LOGINVale’s POV The email hit my inbox at 4:47 p.m. on a Thursday.Subject: VP, Client Strategy – AppointmentI didn’t need to open it. The preview line already told me everything.Julian Kane had gotten the job.I stared at the screen until the words blurred. Two years of late nights, stolen accounts, performance reviews, and three separate times I’d let him fuck me against a conference-room wall while we spit insults at each other—and he still walked away with the title I’d wanted more than anything.My phone buzzed almost immediately.Julian: Conference room. Now.I should have ignored it. I should have gone home, opened a bottle of something expensive, and burned his name out of my mouth for good.I didn’t.I stood up, smoothed my skirt, and walked straight to the same frosted-glass room that had become our private war zone. He was already inside, jacket off, sleeves rolled, looking unfairly calm for a man who had just taken the last thing I wanted from him.The door clicked shut behi
Vale’s POV “You heard the rumor.”Julian didn’t even pretend to look surprised when I slammed the conference room door behind me. Same frosted glass. Same late hour. Same stretch of wall that was starting to feel like neutral territory in a war neither of us would call a ceasefire. He was already there, jacket off, sleeves rolled, looking far too comfortable for a man who had just been short-listed for the open VP slot I had been angling toward for eighteen months.“I heard a rumor,” he corrected, voice mild. “That the partners are considering both of us. Healthy competition. Good for the firm.”“Healthy.” I laughed once, sharp and ugly. “You mean the same way poaching my clients was healthy? You’re not better than me, Kane. You’re just louder about it.”“And yet I’m the one they called in for a second conversation this afternoon.” He pushed off the desk and closed the distance. “Face it, Vale. You’re scared I’m actually going to win this one clean.”I shoved him.He caught my wrists
Vale’s POV “You actually came back.”Julian’s voice dripped with smug satisfaction when I shoved the conference room door open three weeks later. Same frosted glass. Same late hour. Same stretch of wall that still lived rent-free in my head. He was leaning against it like he’d been waiting, sleeves rolled up, tie loosened, the picture of a man who already thought he’d won.“I came to finish the argument you never actually won, Kane,” I snapped, kicking the door shut hard enough that the frame rattled. “Stealing one account doesn’t make you superior. It makes you a thief with good timing.”“And yet here you are.” He pushed off the wall and met me in the middle of the room. “Three weeks of pretending you weren’t thinking about my cock every time you sat in a meeting, and you still walked straight back to the scene of the crime. Data doesn’t lie, Vale.”I shoved him.He shoved back harder.My back hit the wall. His mouth crashed onto mine in a kiss that was all teeth and leftover fury.
VALE’S POV Three weeks ago I poached my biggest account with a smile and a perfectly timed bottle of scotch for the client. I have been waiting for an excuse to make Kane, a co senior accountant at the firm where I work bleed for it. Tonight the quarterly numbers gave her one. “You think you’re so fucking superior? Prove it. Right now.” The words left my mouth like a whip crack. Julian and I were already too close—chests almost brushing, the argument over the Q3 numbers somehow twisted into every old grudge we’d been collecting for two years. His dark eyes flashed with the same fury I felt under my skin. “You first, Vale,” he shot back. “You’ve been looking down that perfect little nose at me since the day they hired us both. Let’s see how superior you feel when you’re not hiding behind a client list I just took from you.” I shoved him. Hard. His back hit the wall of the empty conference room with a dull thud. Frosted glass. Lights dimmed. The rest of the floor had gone home a
SIENNA “She’s here.”Roman’s voice came from the shop floor the next morning, calm and flat. I looked up from the desk in the glass office and saw Mom’s car pull in like she owned the place.She stepped out in a crisp blouse and dark jeans, hair perfect, face unreadable. The kind of woman who had spent years keeping her reputation clean while raising a daughter who just set it on fire. Two customers were already in the bay. Both went quiet when they recognized her.I stood. My legs felt steady. The ache between them from the night before still lingered—Roman had fucked me against the bathroom sink at dawn like he was branding the decision into me one more time.Roman wiped his hands on a rag and walked out to meet her. I followed.Mom’s eyes went straight past him and locked on me.“Last chance to walk away from this, Sienna.”“I already did,” I said. “I walked away from you.”A muscle jumped in her jaw. She turned to the nearest customer—an older man who had been bringing his truck
SIENNA “Delete it.”Roman’s voice was flat when I showed him the photo. We were still in the glass office. Outside, one of the mechanics kept glancing over like he already knew what the message contained.I locked the phone. “It’s already in four group chats. Deleting it on my end does nothing.”He stared at the dark screen for a long second, then at me. Something dangerous moved behind his eyes.“Your mother?”“Maybe. Or someone she talked to. Doesn’t matter anymore.”Roman reached past me and flipped the blinds closed with one sharp pull. The shop floor disappeared. Privacy, temporary and incomplete.“Look at me.”I did.“You’re not going to hide. You’re not going to apologize. And you’re sure as hell not going back to her.” His hand slid under my skirt again, finding me still wet from his mouth minutes earlier. “You’re going to let this town see exactly who you belong to.”The words should have scared me. They only made the ache between my legs worse.That night he took me to the







