LOGINVICTORIAThe space between us disappeared too easily. That was the problem, and I knew it the second it happened. It had always been like this with him, simple in the worst way.Everything else around us felt complicated, messy, and out of control. The case, the lies, the past that kept showing up at the worst time. But this part, this thing between us, stayed easy.It felt too easy, and I didn’t like that. Because easy meant dangerous. It meant I wasn’t thinking. And right now, I needed to think.His hand brushed mine first, lightly. It wasn’t an accident, and we both knew it. It was just enough to feel, just enough to notice.I didn’t pull away. I should have. I knew I should have, but I didn’t.The contact stayed there for a second longer than it needed to. My fingers didn’t move or react, and it felt like they were waiting for my brain to catch up. It didn’t. Instead, I let it stay.That was my first mistake.“Tell me everything,” I said quietly.My voice came out softer than I ex
VICTORIAThe moment the door closed behind us, the silence changed.It felt like everything we had just said outside had followed us in and settled into the walls.I stood there for a second, my hand still resting on the door handle, my mind trying to reset. The space looked the same. The lights were soft, the furniture was exactly where it had always been, and the city still stretched out through the glass.Nothing had moved, but something had shifted, and I could feel it.Clark walked past me like he had done it a hundred times before. He didn’t pause or hesitate. He just moved through the space as if he belonged there and nothing had changed.That annoyed me more than I wanted to admit.I let out a slow breath and pushed myself away from the door, walking deeper into the penthouse. I moved toward the desk and picked up my tablet, forcing my attention onto the screen. I had messages, reports, and legal updates waiting.All of it was important. This was what mattered.Not him. Not
VICTORIAThe elevator ride down felt longer than it should have.No one spoke after we left the penthouse. Not me, not Clark, not even Daniel. The woman stayed behind, and somehow that made everything feel heavier, like we had walked out with pieces of something unfinished.I kept my eyes forward the whole time. I didn’t trust myself to look at Clark yet because if I did, I wasn’t sure what I would see. Or worse, what I would feel.We stepped out into the night, and the air hit me immediately. It was cool and sharp. It helped, but not enough.Clark walked beside me, close but not touching. I could feel his presence without looking. It sat there, steadily, like he was waiting for something.I didn’t give it to him.The car door opened, and I got in without a word. He followed right after, sitting beside me like it was normal and nothing had changed.But everything had.The driver pulled away smoothly, and the city lights started moving past the window. I watched them without really see
VICTORIABut I didn’t end up stepping back.That was the first thing I noticed about myself in that moment. I stayed right there, close enough to feel the heat from his body, close enough to see every small shift in his expression.Clark didn’t move either.We just stood there, facing each other, with too many things sitting between us that neither of us wanted to say out loud.The room felt smaller. Tighter too. Like the walls had moved in just to watch what would happen next.“You knew what it could become,” I said again, softer this time.It wasn’t because I wasn’t sure. It was because I wanted to hear how he would say it again.His jaw tightened just slightly before he answered. “I knew what it was,” he repeated.That answer sat there for a second. Then I let out a small breath. “That’s not the same thing.”He didn’t reply immediately.And that silence… it did something to me. Because Clark wasn’t the kind of man who stayed quiet unless he was choosing to.And right now, he was c
VICTORIA I didn’t take my eyes off him after I asked the question.The room felt quiet, but not peaceful. It was the kind of silence that pressed in on you, like it was waiting for something to break. Clark stood a few steps away, his face calm, but I knew him well enough now to see the tension underneath.It was in the way his shoulders held still. They were too still.He didn’t answer immediately. That told me more than anything else.I crossed my arms slowly, not to protect myself, but to keep control. “It’s a simple question,” I said. My voice stayed even. “Did you ever think about using it on me?”Clark let out a small breath, like he had been holding it in.“No,” he said.The answer came fast. Too fast.I tilted my head slightly, watching him. “That’s not true.”His jaw tightened just a little. “It is.”I took a step closer. “You didn’t even think about it?” I asked. “Not once?”He didn’t move.“I thought about a lot of things back then,” he said carefully. “That doesn’t mean I
CLARKI saw it the second she turned the file toward me.My name sat there like it had been waiting for this exact moment. There was no way to deny it.For a second, everything in the room felt too quiet. Like even the air had stopped moving just to watch what I would do next.Victoria didn’t say anything. She just held the file up, her eyes fixed on me sharply.“Why is your name here?” she asked.Her voice wasn’t loud. But then again, it didn’t need to be.I exhaled slowly and kept my face calm. “Because I worked on early models,” I said.That was the truth. Just not all of it.She didn’t react right away. She lowered the file slightly, but her eyes didn’t leave mine.“Models for what?” she asked.I took a step closer. “For legal identity structures,” I said. “It was just a theory back then. Nothing real.”“That doesn’t look like just theory,” she replied.I glanced at the pages again. I knew exactly what she was seeing. Diagrams. Notes. Timelines.Things that should have stayed buri
CLARKThe water didn’t rush in all at once. It crept in bit by bit.That was the worst part.It slid across the concrete floor slowly. The smell hit me first as the odor of old metal and river rot invaded my nostrils and burned the back of my throat.My boots were soaked within seconds.“Move,” I b
TRENTI didn’t plan to meet her.That was the first lie I told myself that night, and it actually sounded believable in my head for a moment.But the truth sat heavily in my chest while my car idled under the bridge, engine low, lights off, rain tapping against the roof.I should have driven away.
VICTORIAThe secure location we went to smelled like disinfectant and burnt coffee. It was the kind of smell that was clean, but felt like it was hiding something rotten underneath. I hated it the moment I stepped in.Diana sat on the edge of the couch, wrapped in a thick gray blanket. Her knees we
VICTORIAIsabella didn’t waste time.She came straight to my office the next morning, hair pulled into a messy knot, sunglasses still on even though we were indoors. That alone told me how bad it was. Isabella never hid behind accessories unless she was tired or angry. Sometimes both.She shut the







