MasukHe lowered himself to one knee, right there on the gala stage, in front of five hundred people and a live stream audience of thousands."Taylor Jones," he said. "Will you let me stay?"The tears I'd been holding back broke free. I looked down at this man—this impossible, stubborn, fiercely loving ma
"Then what do we do?"I thought of Leanne on my doorstep, hollow-eyed and armorless. I thought of the envelope still sitting on our counter, her silent offering. I thought of every headline that had called me fraud, gold-digger, social climber, liar."Trust me," I said.The gallery ballroom was a se
Taylor's POVMy mother stood on the doorstep and told me she'd told Eleanor Sterling to go to hell.I didn't invite her in.Not because I was cruel. Because I was frozen—twenty-two years of abandonment, resentment, and carefully buried longing crashing together in the space between one heartbeat and
"No," I agreed. "But she's fighting on our terms now. That's all we needed."The next morning, the call came from a different hospital.Not Dylan's. I'd almost forgotten there was another battlefield.It was his mother's lawyer. Formal, brief, stripped of emotion: "Mr. Kade's medical team has determ
Taylor's POVFor three weeks, Eleanor Sterling circled its edges—making calls, probing weaknesses, testing the weight of her restraints. But she didn't step over the line. The agreement held. The silence stretched.And in that silence, something unexpected grew.Peace.It wasn't announced or celebra
He leaned forward slightly."The decision about Mr. Kade's care rests with his doctors and his legal next of kin. Taylor Jones has no role in that process—and it is a testament to her character that she has never sought one. She has not spoken, because there is nothing she can say that would not be
Taylor's POVThe house held its breath for two days.I moved through the rooms like a ghost, mechanically reheating coffee, staring at my silent phone. Aiden hadn't called. The world outside had moved on to newer scandals, but the emptiness inside my own walls was louder than any headline.Ruby's do
“I’ll cover whatever you lose. Double it.” He said it like the simplest solution. A transaction to erase a problem.The trickle turned to ice. I set my mug down. The clink was too loud. “It’s not about the money.”“Then what’s it about?” Aiden uncrossed his arms, a flicker of frustration in his eyes
Dylan's POVMy apartment smells like old pizza and last night’s whiskey. I’m hunched over the laptop, the blue light making everything look sick. My thumb keeps hitting refresh. Refresh. Nothing.The chat with Ruby is dead. My last three messages just sit there with those stupid little “read” receip
Taylor POVAiden didn't fight fair. He fought to win.In the cabin's dim light, the man who'd held me last night vanished. In his place stood a predator. Laptops glowed as he built a war room on the rustic table. Every click of the keyboard felt like a bullet loading."Watch this," he said, voice co







