LOGINA week later, I sat at my desk outside Zane’s office, staring at my screen, the cursor blinking steadily in the middle of a document I had read three times and still couldn’t process.My whole body was sore from last night lovemaking.Zane has been demanding sex incessantly, ever since I returned back to his house.And I was scared to complain about it, because for one I know Zane hates to be rejected, and second I love it when he touches me, but this was getting more than i can handle.“Vivian.”I looked up.Clarissa stood a few feet away from my desk, her tablet tucked neatly against her side. Her expression wasn’t sharp today.It wasn’t mocking.It was… neutral.“Can I have a word?” she asked.That alone made my stomach tighten.Clarissa didn’t ask.She directed.She implied.She maneuvered.But she didn’t ask.Still, I nodded.“Of course.”She glanced briefly toward Zane’s office door, confirming it was closed, then turned and walked toward the far end of the corridor.I followed.
Home.The word settled deep in my chest.I hesitated.Just for a second.But in that second…I remembered everything.The way he looked at me.The way he touched me.The way he trusted me.The way he said he needed me.And just like that—My resistance collapsed.“Okay,” I said quietly.His breath hitched slightly.“Okay?” he repeated.I nodded.“Yes.”Relief flickered across his face.Subtle.But real.I glanced back toward Amanda’s building briefly.She was still standing at the door.Watching.Concern etched into her expression.I knew she wouldn’t approve.I knew she thought I was making a mistake.Maybe I was.But it didn’t matter.Because this wasn’t logic.This was love.And love didn’t alway
Morning came slowly.Not because the sun didn’t rise.But because I didn’t want to meet it.I had barely slept. The kind of restless, broken sleep where your body shuts down for minutes at a time but your mind never really lets go. Every time I drifted, I saw it again—The bedroom.The woman.Zane’s voice.I never promised exclusivity.I turned on my side, burying my face deeper into the pillow, willing the memory away.It didn’t go.A knock sounded lightly on the door.Then Amanda’s voice—too bright. Too awake.“Vivian… wake up.”I groaned softly. “No.”“Vivian, I’m serious. You need to see this.”Something in her tone pulled me out of my haze.Not urgency.Excitement.That alone made me frown.“I don’t need to see anything,” I muttere
Moments later, I found myself standing in front of Amanda’s apartment door, my hand hovering just inches from the bell.I didn’t remember leaving Zane’s house.Didn’t remember how I got into the Uber.Didn’t remember the route.Everything between the moment I tore myself from his grip and now felt like a blur of motion and noise and something sharp tearing through my chest.But the pain?That was crystal clear.It sat heavy in my lungs, making it hard to breathe. It pressed against my ribs like something alive, something angry, something broken.I swallowed hard and finally pressed the bell.A few seconds passed.Then the door swung open.Amanda stood there, dressed in soft home clothes, her hair tied up loosely, a glass of wine in her hand.Her brows furrowed instantly.“Vivian?”Her eyes swept over me — my disheveled hair, my trembling h
I didn’t remember walking down the stairs.One moment I was standing in that doorway, my world tilting off its axis… and the next, I was in the living room, my heartbeat loud in my ears, my steps unsteady but determined.I just knew one thing.I had to leave.Now.Before I broke in a way I wouldn’t recover from.My fingers tightened around my bag as I moved toward the door, each step faster than the last, like instinct had taken over where logic had failed.“Vivian.”His voice cut through the air behind me.Low.Sharp.Too close.I didn’t stop.I couldn’t.“Vivian.”This time, firmer.Closer.My hand had just reached the door handle when I felt it—His grip around my wrist.Strong.Unyielding.I froze.For a second, I couldn’t breathe.Slowly, I turned.
The drive back felt shorter than it should have.Amanda had hugged me tightly before I left, her earlier questions still lingering between us like unfinished sentences.Are you his woman?I had laughed it off then. Deflected. Changed the subject.But now, alone in the backseat as the city blurred past the window, the question kept replaying in my mind.Not loud.Not urgent.Just… persistent.By the time the car turned into Zane’s estate, my thoughts were tangled.I told myself I was overthinking.That what we had didn’t need labels.That actions mattered more than words.Still… something felt unsettled.The gates opened.The car rolled in.And that’s when I saw it.Zane’s car was already parked.My brows pulled together slightly.He wasn’t supposed to be home this early.He had meetings scheduled into the evening.“Plans changed,” I murmured to myself as I stepped out.A small, unexpected warmth flickered in my chest.Maybe I’d get to see him earlier.Maybe we’d have wine together.Ma
The bathroom door had barely clicked shut when the sound broke the quiet.A soft beep.Sharp. Intrusive.I froze.Zane’s phone lay on the nightstand, screen lighting up the dim room like an accusation. I hadn’t meant to look. I truly hadn’t. But the glow pulled my eyes to it before I could stop mys
The voice over the intercom crackled again, low and distorted.“Mr. Wilde,” the stranger drawled, “you and your little… guest… will sit tight. Unless you want this jet to drop out of the sky.”My heart stopped.Not skipped — stopped.Zane’s jaw clenched hard enough to crack. He stepped in front of
Blackness swallowed everything.Not the soft kind — not darkness you blink into.This was violent. Sudden. Absolute.For a strangled heartbeat, there was no sound.No light.No Zane.Just the roaring pulse in my ears and the metallic taste of panic on my tongue.Then — a hand found mine.Large. Unm
My heels clicked softly against the polished marble as I followed Elise down the corridor toward the PR wing. The Executive Floor felt different from everywhere else — colder, sharper, like every wall had the ability to remember your secrets.“This way,” Elise said, smiling politely. “Your team has







