LOGINSerena's POVThe boardroom was cold, smelled of leather polish, and sat twenty stories above the city.By eight-forty-five, the massive glass table was surrounded by senior board members and regional department heads. At the far end sat David, reviewing a stack of printed reports with a pen clamped between his teeth.I took my seat near the middle of the table, setting my notebook down next to my coffee cup.Killian walked in two minutes later.He had adjusted his hair, but he couldn't hide the tension in his neck or the way his suit jacket sat a little stiffly on his broad shoulders. He walked straight to the head of the table, avoiding my gaze completely as he pulled out his chair and sat down."Let's begin," Killian said, his voice flat and clear. "We have three items on the agenda today. The first is the status of the regional expansion."David sat up, tapping his pen on the desk. "I can take that, Killian. Given the recent delays and Elena's health issues, my team has drafted a r
Serena’s POVI’d imagined that it would take a while for the silence in the car to break. But we’d only gone a few miles when Vivian turned slightly in her seat, resting her arm over the headrest to look back at me. Her dark eyes were bright, tracking my face with an intensity that belied her slurred words.Vivian shifted in her seat and turned slightly, one arm resting over the headrest as she looked at me. Whatever haze she’d been wrapped around when we first saw her seemed to have faded, her eyes bright with curiosity. “So,” she said, her voice warm enough to sound casual, “what did the doctor actually tell you today, Elena?”“Nothing conclusive.” I folded my hands over the pharmacy bag resting on my lap. “They’re still trying to work out what’s causing everything. Until then, they’ve told me to stay off the road.”“Oh.” She frowned sympathetically. “Does that mean you won’t be coming back to Rhodes Inc. for a while?”“I hadn’t planned on disappearing for long,” I replied. “I’ll
Serena'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 POVI’d imagined that it would take a while for the silence in the car to break. But we’d only gone a few miles when Vivian turned slightly in her seat, resting her arm over the headrest to look back at me. Her dark eyes were bright, tracking my face with an intensity that belied her slurred words.Vivian shifted in her seat and turned slightly, one arm resting over the headrest as she looked at me. Whatever haze she’d been wrapped around when we first saw her seemed to have faded, her eyes bright with curiosity. “So,” she said, her voice warm enough to sound casual, “what did the doctor actually tell you today, Elena?”“Nothing conclusive.” I folded my hands over the pharmacy bag resting on my lap. “They’re still trying to work out what’s causing everything. Until then, they’ve told me to stay off the road.”“Oh.” She frowned sympathetically. “Does that mean you won’t be coming back to Rhodes Inc. for a while?”“I hadn’t planned on disappearing for long,” I replied. “I’ll b
Serena’s POVKillian’s car rolled to a stop along the curb outside our destination. And for several seconds after the engine went quiet, neither of us reached for the door.Killian remained behind the wheel, one hand resting loosely against it while the other tapped once, then twice, against his thigh before falling still again. He drew in a breath, as though rehearsing something in his mind.“Elena.”His voice was more restrained than before, almost swallowed by the sound of the rain.I turned toward him.He didn’t meet my eyes immediately. Instead, he looked through the rain-streaked windshield toward the entrance of the lounge before finally glancing in my direction.“You don’t have to come inside,” he said. “You can stay here. I’ll only be a few minutes.”There was nothing unusual about the words themselves.It was everything around them.The hesitation before he spoke. The careful way he chose each sentence. The fact that he sounded as though he was trying to solve a problem tha
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







