MasukEvelyn POVI jerked upright, wiping my face frantically with the back of my hand, smearing mascara across my cheekbone. Through the tear-blurred glass, I could see two figures in uniform. Cedar Heights security. Dark polo shirts with the club crest, clipboards, and stiff postures.I lowered the window, still sniffling, trying to compose a face that didn't look like it had just spent three minutes screaming into a steering wheel."Ma'am," the first officer said. He was young, clean-shaven, and clearly uncomfortable with what he was about to say. "Are you the owner of this vehicle?""Yes.""Ma'am, I'm afraid your vehicle is in violation of Cedar Heights' parking and traffic regulations." He consulted his clipboard. "You're parked in a fire lane. This section of the lot is clearly marked with red kerb striping and signage indicating that no vehicles are to be parked or left unattended at any time."I looked down. He was right. In my distress, I'd pulled into the first space I'd seen with
Evelyn POVThe realisation settled over me with a cold, nauseating clarity.Someone had arranged a fake meeting to waste my time, to pull me away from the office three days before the launch, to make me sit here feeling helpless while the clock ticked and the investor crisis deepened. And they'd sent me specifically to Cedar Heights, the one venue in Crescent Harbour most likely to unsettle me, the place where my worst public memories lived.Isabella. It had to be Isabella. Nobody else would know what this club meant to me. Nobody else would understand the precise cruelty of sending me back to the place where I'd been humiliated, where Adrian had grabbed me, where Vincent had walked away.I texted Grace back.No meeting. It was a setup. Someone scheduled it to waste my time. I'm going to try to go directly to Meridian's office. Call Adrian and ask if his legal team can run a trace on the number Prescott's assistant supposedly called from.I set the phone down and took a breath, trying
Evelyn POVVincent was standing at the bar, leaning against it with one elbow, his body angled toward the bartender. He was wearing dark golf trousers and a navy polo damp with perspiration, his hair pushed back from his forehead, slightly curling at the temples from the heat. He looked relaxed.Like a man in his element, surrounded by people who made him comfortable.Surrounding him were four women. All young, all attractive, all dressed in matching golf skirts and fitted polo shirts that suggested they'd been playing together. Two of them were flanking Vincent on either side, their arms looped through his, leaning into him with the casual intimacy of women who felt entirely entitled to his proximity. One of them was saying something into his ear, and he tilted his head toward her and laughed warmly.He was laughing with reckless abandon. The smile that I’d thought was reserved for quiet moments and private conversations was being deployed at full wattage in a rooftop bar for an audi
Cedar Heights Golf & Country Club sat on a hill overlooking the eastern edge of Crescent Harbour, its manicured grounds spreading across forty acres of rolling green that smelled like fresh-cut grass and money.I hadn't been here in months, and it seemed like a lifetime since the day Isabella had humiliated me in the locker room. Adrian had grabbed my wrist on the fairway, and Vincent had walked away without looking back, and a golf ball had knocked Isabella unconscious, and Adrian had screamed that it was all my fault.A wonderful day, really. The kind you frame and hang on the wall.Grace had arranged the meeting. Simon Prescott, portfolio manager at Meridian Partners, had agreed to meet me at the Cedar Heights rooftop bar at eleven o'clock. Not his office. Not mine. A neutral venue, which in the language of corporate negotiations meant "I don't want this conversation on record." That should have been my first warning.I arrived at ten forty-five. Early, because I'd rather sit alone
Evelyn POVGrace swiped through her tablet. "I've reached out to the remaining Phase Three investors for confirmation calls. Most haven't responded yet, which could mean anything. But Hargreaves Trust returned my call ten minutes ago, and their tone was... cautious. They didn't commit to anything, but they asked questions they've never asked before. Questions about our cash reserves, our debt service capacity, our contingency planning for budget overruns on Phase Three.""Those aren't questions an investor asks when they're comfortable. Those are questions an investor asks when someone's told them to be uncomfortable.""That's what I thought too."I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. Three days. I had three days until the launch, and someone was pulling the financial foundation out from under it.The question was who.My first thought was Victoria. Even from custody, Victoria had connections, contacts who owed her favours, people she'd cultivated over years of social climbing
Evelyn POVOn the surface, the launch was shaping up to be the most significant event in Bennett Holdings' history. The Green Valley site looked spectacular — I'd driven out there twice in the past week, and both times I'd stood at the edge of the Phase One residential area and felt a pride so fierce it almost drowned out the sadness underneath it.The houses were finished. Central Park was landscaped. The commercial district facades were up, and the streetlights were installed, and from the right angle, at the right time of day, it looked like a real neighbourhood. A place where people would live and work and raise families. A place I'd imagined on paper and willed into existence.I'd built this. Whatever else was falling apart, I'd built this.Adrian had been present throughout. He wasn’t hovering, pushing, or using my vulnerability as an opening.He came to meetings and provided counsel when asked. He reviewed contracts, flagged issues, and offered his legal team's resources when B
Evelyn POVIt’s been three weeks since Vincent brought me home, since I'd discovered the full extent of Victoria's betrayal, since I'd begun the slow process of reclaiming my life.But today, I wasn't sure any of that mattered.I'd spent the past week listening to Isabella sob in the witness stand,
Vincent POVI'd been pacing the length of the police department's hallway for what felt like hours, my shoes marking a worn path on the linoleum floor. It had been two days since Evelyn had been officially filed as a missing person, and the police had accomplished absolutely nothing except shufflin
Evelyn POVThe first thing I felt was cold.A splash of water hit my face so suddenly that I gasped, sputtering and choking as the shock of it jolted me from whatever fragmented sleep I'd managed to find on the concrete floor.My eyes flew open, blinking against the harsh fluorescent light overhead
Vincent POVI stood up abruptly, my chair scraping loudly against the floor. Several people in the cafe glanced in our direction.My heart was thumping loudly in my chest, and it had nothing to do with whether I was afraid. I was worried for Evelyn. Situations like this require an expert and an ent







