LOGINChapter 41: The Caller Has A Name(Jane POV)Jane has been doing something she does not fully explain to anyone, not even herself at first. It started the day she left Zara at the shop after the restroom incident. It did not feel like curiosity then. It felt like imbalance. Like something had entered their lives and nobody had named it properly, so it kept spreading in small invisible ways.So she made one call.Careful. Indirect. Not asking for gossip, not asking for drama, just asking for clarity under the right framing. Her contact is someone from her father’s hospital placement network, someone who understands confidentiality the way doctors and administrators do, but also understands that real-life information does not always stay inside formal systems.Jane asked a question that did not sound like a question that mattered and still, she got an answer.That answer is why she is sitting in Zara’s room on a Tuesday evening.Zara is sitting opposite her, laptop open but not being u
Chapter 40 : Vivienne’s Play(Zara POV)The following week feels like a continuation of everything that has already been set in motion, just with fewer visible hands pushing at me. Claire’s pressure has gone quiet in a way that doesn’t feel like relief, only redirection. I can tell she has shifted her attention toward Ryan because the space around me at work has changed. No more vendor calls disappearing, no more quiet external interference that I can trace back to her influence. It is just Vivienne now. And somehow that feels worse, because Vivienne doesn’t need anyone else’s help to make things difficult.Work continues anyway.The gala project is the biggest assignment our division has handled this quarter, and I have been carrying it in pieces since the moment it was assigned to me. I rebuilt the vendor list after the early disruptions, restructured the styling direction, and adjusted timelines twice when one supplier failed to meet expectati
Chapter 39 : What He Tells Her(Dominic POV)She comes in without hesitation.No drama at the door, no delay in her step, just that steady way she has of entering a space like she already knows what it’s going to demand from her. I close the distance between us immediately, not because anything has changed between us, but because the weight of everything outside this room has been building too fast, and I want her here before I start.I pull her into me first.She doesn’t resist. Her arms come up and wrap around my waist, hands pressing against my back like she needs the contact as much as I do. I hold her for a long moment, breathing her in, one hand stroking slowly up and down her spine. The familiar warmth of her body against mine settles something in my chest before I have to open old wounds.“You’re early,” I murmur against her hair.“You said come,” she replies softly. “So I came.”That simple.
Chapter 38 : What Zara Heard(Zara POV)I don’t say anything about it that night.Not to Jane when we get back from the shop. Not when she starts unpacking the bags like the day is still normal. Not when she makes tea and tries to talk about something lighter, something that doesn’t sit heavy in the air between us.I keep it in my head.The same way I always do when something feels too fragile to touch immediately.Keisha’s voice.The way she said it.“The baby is Ryan’s.”Not loud. Not emotional. Just firm enough that anyone listening from outside would believe it without question.But I was there. I heard what came after, and that part doesn’t match.Jane notices I’m quiet, of course she does. She always notices. But she doesn’t push it at first. She just watches me while pretending to be busy, like she’s giving me space on purpose.It only changes later that night.
Chapter 37 : The Restroom(Zara POV)By the time we step into the next store, something in me has settled into a different kind of focus. The earlier tension with Keisha hasn’t disappeared, but it has shifted shape. It is no longer loud in my head. It is quieter now, sharper, sitting somewhere behind my ribs where I can reach for it when I need to think clearly. Jane is beside me, moving through racks with that easy curiosity she has, touching fabrics, flipping tags, holding things up against me without asking because she already knows how I see clothes before I say it out loud.We move from one section to another without rushing. I am not shopping for myself anymore, not really. I am looking for ideas, for combinations, for textures that can translate into the styling brief sitting unfinished on my laptop. I pause at a display of structured blazers, running my fingers along the seam of one in a deep charcoal shade, already thinking about how it would sit
Chapter 36 : The Bag War(Zara POV)We leave the dresses behind and drift into accessories, the kind of slow wandering that looks casual but isn’t. I touch a few scarves, glance at jewellery I don’t really need, and let Jane talk about a pair of earrings she insists would “change my life,” even though we both know she says that about everything shiny.“You don’t even wear earrings like that,” I tell her.“I could start,” she replies immediately. “Growth is important.”I huff a small laugh and move on.The bag section is toward the back, arranged neatly on glass shelves with soft lighting that makes everything look more expensive than it actually is. I slow down without meaning to. Bags are different. They’re not just something you wear once and forget. They stay with you. They follow you into meetings, into rooms where people are already deciding what they think of you before you even speak.I scan the shelf on







