LOGINThe support staff waves us over. "Mr. Hart, Miss Brooks, shall we get started?"Liam and I walk to the set together. The interview space has been rearranged since this morning. The two formal chairs are gone, replaced by a sofa. A loveseat, basically, designed to look intimate. The host sits in a separate chair to the side, camera already rolling.This isn't a standard interview. It's the kind of segment where celebrities sit close together and answer questions about their personal lives while a camera crew captures every microexpression. The format is designed to look casual and natural, which means it's neither.The host leans forward with the bright, practiced energy of someone who's been waiting for this segment all day."Good evening, everyone. We're thrilled to have two special guests tonight: Miss Allie Brooks and Mr. Liam Hart." She pauses for effect. "For those who don't know, Mr. Hart and Miss Brooks are one of the most talked-about couples in the industry right now. Two wee
The word "jealous" echoes in my head for a long time after Chloe hangs up.I lie on the guest room bed and stare at the ceiling and turn it over. Jealous. That's what Chloe said. That's the word she chose, and the more I roll it around, the more I realize she picked the right one, even though I don't want her to be right.I had told myself this was about distrust. That Liam didn't believe me. That was the story I built, the one that made sense, the one that justified the coldness and the separate rooms and the silence.But that's not quite it, is it?Liam does trust me. He trusts me the way you trust someone you've assessed. He looked at the situation, evaluated my capabilities, weighed my character against the available evidence, and concluded that I wasn't the type. That's not the same as believing me. That's a risk calculation.When it comes to Mia, it's different.Liam's trust in Mia isn't something he arrived at through logic. It's something that's been there since childhood, bui
I take the takeout box from George."Thank you, George."He finds a spot on the single-seater sofa nearby and sits down, easy, unhurried, the way he does everything. Like there's no rush. Like the world can wait."I don't know what happened between you and Liam," he says, "but I ran into his secretary today. Fang told me the entire company is a mess right now. Department heads are terrified to walk into meetings. Apparently Liam tears into anyone who gives him a reason, and half the time he doesn't even need one."Hearing Liam's name from George's mouth does something strange in my chest. A tightness I can't place. Not anger, exactly. Something adjacent to it.George sighs. "Liam has always been the type to hold everything inside. If he's acting like this at work, it means something at home is eating at him and he has nowhere to put it. What happened between you two?"The honest answer is: I don't know.These past few days I've been waiting. Liam said he'd investigate the necklace. He
Liam doesn't hesitate.Not even a full second. Not even the fraction of a pause that would tell me he considered it, weighed it, held my question up against his history with Mia and made a genuine choice. He just — answers. The way you answer something you've already decided before the question was asked."I know Mia's character," he says. His voice is steady. Certain. "She can be reckless. Impulsive. She says things she shouldn't and does things she regrets. But she would never do something this —" He stops. Searches for the word. "This calculated."I smile.It's not a happy smile. It's the kind that arrives when the thing you already knew is confirmed out loud, and the confirming feels worse than the knowing.He chose her.Without hesitation. Without doubt. Without even the courtesy of pretending to think about it.He believes I didn't steal the necklace — not because he trusts me, but because he decided I'm not capable of it. And he believes Mia didn't plant it — not because he has
"I don't want to go back."The words come out before I've decided to say them. They land in the cold November air between George and me and I don't take them back.He looks at me for a moment. Then he takes off his coat — a dark wool thing, heavy, still warm from his body — and drapes it over my shoulders. The weight of it is immediate and almost unbearable in its kindness."No matter what happened," he says, his voice even, practical, "get in the car first. You're going to hypothermia."He's not wrong. It's mid-December in Chicago and the wind coming off the lake is the specific kind of cold that doesn't just bite — it penetrates. My evening dress offers exactly nothing. My skin has gone from pale to red to a color I can't see but can feel, a deep, burning numbness that tells me my body has stopped bothering to register the temperature.I get in the car.The leather is cold too, but the heat from the dashboard reaches me within seconds and I press my hands toward the vent and feel th
It's not paranoia.I need to say that to myself first, clearly, before anything else. I am not being paranoid. I am being rational. I am taking the words I heard — every single one of them — and holding them up to the light and looking at what they actually mean, underneath the things Liam said and the things he didn't.He never considered it.That's the thing that sits in my chest like a stone. Through the entire conversation, through every exchange, Liam never once raised the possibility that Mia Stone put the necklace in my bag. Not once. He defended me — yes. He said I wasn't a thief, yes. But his defense was built on character, not evidence. You know her. She wouldn't do that. She's not that kind of person. That's not investigation. That's faith. And faith is beautiful when it's directed at you, but it's a very different thing when you realize it's the only thing standing between you and the assumption of guilt.He said he'd investigate thoroughly.He said he'd give Mia an explan
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
Allie Brooks’ thoughts were racing as something clicked in her mind. A flash of memory surfaced, vivid and startling.She turned abruptly to George Smith, seated next to her in the car. “The person we’re picking up... it’s not Julian Ford, is it?” she asked, a hint of apprehension in her voice.Geo
Every room here had a terrace, and the terraces were close enough that you could almost hear a neighbor’s whispered words.Allie stepped out onto her terrace, breathing in the crisp night air. But as her gaze wandered to the neighboring balcony, her breath caught. The figure standing there, illumin







