تسجيل الدخولVictoria woke up to her own head.Which was, at that moment, an extremely unpleasant place to be.She lay still for a few seconds with her eyes closed, slowly waking up. The pillow was soft. The room was hers. Everything seemed to be in its right place except for the steady throbbing behind her eyes that she had entirely brought on herself.She sat up slowly.On the bedside table, there was a glass of water, two white tablets in a small saucer, and a sleeve of crackers. She stared at them for a moment. Then she reached for the tablets and the water and took both before lying back down for another thirty seconds, waiting for the room to stop spinning.It took a while.When reached for her phone, she was met with six missed calls. Three investors whose names she recognised from the early sign-up list. One from Julie. Two from numbers she didn’t have saved.She called Julie but it rang twice and went to voicemail.“Seriously...” She muttered, and put the phone face down on th
Ryder's expression became serious."She was very excited about the launch." He said, looking toward the stairs where Victoria had disappeared twenty minutes ago. Julie had explained what happened on the drive over, but hearing Miranda say it made the situation feel different."She was." Miranda agreed. "And now she's upstairs sleeping after drinking enough alcohol to make Julie worry. My Victoria doesn't drink like that, so you know it was a terrible night."Ryder looked down at the floor between his feet. "She had a difficult night.""I know. You brought her home.""Yes.""Thank you." She said it simply, without ceremony.Ryder shifted in his seat. "You don't have to thank me.""I do." Her voice was firm without being harsh. "For everything you've done for her. Not just tonight."Ryder didn't answer immediately.He had never been particularly comfortable with praise. It usually came with an agenda, a transaction, or a request waiting somewhere behind the words, but Mirand
Ryder didn’t get a wink of sleep, that night. Victoria was still asleep when they arrived home, and he had carried her upstairs himself because she could barely keep her eyes open. She had complained about the stairs, complained that he was walking too fast, and complained that his coat smelled like him before finally going quiet against his chest.When he placed her on the bed, she barely moved. Ryder pulled the blanket over her and stood there for several seconds, watching her sleep before turning away.The lights from the hallway reached her face as he stepped toward the door. That was when he noticed her eyes. The skin around them was red.It looked like she had been crying. Ryder stopped with his hand resting against the door.For several seconds, he remained there, staring at her face while the memory of her vulnerability the car played through his mind.His fingers slowly curled against the door. He hated seeing her like that.Ryder stepped out of the bedroom and quie
Ryder didn’t understand for a moment. Why wouldn’t Victoria want to see him? Why had she not answered his calls? And why did Julie sound as though something was seriously wrong?Before he could ask another question, the call ended. Ryder lowered the phone slowly, and rattled off the address of Julie’s apartment to the driver. “Yes, sir.” The car immediately changed direction.Ryder leaned back, but his mind refused to settle.Victoria wouldn’t want to see him? He didn’t know what to make of it. He only knew that something was wrong.And for the first time in a very long time, his body shook with nerves. The moment the car stopped outside the building, Ryder opened the door before the driver could get out. He stepped onto the pavement and immediately headed inside.He took the stairs two at a time, ignoring the curious looks from people in the hallway. When he reached the floor, he moved towards the apartment.The door opened before he could knock.Julie stood there, lo
Ryder sat at his desk working, but his eyes occasionally went to the clock.Sam noticed this and said, “Sir, you can focus. I turned on a reminder for you.”Ryder slowly looked up from the document in front of him, and glared at his assistant. Sam was standing several feet away, and awkwardly cleared his throat. “I only meant that you don’t need to keep checking the time.” He added carefully., aware of how grumpy Ryder was, these days. “The reminder will notify you.”“I know what a reminder does.” Ryder replied sharply.Sam nodded. “Of course.”Ryder returned his attention to the document. For approximately twenty seconds though. His eyes moved across the same paragraph without absorbing a single word before drifting towards the clock again.Sam noticed.He said nothing this time, but the look on his face made it obvious that he was not fooled.Ryder grunted looked at him again, “What?”“Nothing, sir ” Sam answered.“You have a very expressive face for someone who clai
Julie looked at her and Victoria looked back. Neither of them spoke.“You don’t care?” Julie asked, not at all buying into her bluff. “No.” Victoria remained adamant. “Right....”“Julie.” Victoria called her sternly, seeing the disbelieving expression on her face.Julie held her hands up in mock innocence. “It’s just, you seem a lot bothered for someone who claims to not care.”Victoria looked away and rubbed her thumb against the handle of her mug.She had already told Julie too much about it over the past week. She had complained about the strange behaviour, the awkward breakfasts, the sudden disappearances, and the way Ryder seemed to have developed an impressive ability to appear anywhere except wherever she happened to be.At first, she had told herself she was simply annoyed because his behaviour was inconvenient.But somewhere along the way, she had started wondering why he was doing it.Was he angry with her? Had she done something during their trip? Had he regrett







