LOGINEvelyn POVThe corridor outside the boardroom was mercifully empty. I walked fast, my heels clicking against the marble in a rapid staccato that matched my heartbeat. My reflection flashed past in the glass walls on either side, and I caught a glimpse of myself: flushed cheeks, swollen lips, hair that someone's fingers had definitely grabbed in the recent past.Evelyn Bennett, what the hell is wrong with you?Seriously. What was wrong with me? Not twenty minutes ago, I'd been telling Adrian that I didn't trust him. That Isabella was a knife waiting on the other side of every moment I let my guard down. That his history of hurting me was too deep and too recent for a resignation letter and some phone screenshots to fix.And then he'd touched my face and I'd just... melted? Like butter? Like some pathetic, hormone-driven teenager who'd never been kissed before? I'd let him put me on a TABLE. A boardroom table! The same table where budget meetings happened! Where quarterly reviews were p
Evelyn POVHis fingers moved to the top button of my blouse.He undid it slowly, pressing his lips to the newly exposed skin at the base of my throat. Then the second button, and his mouth followed, tracing the line of my collarbone with a deliberateness that made my toes curl inside my heels.The third button came undone, and I felt the cool air of the boardroom against my chest, followed immediately by the warmth of his hand sliding across my bare skin. His palm moved up my stomach, over the lace edge of my bra, and I arched into his touch with a sharp intake of breath that echoed off the glass walls.His thumb traced the line of lace along the curve of my breast, and I gripped the front of his shirt hard enough that I heard a seam protest. He made a rough sound against my throat, something between a groan and a growl, and his other hand slid up my thigh, pushing the hem of my skirt higher.My legs wrapped around him instinctively, pulling him closer, and the contact made both of us
Evelyn POVThe silence between us was thick enough to touch.I was still holding his phone, the screen full of evidence that should have made me feel vindicated, powerful, armed. Instead, I felt hollowed out. Like someone had reached inside my chest and scooped out everything familiar, leaving behind a raw, aching emptiness that I didn't know how to fill.Adrian leaned forward in his chair. Slowly, deliberately, he reached for my hand again. This time, when his fingers closed around mine, there was no calculation in the gesture. It wasn't a performance. His grip was firm but careful, the way you'd hold something precious that you were afraid of breaking."Evelyn." His voice was rough at the edges, like he'd been holding the words back for a long time and they'd worn grooves in his throat on the way out. "I need you to hear me. I cannot forgive anyone who tried to take your life, not even Isabella or anyone. And I will do whatever it takes to prove that to you. Whatever it takes. Howev
Evelyn POVMy voice cracked on the last word. I hated it. I hated that he could still do this to me, reach into the locked rooms of my chest and rattle the doors."And through all of it," I said, "Isabella was there. The woman you loved, the woman you protected, the woman you chose every single time. As long as she is still in the picture, as long as she's anywhere near you, I cannot trust you. I won't. Because every time I've let my guard down around you, she's been the knife waiting on the other side."The silence that followed was suffocating.Adrian looked at me for a long time. Not with anger or the cold defensiveness I'd expected. He looked at me the way someone looks at a wound they caused with the slow, dawning comprehension that the damage was more serious than they'd ever allowed themselves to believe.Then he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone.I watched as he unlocked it, his thumb moving across the screen with purpose. He scrolled for several seconds,
Evelyn POVThe board members filed out one by one, each pausing briefly to shake my hand or offer a few parting words of encouragement on their way to the door.Lilian Hart squeezed my arm and told me she was proud of me. Gerald King nodded stiffly and said something about quarterly projections being ahead of schedule. Thompson mumbled congratulations without meeting my eyes. He was one of those who'd voted against my appointment twice and was now pretending he'd been in my corner all along.I smiled at each of them and said the right things, but my attention wasn't on the departing board. It was on the man who hadn't moved from his chair.Adrian sat at the far end of the mahogany table, perfectly still, watching the room empty with such calmness and patience that I knew he had nowhere else to be. His jacket was draped over the back of his chair, his sleeves rolled to his forearms, and he held a glass of water he hadn't drunk. He was turning it slowly between his fingers, the light ca
Evelyn POVMy heart gave a small, knowing thump. I already knew where this was going.The conversation I'd had recently with Adrian about how running both the operational CEO role and the Managing Director position simultaneously was unsustainable and had resulted in a recommendation that still made my chest swell with warmth every time I thought about it.Grace was the perfect candidate. She'd earned it a hundred times over. The official announcement was planned for the Green Valley Phase One launch, a moment that felt right, fitting, the kind of public recognition that Grace would never have asked for but absolutely deserved.But she didn't know yet. And looking at her now with the tablet in hand, glasses slightly askew, already three steps ahead on every logistical detail, I wasn't about to spoil the surprise."We'll discuss that soon," I said. "I have some thoughts."Grace studied me for a beat, clearly sensing there was more behind my words, but she let it go with a professional
Adrian POVI sat at my desk, going through documents for our investment in Bangria. The numbers were impressive. The potential was huge. But everything depended on one thing—whether Gabriel Ross and I could come to an agreement.This morning, I received a call from Rowan, Gabriel's subordinate. He'
Adrian POVI looked up from my desk, annoyed at the interruption. "What news? And where are your manners? Don't you see I have company?"Joshua barely glanced at Emma before turning back to me. "There's a video going viral. It's Bennett Corporation. Evelyn just announced that Vincent Hayes is makin
Evelyn POVI slammed the office door harder than I meant to.The sound echoed through the hallway, and a few heads turned, but I didn’t care.I dropped my bag on the chair and sank into my seat, my chest rising and falling fast. My hands trembled as I placed them on the desk. I stared at the neat st
Evelyn POVI had just lain down on my bed when I heard the soft knock on my door.I stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, hoping it would go away. But after a few seconds, the knock came again.I groaned and pulled the blanket over my head. I was so tired. My body ached. My mind was exhausted. A







