As the elevator doors slide open, a hush of air and the soft thunk of weightless doors vanishing into the walls, I saw him—tall, poised, standing near the floor-to-ceiling window, sipping a drink as if this were all part of a plan he had mapped out days ago.Like he’d been expecting me. And maybe, he had.The place smelled and felt exactly like him when I walked in. Framed against a backdrop of clouds and skyline, the man looked carved from art. Like a perfect artwork. He stood with his back to me, a tumbler in one hand, his gaze cast out over the city like he was listening to it breathe.Glass walls stretched around him in every direction, making the penthouse feel like the inside of a diamond. Everything gleamed: obsidian floors, silver fixtures, a piano that looked like it had never been played. The furniture was modern, low-slung, and dark. Art hung like ghosts on the walls—abstract, unnerving, and probably worth more than my mother’s house.But that wasn't all. The sight of him d
Olivia POVHonestly, there are decisions you make slowly. Calculated. Thought-through. Even the toughest yet the kind you carry like delicate glass. The ones you stare at your reflection in the mirror and question if it was you? Was it really worth it? If you had to risk not just yourself but your sanity.Then there are the ones you make with your heart pounding and your mother’s life hanging by a thread.Because this was the latter.By the time the cab stopped a block from the building, my hands had gone numb, my legs sore, and sweat against my forehead, another trickling down my spine. The check burned inside my bag like a ticking bomb, like I could feel every dollar weighing down my backbone.However, the explosion was where I was literally walking into.My phone buzzed suddenly and I glanced at the notification. It was Sophia leaving a dozen unreplied messages.A sigh escaped my lips. I hadn’t told Sophia. I hadn’t even answered the hospital slightly because I was overwhelmed by t
NeuraAI was a dangerous involvement. When I was nobody, I developed an interest in technology. I studied and advanced to the level where I learned how to hijack information when I was 12. Before my father announced me as the heir to GrayHill, I took over a company called ThrashCop, one of the biggest companies in New York City. At then, GrayHill was under so many other companies but Thrashcop happened to be the top tier. When I discovered some funny tricks I learned about their new modern chip, I used it to my advantage, and took over the company from Rudolph Holdago, a multi-billionaire. Married to Sarah Holdago with two children. And apparently, he had another secret affair with his wife’s mother. Heck, one would say. I called it interesting. Family business has never been my issue, but ThrashCop was a company I so wanted to lay my hands on. I didn't just discover his secret affair, I was well aware of the fact that he dealt with drugs. Shipped them overseas like a clean man and
Ezekiel POVThe door clicked shut behind me with a soft finality, sealing out the world like a blade through silk. The instant silence fed through my flesh and winked its teeth into my bone like it always did.I stood in the marble foyer of my penthouse—glass, stone, and shadow stretching across three stories and overlooking the spine of Manhattan. Home, if one could even call it that. It was more of a fortress than a place to rest. And tonight, it was too quiet. The quiet that didn’t feel like peace,… the absence of noise. The kind I prefer, the kind I’ve built in.I loosened my tie and tossed my jacket onto the back of a chair. The scent of expensive cologne and something faintly sweet still lingered in the fabric. Her perfume.My fingers paused.Olivia Hayes.She was never meant to matter. Never born to foretold what could’ve happened when it did. She just happened to be in the right place at the wrong time.I walked to the far end of the suite, where floor-to-ceiling windows bathe
The hospital’s fluorescent lights buzzed overhead—too bright, white, and real. The kind that had my heart pounding for a million and one reasons. I pushed through the double doors of the neurology wing, the weight in my handbag making my arm ache. There wasn't a thing heavy but somehow, my body itself felt too solemn for me to carry. I didn’t stop at the nurses’ station. They knew me by now. I was the daughter of the woman in 814C. The one with the too-young face and the too-many brain scans, and a medical chart passed around like it burned to touch. “Miss Hayes?” Dr. Josh’s voice caught me off guard as I turned the corner. His tone was tight, clipped. The kind I’ve heard countless times but this one seemed different. Like it was urgent. My heart lost its pace. I straightened, heart already thudding. “I just got here. What’s going on? Is it my mom?” His face was grim. Not the worried- grim. Not sympathetic-grim kind. It was like the final grim. “Come with me,” he s
I was in a whole different world. An hour ago, I was literally Olivia Hayes, and in less than a few minutes, I had transformed into ‘the mystery girl’.There is a way life plays you and screw you over, or it just places your luck on something— someone— definitely out of your league. I didn’t just get rejected by one of the biggest god companies, I also got into the arms of its owner.And we kissed.No, he kissed me.Oh my God.My whole mind was another headache of its own, exploding with furious thoughts. Somehow, I felt that this wasn't luck. It was a trick. I wanted to believe that all this was merely just a show or an act or something else that entirely differentiated this from being reality because I just couldn't process the thought of it.The reevaluation that I didn't just kiss Ezekiel Grayson, but I am sitting close to the most handsome and richest billionaire in Manhattan, nearly choked the life out of me. A bloody billionaire and CEO of the world’s biggest conglomerate.That