swallowed by a heavy drowsiness. Without realizing it, she lost consciousness.When she came to, she heard the sound of a key turning
A dozen pairs of eyes turned to Amelia at once. The tension in the room pressed in, thick and suffocating.A failure report lay open on the conference table, the loss estimate marked in red. It wasn't just tens of millions in hardware. Missing the government timeline would cost far more.Samantha sat near the head of the table. The moment she saw Amelia, she stood. Her eyes were already red, her voice tight with grievance."Amelia, what took you so long? When you handed things over, you never said Module Three's parameters needed real-time calibration! Now the system's down. It won't connect to Corvex Solutions' database. What am I supposed to do?"Her voice wavered, as if she were the one being wronged, though there was a faint edge underneath.Around the table, engineers exchanged looks. A few softened, drawn in by her expression.Amelia didn't answer right away. She walked to the table, opened her laptop, and pulled up the handover email, projecting it onto the main screen."
Amelia and Lincoln talked on and off, mostly about the kids.Outside, the night deepened.Neither of them noticed the man passing by the restaurant entrance.Luke had just finished dinner with a client and was heading out when he spotted Amelia's table by the window. His gaze moved from Amelia to Lincoln, then to the two kids across from them, chatting easily. He paused.Then he pulled out his phone, snapped a photo, and sent it to Christopher.[Look. Amelia and Lincoln are out with the two kids. Looks like they're playing house. Wasn't Jasper supposed to be her boyfriend? Guess she's not the loyal kind. Good thing you divorced her early, or God knows how many times you would've been cheated on.]He put his phone away and left.At that moment, Christopher had just finished a long meeting and returned to his office.He was holding a cup of coffee when he saw the message. His hand jerked, and hot coffee splashed over his fingers, but he didn't react.In the photo, Amelia was s
Amelia met Jasper at the restaurant.He tapped a finger against the section on technical sharing, his brows drawn tight. "Corvex Solutions wants in on optimizing the core algorithm. We can't give in on that. That's Nova Nine's foundation."Amelia nodded, about to respond, when her phone rang. Evelyn's name lit up the screen.She answered. Her daughter's soft voice came through right away. "Mommy, Nathan is treating us to something good. Come over, okay? It's that family restaurant we went to before.""I'm working right now," Amelia said gently, though a trace of guilt slipped in. "Go ahead and eat with Nathan first, alright?"Over the past few days, she had been so busy coordinating with Corvex Solutions that she barely had any time for Evelyn."No, you have to come." Evelyn's tone turned coaxing. "Nathan said we should wait for you."She hesitated, then added, "And… it seems like he has something he wants to tell you."Jasper smiled and nudged her arm. "Go. I'll review the det
The office came alive in an instant.The same people who had been speaking with Amelia moments earlier crowded around the cart, reaching for desserts and offering thanks."Thank you, Ms. Bloom. That's too kind.""I've been trying to get these forever and never could. Ms. Bloom, you're amazing."Someone even turned back to Amelia. "Ms. Sinclair, you don't have to worry about us. With Ms. Bloom here, the project will be fine."Amelia stood there, watching. The shift was almost ironic.A few limited-edition desserts were enough to change the mood of the room. It didn't take much to win people over.She didn't stay. She turned and headed for the elevators.By the time she reached the first floor and the doors opened, she saw Christopher standing near the entrance.He wore a dark gray suit and held a paper bag.When he saw her, he stepped forward and held it out. "I got you some herbs that help with recovery. You just had surgery, so you should get some rest."Amelia glanced at t
Luke saw Amelia sign her name without any hesitation, which sent some of his assumptions crumbling.The next second, however, he thought that she must be playing hard to get as part of her scheme. They weren't actually getting their divorce certificate from the clerk's office, after all.He chuckl
"Why should I?"Amelia looked at Christopher's cold, hard face. "Christopher Zephyr, what right do you have to command me?"She turned and looked icily at Tania. "If this happens again, I won't let you off with just a simple slap."With that threatening look on her face, Amelia looked excepti
Amelia was clearly rejecting Christopher.The contract only stated that she couldn't reveal the fact that they had been married and were now divorced. It didn't require her to return to their marital home and put up an act with him.Christopher said nothing and put his hand down."Chris, let Ms.
Ever since Nicole got hurt on the turf, Nathan started ostracizing her in school.No one wanted to be with her, no matter the activity.The teacher saw the children's response and furrowed her brows."Evelyn, did you do something that everyone hates? Why don't they want to be on the same time as







