LOGINLeander POVI looked at him. "That would be unprofessional.""You," Elias said evenly, "spent two months rewriting the retreat logistics because you missed your Omega."A pause."That's unrelated," I said.Elias looked at me with the exhaustion of someone who had been having this conversation in various forms for longer than was reasonable."Leander," he said. I looked away. He was right. Again. I genuinely hated it when people did that.The bus curved sharply through the mountain road, and this time I heard Avelin pull in a quiet breath behind me, small and controlled, the sound of someone trying not to make a sound.Concern cut through everything else without ceremony.I turned before I had finished deciding to."Avelin?" I said.His eyes came up to mine immediately."I'm okay," he said softly, with the particular tone of someone who has decided they are fine and would like that to be the end of it. "Just a little carsick."That ended the discussion.I stood.The bus went noticeably
Leander POVThe company bus smelled like coffee, expensive perfume, and poor decisions.I stood outside for ten seconds before boarding, staring at the black luxury coach like it had personally offended me. Three days. Inside a mountain resort with Avelin. My control already felt fragile around him on a normal day, in a normal building, with thirty feet of professional distance between us.It's an excellent, fantastic idea, and mine, apparently.Elias appeared beside me, holding two coffees and wearing entirely too much amusement on his face for seven in the morning."You look like a man approaching his execution," he said pleasantly."I am," I said."You organized this retreat yourself.""I make mistakes sometimes."Elias snorted, handed me a coffee without sympathy, and climbed aboard ahead of me.Traitor.I inhaled slowly and followed him inside.The bus was already loud. Employees filled most of the seats, talking over each other with the particular energy of people who had been
Avelin POV"Dada! Grandma Lia says rich people's pancakes taste the same as normal pancakes!"Renlo pressed his hand over his mouth, shoulders shaking.I closed my eyes.God."Come downstairs," Renlo said, standing and composing himself with visible effort. "Before your child starts a class war inside the Voss mansion."Madam Lia's house had stopped intimidating me, but not for the reason I would have expected. It wasn't that the scale of it had become normal. It was that she had made it warm.The estate smelled like fresh flowers and expensive tea now, instead of the cold, preserved stillness of a house that was more monument than home. The staff smiled at Shen with genuine warmth instead of the careful politeness of people managing an intrusion. The house felt inhabited again, in all the ways that mattered.Shen came racing through the living room in dinosaur pajamas, Madam Lia following at a measured distance behind him with the patient, slightly defeated expression of a grandmothe
Avelin POVI repacked the suitcase four times. Actually, five. But Renlo stopped counting after the fourth because watching me spiral was, in his words, "becoming medically concerning.""I'm serious," he announced from my bedroom floor, folding sweaters into his luggage with the calm of someone who had never once panicked in his life. "At this point, I'm considering sedating you.""I forgot extra socks," I said, already moving back toward the dresser."You packed twelve pairs," he said flatly."What if he needs more?""Avelin." He looked up at me with the expression of a man approaching the end of his patience. "You're leaving for three days. Not entering combat."I ignored him and stared into Baby Shen's open dresser drawers with growing, unreasonable anxiety.He packed tiny shirts, tiny pajamas, and tiny dinosaur socks.God. Maybe I should stay home.The thought hit me so hard I nearly turned around immediately.Three days away from Shen and three nights.My chest ached just thinkin
Leander POVI approved the retreat proposal at 6:12 a.m. By 6:14, I hated myself a little for how obvious my motivations probably were.“Three days at a luxury mountain resort for executive bonding?” Elias asked dryly, standing in my office doorway. “You truly are a visionary leader.”I ignored him and kept reading the event itinerary on my tablet.The quarterly Voss Corporation retreat happens every year. Nothing about this one was unusual: senior staff, department heads, executive planning sessions, team-building activities, everyone secretly hated and normal.Except for one detail, Accounting had never been included before.This year, suddenly, they were “essential to interdepartmental financial cohesion.” Completely coincidental, of course.Elias walked in with coffee and an expression that said he was deeply disappointed in my life choices.“You maneuvered this,” he said.“I run a company,” I replied calmly. “I manage logistics.”“You rewrote the department participation structur
Leanders POVI knew Elena was outside my office before my assistant spoke. It was like I had a sense. Either way, something inside my chest felt tight and painful when she stepped onto the floor.I had been avoiding this conversation for weeks.The office doors opened quietly.“Elena Voss-Vladmoss is here to see you, sir."I stared at the report without reading a word. Then finally: "Send her in."The assistant hesitated, probably because my voice sounded rough.“ Of Course, sir."The door shut again.I walked toward the window. Rain was over the city, making it look cold and gray. It was Voss weather.My reflection stared back at me. Suit, controlled expression, eyes that looked older than thirty-five. I barely recognized myself.The office door opened softly. Elena came in without hesitation.If she still thought Conrad was innocent, she would have come in furious and defensive. Instead, she moved like a Voss. Calm. Hiding something ugly beneath.I turned slowly.God. She looked ex
Avelin POV That night, I don’t sleep. Not really. I stay close to him, one arm around his body, my hand resting over his chest, feeling his heartbeat, too fast, even in sleep. Even when he’s still. It’s as if his body senses something his mind has not yet caught up to. He begins muttering, initia
Aveliin POVMorning should have felt lighter after the storm, but it didn’t. The sky had cleared, yet the air still carried the weight of what had just passed. Dampness clung to everything: the porch, the railings, the stones in the yard, residual evidence of the rain that refused to leave. Inside
Shen POVThe silence stretched between us, warm and fragile beneath the stars.“You’re very certain about things for someone who knows almost nothing about me.”A faint smile touched his lips. “I told you…I know the things that matter.”We sat there on the steps, the cold creeping in slowly as neit
Avelin POVI found him on the floor at three in the morning. Not collapsed, not injured, just sitting with his back pressed against the wall beneath the window. His knees were drawn to his chest, and his forehead rested against them. I could see the tremors shaking through his body from the doorway







