Masuk"My thesis gets approved in one pass," I say. "And Aunt Jean stays healthy and happy for a long, long time."The thought of her lands with its usual weight of guilt. She wasn't at the party tonight. My father didn't invite her — didn't think to, or chose not to, and I didn't push, and now it's past midnight on my birthday and I haven't seen the woman who raised me in weeks.I set that aside for later. I'm getting better at setting things aside for later.Liam is quiet for a moment.Then: "Your wishes.""What about them?""They didn't include me."I look at him. The dashboard light catches the particular injured quality he's giving the windshield."You told me not to say them out loud," I say. "Something about wishes not coming true if spoken.""I asked first.""And then immediately told me asking was pointless. You set the terms." I take another spoonful of cake. "You can't retroactively object."He m
He leads me out of the break room like nothing happened.Which, in the way that matters publicly, nothing did. We were in a break room. His sister cut her hand. We had a conversation. The party is still going.The ballroom hits me like a physical thing when we push back through the corridor — warmth, perfume, the hum of two hundred conversations running simultaneously. The chandelier hasn't dimmed. The champagne towers are still upright. Vivian is laughing at something across the room.The world continued without us.Liam stops.
Elizabeth pulls her hand back the moment I reach for it.Not dramatically. Not unkindly. Just — a withdrawal, clean and final, like a door closing without slamming."I'm fine," she says.I straighten up. My hand, extended toward the gauze wrap, has nowhere to go, so I lower it.There's something different in Elizabeth's face. She has been, in every interaction I've had with her, one of the most effortlessly warm people in the Hart family — the kind of warmth that's genuine rather than performed, that pulls you in without trying. She tied Liam's ties and cooked h
I stare at him.My brain is running the sentence back — what if I feel guilty — and trying to land on the interpretation that makes it metaphor. Literary reference. Academic observation. Anything other than what his face tells me it is.His face tells me it isn't metaphor.Adam looks at me. Really looks at me — the way he almost never does, the way he controls so carefully that the moments he lets himself slip through feel like watching something rare happen in real time.Then he says it plainly, the way he says everything that costs him the most:
Lisa watches Elizabeth Hart walk away.The practiced warmth on her face holds — it always holds — but underneath, very quietly, something arranges itself into satisfaction.Twenty years of research. Twenty years of patience.Claire Tan.Just a name. That's all it took.She lifts her champagne glass and takes a slow sip and scans the room for her next move.
I find the rooftop terrace through a door marked Staff Only that someone has propped open with a folded cocktail napkin, which is exactly the kind of detail I file away and appreciate.The November air hits me like a clean break.Below, through the glass walls, the party continues — crystal and champagne and the specific, exhausting performance of everyone being exactly who they need to be for exactly the right audience. I can see Vivian, changed into something that is actually hers, moving through a cluster of people with the ease of someone who was born knowing how to fill a room.Beside her: Tyler Nash, who I recognize from the selection round, now apparently doing promo work for Apex. He's laughing at something she said.George Smith is inside talking to Liam. Their body language is comfortable, the ease of men who have decided to trust each other's interests more or less. I watch Liam say something that makes George's mouth curve and think: whatever I'm worried about down there, i
Liam Hart had just left the room, his calm yet piercing presence lingering like an invisible storm.The moment the door closed behind him, Allie Brooks was swarmed by curious voices.“Allie, how do you know Liam Hart? He seemed so… gentle with you.”“The way he tied your shoelaces—oh my God—it was
The hotel’s bathroom was pristine, with a luxurious rainfall shower. Allie fiddled with the knobs, adjusting the water temperature to just the right warmth.She turned to Liam, who was leaning against the doorframe, watching her with a lazy intensity. "The water’s ready. Go in."He didn’t move. Ins
Julian Ford leaned back casually, the faintest smirk tugging at his lips. "Well, Scarlett, I guess you’re not the only diva around here," he said, his voice dripping with amusement as he directed his words toward Vivian Brooks, her cheeks now flushed red with anger.Vivian’s finger shot up, trembli
Liam Hart and Julian were two completely different forces of nature.Julian, with his sharp features and mischievous smirk, radiated an allure that seemed to straddle the line between mischief and danger. His piercing blue eyes carried an almost hypnotic glint, as if they held a thousand secrets an







