LOGINAdrian POVThe elevator would be too slow, so I took the stairs, all twenty-three flights, my shoes hammering against concrete, the sound echoing through the stairwell.By the time I hit the ground floor, my heart was slamming, and my shirt was damp under the jacket. I didn't care because somewhere across this city, Evelyn was watching a television screen that was telling her Gabriel Ross was dead, and I had the one piece of paper that could tell her otherwise.I crossed the lobby at a pace that made my security team jog to keep up. I went through the glass doors into the underground parking garage that I use alone. I dismissed my security team and told them I wouldn't need them for the rest of the day. Even my driver was surprised when I asked him for my car keys and asked him to take the day off. I started the car, the tyres screaming against the concrete as I pulled out of the space and aimed it toward Wrenfield.It was a fourteen-minute ride in moderate traffic from Whitmore Towe
Adrian POVShe rose to her feet and then walked to my desk. She placed both hands flat on the surface and leaned forward until her face was inches from mine."But here's what you didn't account for," she said. Her voice was quiet now. Dangerously quiet. "I didn't orchestrate Evelyn's kidnapping because I wanted her dead. I orchestrated it because I was desperate. Because the man I'd spent half my life protecting, the man I'd given up everything for, the man who promised that he would take care of me and that no one would come between us, was slipping away. And the person he was slipping toward was Evelyn Bennett."Her eyes were bright with unshed tears."Do you remember that promise, Adrian? You had made that promise in the rain a year ago. Back when your mother had insisted you'd not marry from my family, you had made it clear to me that you'd never think of being with another woman."A tear rolled down her cheeks, and she brushed it forcefully. "I've been patient, Adrian. All these
Adrian POV"We need to talk about Evelyn."Isabella said the name the way a jeweller sets a diamond on velvet, then proceeds to say the price.She was still standing near the window, silhouetted against the Crescent Harbour skyline, and the afternoon light turned her white dress translucent at the edges. She looked beautiful. She'd always looked beautiful. That had never been the issue. The issue was what lived behind the beauty, and right now, for the first time in eight years, she wasn't bothering to hide it."Sit down, Isabella," I said.She nodded, flashed me a smile before crossing the room to sit and crossing her legs. She set her clutch on the arm of the chair. Her hands were still, her posture relaxed, and her eyes were fixed on mine with a focused calm that worried me."How long have we known each other, Adrian?" she asked."You know the answer to that.""Since we were sixteen. Twelve years. I've known you longer than most people you employ. I've known you through three corpo
Evelyn POVShe was right. The rational part of my brain, the part that ran a company and managed a board, understood every word she was saying.But the rational part wasn't in charge. The part in charge was the one that remembered Gabriel's smile yesterday morning outside my house. The real one. The rare one that made him look human and young and like someone who hadn't spent his entire life surviving. The part that remembered him saying "good morning, trouble" and not being sure if he was talking to the dog or me.Had he said good morning to anyone today? Had he woken up and thought about last night the way I kept thinking about it, with this desperate, consuming vividness? Or had he woken up to gunfire?"Evelyn." Belle's hands were on my shoulders. She was standing in front of me, her face level with mine. "Listen to me. Gabriel Ross is the most dangerous, most resourceful, most stubbornly alive man you have ever met. He has survived things that would have killed anyone else. If any
Evelyn POVI don't remember calling Belle. I must have, because twenty-two minutes later she was at my door, still in the clothes she'd been wearing when we'd spoken earlier, her car keys in one hand and a look on her face I'd never seen before. Not the playful Belle or the professional Belle or the protective Belle who'd once threatened to kill Adrian with her car. This was a Belle stripped bare. A woman who loved her friend and could see that her friend was falling apart.She didn't ask what happened. She took one look at me, sitting on the hallway floor in my stained sweatshirt with swollen eyes and a puppy in my lap, and she sat down beside me."Tell me," she said.I told her. The words came out in fragments, looping back on themselves. A phone call from an unknown number had called to tell me that Gabriel’s home in Bangria was attacked, that there were several shooters, and that up until the moment I received the call, there was no confirmation of whether Gabriel was alive or de
Evelyn POVBiscuit was licking the tears off my chin when the phone rang.I was still on the hallway floor, back against the front door, legs pulled up, my bag in my lap, and the puppy in my arms.I didn't know how long I'd been sitting there. I’d lost motivation to go to the office today but long enough for the morning light to shift from pale gold to something brighter and less forgiving.Long enough for my legs to go numb against the cold tile. Long enough to replay Vincent's face, the defeat in it, the quiet way he'd asked me to leave, and to feel the guilt settle into my body.The phone rang again and I almost didn't answer because I thought it would be Grace calling to know why I wasn’t at the office yet. I'd hit my quota for devastating conversations before noon, and the idea of hearing another human voice ask me something that required an emotional response made me want to crawl under the sofa and stay there until spring.But it might be Vincent. It might be him calling to say
Evelyn POVThe casual disrespect in the question made my grip on the microphone tighten, but I kept my voice calm. "Yes, thank you all for coming. Please return to your departments."The crowd immediately began filing out, not even waiting for me to step away from the microphone first. They streamed
Adrian POVI stared at the ceiling of my bedroom, watching the shadows shift as dawn approached. The alarm clock on my nightstand glowed 5:47 AM. Thirteen more minutes until it would go off, but I hadn't slept a single minute all night.My mind kept replaying the conversation I'd had with Damien Be
Evelyn POVI was waiting for Adrian to explain why he was here when the door suddenly opened. Grace walked in carrying a terracotta pot with a small rose bush in it."Evelyn, Vincent has received his daily dose of sunlight. I'm here to..." Grace trailed off when she noticed Adrian sitting across fr
Adrian POVThe iPad shattered against the wall with a satisfying crash, pieces of glass and metal scattering across the expensive carpet. I turned to face my trembling secretary, Linda, who was still standing by my desk with a stack of papers clutched to her chest."Is this the only thing you can p







