LOGINEvelyn POVThe question cracked something open inside me. Not because it was angry, demanding, or wounded. Because it was hopeful.Despite everything. Despite last night, despite the doorstep, despite the pharmacy, despite the twelve minutes of silence in which he'd driven me home from buying a pill to prevent another man's child. Despite all of that, Vincent was sitting in his car asking me if there was room.I opened my mouth to answer."You know what," he said, cutting me off. His voice had changed as if every word was being pushed through a space that kept narrowing. "Don't answer that. I'm not sure I want to hear it right now.""Vincent...""No, I think I need to say this." He let go of the steering wheel. His hands dropped to his lap, and he stared at them as if they belonged to someone else. "I have been patient, Evelyn. I have been so patient. I told you how I felt. I put myself out there in a way I have never done with anyone else. I asked you for a chance, a real chance, and
Evelyn POVThe silence that followed was unlike any silence I'd experienced in his presence.Every other quiet moment between us had been comfortable, natural, the pause between two people who didn't need words to fill every second. This silence was different. For one, it was clear that I'd slept with Gabriel. There was no other logical explanation, because why else would I need a postpill? To cure a headache?He didn't ask me to explain. He didn't ask who. He didn't ask when. He just drove, his eyes fixed on the road, both hands on the wheel, his jaw set in a line so tight I could see the muscle jumping beneath his skin.I kept my face turned toward the window. My cheeks were burning hot. I was surprised the glass wasn't fogging.We drove the rest of the way to the pharmacy in total silence.The pharmacy was a small, clean Wellcare on the corner of Third and Maple. As soon as we arrived, I unbuckled my seatbelt and reached for the door handle."I'll be quick," I said, without looking
Evelyn POVI climbed into the passenger seat and pulled the door shut behind me. The interior of Vincent's car smelled like fresh leather and that clean, woodsy cologne he always wore. The one that was nothing like Gabriel's darker, heavier scent. The one that was still, if I was being honest with myself, faintly present on my skin from twelve hours ago.I buckled my seatbelt without looking at him.He pulled away from the kerb without saying another word to me. His hands at ten and two, his eyes on the road, his profile calm and composed in a way that would have been reassuring if the silence between us didn't feel like it weighed four hundred pounds.We drove for two full minutes without speaking.The morning traffic was light. Suburban streets gave way to the main road, and the storefronts of Wrenfield's small commercial strip slid past the windows. A woman walking a terrier. A man opening the shutters on a bakery. The world was going about its Tuesday morning as if nothing extraor
Evelyn POVThe question landed in the middle of my laughter like a rock thrown into a pond. The ripples spread outward, and the laughter died."What?" I said."Protection, Evelyn. Condoms. Contraception. The birds and the bees. Are you on the pill?"I stared at the opposite wall. My brain, which had been happily replaying highlights of last night's activities, suddenly rewound to the specific moments in question and began reviewing them with forensic attention.The hallway. No.The bed, the first time. No.The bed, the second time, after we'd caught our breath and he'd pulled me back toward him and I'd climbed on top and. No.At no point during any of it had either of us paused to address the question of contraception. Not once. Not even for a second. Because we'd been too busy with the "fuck it" to think about the "oh, fuck.""Evelyn?" Belle's voice was careful now. Very careful. "Are you there?""I'm here," I said. My voice sounded distant, as if it belonged to someone watching my l
Evelyn POVThe words came out before I could catch them, raw and embarrassingly honest. The kind of thing you say to your best friend at seven thirty in the morning when your defences are down, and you're sitting in a bed that still smells like someone who isn't there anymore.Belle was quiet for a moment. When she spoke, her voice had shed the excitement and softened into something gentler."Oh, Evelyn. What happened?""We spent the night together." I pressed the heel of my hand against my eye. I was not going to cry. I was absolutely, categorically, one hundred per cent not going to cry about a man at seven thirty in the morning. "He took me to La Maison Doree, and it was perfect, Belle. The whole evening was perfect. And then we came back here, and we..." I trailed off. "He left before I woke up. There was a note on the nightstand.""What did it say?""'I left, but will always think of it.'"Belle exhaled. Long and slow. "That man.""He's going to Bangria. He said it would be a whi
Evelyn POVI reached for him before I opened my eyes.My hand moved across the sheets, searching for the warmth that had been wrapped around me when I'd fallen asleep, the solid wall of his chest against my back, his arm heavy and possessive around my waist. My fingers found nothing but cool cotton, and the absence registered in my body before my brain caught up. A hollow feeling, right behind my ribs, that spread outward like ink in water.I opened my eyes.The bed was empty. His side was rumpled, the pillow still dented from where his head had been, but the warmth was gone. The room was filled with early morning light, pale and grey, filtering through the curtains I hadn't bothered to close last night because I'd been rather spectacularly busy.I sat up slowly. The sheets fell away from my bare shoulders, and the cool air raised goosebumps across my skin. My body ached in places I'd forgotten could ache, a deep, pleasant soreness that made every movement a small reminder of what had
Evelyn POV"I'm not lying," I said calmly. "And I don't need to sabotage your project. The geological data will do that all on its own. I'm just giving people the information they need to make informed decisions."I stepped away from the microphone and returned to my seat, feeling a rush of satisfa
Evelyn POVI fixed my hair one last time in the car's mirror before stepping out.I was late.The entire contract-signing process took almost three hours.One clause turned into ten, one signature turned into three phone calls, and before I knew it, it was already 10:30 AM, which meant I was an hou
Evelyn POVThe conference room was filled with energy and anticipation.Vincent sat across from me at the long mahogany table, flanked by his legal team. I was surrounded by my own lawyers, all of us with documents spread out before us.This was it. The moment that would either save or destroy Benn
Gabriel POV"We got this from the CCTV footage at the Imperial Auction Hall," Rowan said, handing me a tablet with a video playing on it. "Just like you predicted. We were taken to the auction venue. And Miss Bennett was tailed too."I watched the footage in silence. Two sets of men, different grou







