LOGINElena’s POV“This is really bad.”This is the only statement that keeps playing in my mind. Constantly on repeat. Never stopping. Never letting up.It’s the next day already. It should be a fresh start. I should feel more motivated after finding out what they all intended to do last night. But instead, I woke up with a killer headache even though I didn’t drink a drop of alcohol last night.I’ve gotten dressed. I’ve taken the kids to temporary daycare while their admission to the new school is getting sorted. They will be watched over by guards, so I don’t need to worry about them.It just gives me time to worry about everything else.Especially now that the news has hit the waves.The words from the report are still ringing in my head. Mastermind. Calculated move. Cunning and manipulative….I don’t even know where those words came from. All I know is that I’m in deep shit.“It can still be fixed,” Uncle Marcus tells me as I get ready to leave. “My team is on it. We’re working directl
Tristan’s POVThe party is over now, but I believe it has ended way before my parents decided it was time to let everyone go home.We’re still in my parents’ house. Mira and I are in my dad’s study. I told her that we should talk, but right now, I have lost all my words.Mira just watches me pace the floor, eventually breaking the ice.“Thank you for standing up for me,” she says, her voice low. Tired.I was prepared to get mad at her for what happened. Breaking open Alexander’s wounds. Being completely untethered when she confronted the twins. I was ready to lay into her.But hearing her vulnerability makes me stop.“I… I’m sorry,” she continues, shaking her head and staring out the window. “I should’ve conducted myself better out there, I know. I should’ve handled it better. But it was Ethan we’re taking about. Elena’s kids might not look like they’re capable of it, and I know Ethan isn’t the best behaved out there, but I know he would never lie.”She starts to sob into her hands, a
Elena’s POVSeeing the blood blooming from under Alexander’s shirt like a cursed flower changes something in me.Mira tries to go for more, but I’ve already snapped.I push her. Hard. Feeling a dark wave of satisfaction seeing her fly away from Alexander and land on the grass on her butt. She looks at me in complete outrage.“You bitch!” she yells at me, trying to get up.But I stand over her and grab her hair, making her stay still even though she’s clawing at my hands.Then, I deliver the hardest slap I can muster.The smacking sound fills the space, rendering everyone silent. They all just watch as Mira falls to the ground again, clutching her cheek and gasping. I can see a hint of blood on her lip. My hand is smarting from the impact.I know that I’m the one who’s coming out bad here, but I don’t care.I pick her right up from the ground and slap her again.“Elena!” Tristan calls out to me. “Stop it! Your sister is pregnant!”This time, even Alexander tries to intervene. Miraculou
Tristan’s POVShock ripples in the area like a wave, a vibration, rending the entire place silent until only Ethan’s choking can be heard. He snuggles up to his mother and starts to cry loudly, the sound piercing my ears.This is surreal.But of course, of all the nights and all the times and all the people this could’ve happened to… it happened to me today.Mira is loudly consoling Ethan. The whole scene is just hard to watch, especially since I already believe that she babies the boy too much.On the other side of the pool, Elena and Alexander are just watching them, whispering something to each other. Words I can’t understand.Words that are making my chest tighten more every second.“Let’s all calm down and not throw any accusations around,” I say.To my horror, Aunt Heidi appears and wags her finger at me. “You don’t get to say that, Tristan. Not when a child has been seriously harmed.”I don’t dignify that with acknowledgement, much less an answer. I take a deep breath, coming o
Tristan’s POV“Mira, come on!” I call after Mira, pushing through the crowd and trying hard not to lose her as she navigates her way inside the crowded mansion. “I know you can hear me. Can you just stop so we can talk?”Needless to say, she doesn’t do that. She just keeps swerving everywhere. I start to vaguely wonder how the hell my parents invited this many people and where on earth they got them from. They keep getting in the way, cutting through me. Cutting in front of me. Making Mira disappear.This time, I don’t even care. I just go faster, pushing everyone and anyone in front of me, until Mira runs into a dead-end.I pull her to the side, opening a door and blocking it so that she has nowhere to go.“I’m sorry that I have to do this, but we need to talk,” I say. “This has gone out of hand already—”“Yeah, because you can’t defend me.” Mira’s voice shakes. “You watched Elena and her boytoy insult me and you said nothing. Nothing! You made me look like an idiot!”I let out a hug
Elena’s POVI didn’t want to go to the party after everything I heard from the report and from Alexander, but it was him who convinced me to come anyway.And I don’t regret it one bit.Seeing Tristan’s constricted face is worth it alone, but witnessing both Mira and Heidi’s slow descent into anger? Priceless.Alexander waits for an answer from Tristan, who’s staying silent. He glances at his parents, who are busy staring at my kids.“Alex,” I say, the nickname feeling a bit foreign in my mouth, but I stick to our deal and say it anyway, adding sweetness in my tone. “Let go of the children and let them play.”“We’ll stay close, Mommy,” Liam says with the responsible tone of a child much older than he actually is.With that, he takes Sophie’s hand and they walk to the corner of the party, where they sit around a table and start to talk. They’re so adorable that I nearly forgot what I’m here for, but I just turn my gaze towards the family.They all look ashamed.“Well?” Alexander prompts
Elena’s POVEmbarrassment clenches around me like a fist, rendering me unable to breathe for a good ten seconds. Slowly, I turn to face Alexander, expecting him to snap and tell all of us to leave.I called him a monster. Then I told him to shove it. And now, my son asked him if he’s their father. S
Tristan’s POVÉmeraude.The name plays in my mind over and over. For some reason, it feels familiar and comforting. It feels like someone I know.“They’re based in Milan,” Benjamin explains. “They’re very popular in Europe. They got awards and everything for their pieces and their ethics. They’ve be
Tristan’s POV“Is everything to your liking, my love?” Mira asks as she sits down next to me on the dining table. “The potatoes might be a little charred, but it should be good, right?”“Yeah, very good,” I say, sampling the potatoes.My mouth waters. It’s burnt. But Mira is smiling, even though her
Elena’s POV“The dinner is tonight,” I keep repeating as I stare at my laptop. “The dinner is tonight. What am I supposed to put up for auction?”Uncle Marcus and I are in a cafe overlooking Central Park. This is where I used to go out and work when I wanted some space away from home. From my parent







