FAZER LOGINSerena's POVMonday morning at Rhodes Inc. smelled like freshly waxed floors and brewed coffee.I walked through the doors of the executive floor at eight-fifteen, dressed in an ivory suit with a fitted jacket, my hair styled in soft waves over my shoulders.When I reached the corner office, the door was half open.Killian stood behind his desk, fixing his tie in front of the window. His dark suit looked crisp, but the light coming through the blinds showed the dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept at all.I knocked on the wooden frame.Killian turned around. The moment he saw me, his hands dropped from his tie."Elena.""Good morning, Killian," I said, walking right inside. I closed the door behind me until it clicked shut.I walked over to his desk and set my coffee cup down on the dark wood.Killian looked down at the cup, then looked up at my face. "What are you doing here?""I work here," I said, leaning back against the edge of his desk and folding my arms.
Killian's POVThe door of the apartment lobby clicked shut, and Elena was gone.I stood under the glass overhang for a long second, listening to the rain hit the pavement.I like my coffee black. No cream. Two sugar cubes. And a dash of cinnamon.She had told me that exact same order weeks ago. Back then, I thought it was a very odd similarity to share and tried to convince myself it was just a coincidence. But standing out here in the cold, hearing her say it with that same confidence, my mind slipped. For a split second back there at the door, it didn't feel like I was looking at Elena. It felt like Serena was standing right in front of me.First it was the white lilies at Serena's grave, and now this. The feeling was getting harder to shake off.I rubbed my hand over my face, tried to pull myself together, and walked back to the car through the rain.When I opened the driver's door, the smell of wine and perfume hit me immediately.Vivian was leaning her head against the window fra
Serena’s POV“Elena.”Dominic said my name quietly, but it landed with enough force to knock the breath from my lungs.The room fell silent.My pulse hammered against my ribs as I stood rooted to the floor, every muscle in my body locked in place. I could see it happening in real time. The confusion on Dominic’s face hadn’t disappeared; it had only increased. His eyes searched mine with unsettling focus, as though he were trying to fit together pieces of a puzzle that suddenly refused to make sense.I couldn’t afford for him to find out something was wrong.Not now.I forced myself to breathe before slowly unclenching my fists. My nails had dug deep enough into my palms to leave angry crescents in my skin, but I welcomed the sting. It gave me something else to focus on besides the panic clawing at my chest. I let my shoulders sag, pressing the heels of my hands against my temples as though the argument itself had drained every ounce of strength from me.“I’m…sorry,” I murmured, my v
Serena's POV“Mommy!”The excited squeal echoed through the foyer before I could gather myself.A blur of curls and tiny sneakers came racing across the floor, and a second later Anika threw herself against me with enough force to make me stumble.My arms hesitated.Just for a heartbeat.Long enough for guilt to tighten around my ribs.Then instinct took over, and I wrapped them around her small body, my hand settling against her curls as she buried her face in my coat like she’d been afraid I wouldn’t come back.Something inside me cracked.I bent to kiss the top of her head, lingering there for a moment longer than I intended.“Hi, sweetheart,” I whispered, my voice softer than I’d expected. “Look at this.”I glanced up at the banner, forcing a smile onto my face.“Did you make all of that by yourself?”Her face lit up immediately.“I did! Daddy helped with the tape because I wasn’t allowed to climb the chair, but I made everything else. I drew all the hearts too.”“I can see that.”
Killian’s POVWe walked back toward the cemetery gates without another word.The rain continued to drizzle, light enough that neither of us bothered to run. Gravel shifted beneath our shoes, damp leaves clung to the edges of the path, and somewhere behind us the wind stirred through the trees with a rustle that seemed almost too loud in the thick silence that had enveloped us.Killian stayed half a step closer than he needed to.He never reached for me again after touching my elbow, yet every few seconds I became aware of him adjusting his pace whenever the path narrowed or a puddle forced me to change direction. It was subtle enough that another woman might not have noticed.But this was Killian, so unfortunately, I noticed everything about him despite not wanting to. By the time we reached the parking area, a thin sheen of rain coated the body of his car.He walked ahead, opened the passenger door, then stood aside without saying anything.I slid into the seat.A moment later the d
Serena’s POVFor a long moment, I was convinced that Killian didn’t believe a single word I’d said. His eyes lingered on my face with an intensity that made it difficult to breathe, as though he were searching for something just beneath my skin. I had spent years learning how to negotiate contracts without giving away a single thought, yet standing in front of Killian like this felt infinitely more dangerous.If he asked one more question—one question I hadn’t prepared for—what then? What lie could I possibly invent next?For the first time in a very long while, I found myself scrambling for an answer before the question had even been asked.Then, almost imperceptibly, something changed.I watched it happen in real time. The rigid set of his shoulders eased first. The suspicion that had sharpened his features slowly gave way to something else, something that looked almost like reluctant acceptance. He drew in a breath slowly, held it for a second, then let it escape, as though he ha
Serena’s POV“I just want to say for the record,” Chloe said from the bed, watching me step into my heels, “that the Elena I know would rather eat glass than attend a work gala.”“People change.”“You keep saying that.” She sat up and crossed her legs. “Before the accident you wouldn’t even work at
Serena’s POVThe first thing I noticed was the ceiling.White. Smooth. A water stain in the far left corner shaped like nothing in particular. I stared at it for a long time before I understood that I was staring at it, that my eyes were open, that I was somewhere.I turned my head.Machines. Tubes
Killian’s POVThe gala was still going.That was the part that didn’t make sense. Three hundred people still laughing, still drinking, still moving through a room that felt completely different to me now, like a house after a fire where everything looks the same but nothing is. The music was still
Serena’s POV“You really outdid yourself this time, Serena. I have attended every Rhodes event for the past three years and this is by far the best one yet.”I smiled at David Chen, Rhodes CFO and head of partnerships, and raised my glass. “Three months of planning. Every detail matters.”“Three mo







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