FAZER LOGINEvelyn POVGhost employees. I felt sick. Victoria had been manufacturing fake staff members and collecting their salaries. For years. Right under my nose, right under the company's nose, facilitated by the very man whose job was supposed to be managing our people.I knew she'd been stealing, but this... was far beyond my expectations. "There's more," Morales said, and his tone shifted into something heavier. He pulled out another set of documents and placed them on the table with the reverence of a man handling evidence he knew would change the course of a case. "The packet also contained records of communications between Mrs Bennett and several individuals linked to narcotics distribution networks operating in the Crescent Harbour port area."Belle's hand found my knee under the table and gripped it."Narcotics?" I heard myself say."It appears that Mrs. Bennett may have been using Bennett Holdings' commercial property portfolio as a front for facilitating the storage and distributi
Evelyn POVMorales looked like he wanted to say something about procedure, then apparently decided it wasn't worth the fight. "Follow me."He led us through a series of corridors that got progressively less public-facing and more functional. The walls shifted from painted drywall to bare cinder block. The ceiling tiles gave way to exposed pipes. We passed a row of interview rooms with heavy doors and narrow windows, and I caught a glimpse through one of them of a woman sitting at a metal table.Victoria.I only saw her for a second as we walked past, but it was enough. She was sitting with her back straight and her hands folded on the table in front of her, dressed in what I recognised as her "travelling outfit," a tailored cream blazer over a navy blouse, pearl earrings, her blonde hair pulled back in a low chignon. She looked composed. Polished. Like a woman waiting for a business lunch, not a woman who'd been pulled off an international flight and escorted to a police station in ha
Evelyn POVThe sound cut through the warmth of the moment like a knife. I glanced at the screen, expecting Grace or maybe the event coordinator.The caller ID showed an unfamiliar number with a local area code.I picked up. "Hello?""Is this Miss Evelyn Bennett?" The voice on the other end was male and professional."Yes, this is she.""Miss Bennett, this is Detective Morales with the Crescent Harbour Police Department. I'm calling to inform you that approximately forty-five minutes ago, officers apprehended Victoria Bennett at Crescent Harbour International Airport."The room tilted.I sat up straight, my heart slamming against my ribs. Beside me, Belle noticed the change in my posture immediately and leaned in, her brow furrowed."She's back?" I repeated. "When did she arrive?""I'm not able to discuss the full details over the phone, Miss Bennett. But Mrs Bennett was flagged during a routine security check while attempting to leave Crescent Harbour in a disguise. Since she was alre
Evelyn POVBelle studied me for a long moment. The humour had drained from her face, replaced by the quiet, fierce protectiveness that had made her my best friend in the first place."Can I give you my honest opinion?""Please.""You have two options. Option one: You choose none of them. You step back from all three, focus on yourself, on Bennett Holdings, on Green Valley, and on the launch and on building the empire you fought for. You tell all three of them that you need space, and you take it. No guilt, no obligations, no tangled sheets.""And option two?"Belle shrugged. "Option two: you keep all three. No commitment. No exclusivity. No promises you're not ready to keep. You're a grown woman, Evelyn. You're allowed to explore what you feel without signing a contract. As long as you're honest about what you're doing, there's nothing wrong with taking your time to figure out who you actually want." She paused. "Or if you want any of them at all."I sat with that for a moment, turnin
Evelyn POVI pressed my palms against my eyes. "It was... intense. It was the most intense experience of my entire life, and I'm including nearly dying on that list. But afterwards, he pulled away completely. When he learned it was my first time, he got cold, distant, started talking about how we were a mistake, how he needed to focus on his business, how he couldn't afford to have vulnerabilities. He basically told me that sleeping with me was an error in judgment.""He said that to you? After sleeping with you?""Not in those exact words, but yes. That was the message. And I was devastated, Belle. I was completely shattered. I'd opened myself up to someone for the first time since I left Adrian, actually let myself feel something real, and he just... shut the door in my face. I left his apartment in tears, and a few minutes later, I discovered I'd been kidnapped.Belle's expression had shifted from gossip mode to something softer. She reached over and squeezed my knee."I'm sorry,"
Evelyn POVThe four words hung in the air between us.Of all people, Adrian?My mouth opened and closed twice before anything resembling coherent language came out."Vincent, it's not what you think."Even as I said it, I knew how it sounded. It was the most clichéd sentence in English. The words every guilty person reaches for when they've been caught doing exactly what they look like they've been doing.I could have written it on a greeting card: Sorry, I was making out with my ex-fiancé on a boardroom table. It's not what you think.Vincent looked at me, but not with anger; that would have been easier. Anger I could have worked with, argued against, met with my own fire. But Vincent didn't get angry. He did something far worse.He was quiet."You don't need to explain anything to me, Evelyn.""I want to explain. Just listen to me for a second. Adrian showed me something, some evidence about Isabella and the kidnapping, and it was overwhelming, and we were talking, and things just.
Evelyn POVTwo weeks later.Two weeks of lying in my bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to convince myself that everything would somehow work out. Two weeks of ignoring Vincent's calls, his texts, his attempts to see me. Two weeks of pretending that the world hadn't shifted on its axis and left me
Evelyn POV“Let’s begin with the data,” he said. “We’ll start with stock volatility.”A chart lit up behind him, showing peaks and dips over the past six weeks.Gerald leaned forward, folding his hands.“Miss Bennett, since the announcement of your leadership transition, the company’s stock has sho
Evelyn POVI went back into my office and sat down again, feeling more miserable than I had moments before.I'd lost my company. And now I was losing Grace.The door opened again without a knock.Adrian stepped inside, closing the door quietly behind him. He was still wearing his suit jacket, looki
Evelyn POV“Yes. Stand beside a man. Adrian is still pursuing you. That alone should tell you something.”"A friend of mine casually mentioned that you've been offending a lot of key players in the business space in Crescent Harbour," she continued, moving closer to my bed. "She thinks it might hav







