MasukMarrying Sebastian Romano had felt like a wish granted too perfectly to be real… until reality crushed it. For two years, Jasmine lived in a blur of champagne, penthouse lights, and a husband who looked at her like she was his entire future. In the third year, the silence arrived. The kisses turned into calendar appointments. The marriage shrank into handshakes and small talk. Then Jasmine found the truth. Sweet messages that were not for her. Hotel bookings that did not include her name. A blonde secretary who did not know shame. Jasmine walked out without looking back. She left her ring, the signed divorce papers, and her ruined heart on their ridiculous king-size bed. What she did not know was that another life had already started inside her. Five years later, Jasmine lived small on purpose. Quiet. Safe. Her child grew up without drama, without the weight of the Romano name. Jasmine promised herself it would stay that way. Until Adrian. Adrian was nothing like the men who used to own her world. Calm where they were cruel, clever without being cruel, steady in a way that felt dangerous only because she wanted to trust it. With him, Jasmine finally stopped feeling like a problem to fix and started feeling like a person to keep. When Adrian dropped to one knee at a glittering Monte Carlo...Jasmine did something she had sworn never to do again. She thought about forever. Then she saw him. Sebastian Romano. The man she had loved, left, and learned to hate in the exact same lifetime. Those cold eyes. That unreadable face. The past she thought she had buried standing three steps away from her fresh start. “Interesting,” Sebastian said. “Your fiancé… happens to be my brother.”
Lihat lebih banyakThe doorbell chimed.Not the cheerful, domestic kind. This was Sebastian’s penthouse, so it sounded expensive, restrained, and slightly judgmental. Like a hotel bell that knew I hadn’t paid for the minibar.Poppy immediately turned away from the oven.Sebastian was still standing beside me. His gaze shifted toward the hallway just as one of the security officers appeared from the front entrance.Matteo stopped a few steps away. “Signorina Zenna Romano is in the private elevator,” he told Sebastian. “With the children.”I raised an eyebrow. “Children?”“Five,” Matteo said. “They’ve all been cleared,” he continued. “Their bags and belongings too. They’re waiting for permission to come up.”“Whose children?” Poppy left the oven.“Your cousins,” Sebastian said.He said it so casually, as though the word hadn’t only entered Poppy’s life a few days ago along with a biological father, an Italian family, and a growing number of adults with opinions about her safety.Poppy blinked. “My cousins
“People who worked on the family system migration. The old legal team. Two trust administrators. Whoever held the master key. Maybe someone who saw a copy of the archive before the migration.”“And Adrian?” The name came out before I could filter it, because Adrian had been the one who checked Device Seven last time.Luca looked at me. “Adrian has enough systems experience to understand the architecture, and he doesn’t have Romano Foundation credentials.” He held my gaze. “We haven’t found any evidence pointing to him.”Sebastian said nothing.I looked at him. “You’re usually quicker to accuse people.”“I usually wait for evidence.”“Is that a new habit?”“Not when it involves Poppy.”“Why me?” Poppy stopped trying to steal the sprinkles when she heard her name.“No,” the three of us said at once.She narrowed her eyes. “Suspicious.”“Go help Salma,” I said.“I helped.”“You ate half the ingredients.”“That was quality.”“Go.”She huffed and went back to Salma, but not before sticking
“Household legal account,” I repeated. “Charming.”“The profile was created as part of the family’s legal structure,” Luca said.“So I’m an administrative ghost.”Poppy lifted her head. “Ghost?”“Not a real ghost,” Salma said.“Can Mommy walk through walls?”“Not yet,” I said. “But give Romano IT a few more years and maybe I’ll be able to file taxes from the afterlife.”I looked at Sebastian.He wasn’t reading anymore. He had already seen the screen, yes, but now his eyes were fixed on one spot on the counter, right beside my hand.Too quiet.Usually, he had an answer. Not always a good one, but there was always something. A short comment. A correction. Some flat statement that made me want to pour a drink over his shoes.Now there was nothing.“Why is my name still alive in the trust system?” I asked.Sebastian looked up. “Some of the old systems weren’t cleaned up.”“Some of the old systems weren’t cleaned up,” I repeated. “Five years, and your empire still can’t remove an ex-wife f
“You’re very brave for a man with one functioning hand and a dependence on medical care.”Sebastian lifted the bowl slightly, moving it farther out of Poppy’s reach. “The medical care belongs to me.”“That doesn’t make you immune to domestic violence.”“Mommy,” Poppy interrupted, “does domestic mean the one with the sofa?”I looked at her. “Yes. Exactly. Don’t ask any more questions.”“I know lots of words.”“That’s what keeps me up at night.”Poppy tried to stick one finger into the egg mixture. Sebastian moved the bowl to the other side without looking.Poppy shifted left.Sebastian moved the bowl right.Poppy circled the island.Sebastian turned slightly, keeping the bowl out of reach.“I just want to look,” she said.“You can look without touching.”“I look with my hands.”“That’s not how looking works.”“That’s how I do it.”I poured in the sugar while watching them perform a ridiculous dance around the island. Sebastian, a man who usually made everyone else adjust their position


















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