LOGINDaisy I didn't sleep.Not really.I closed my eyes sometime after midnight, but sleep never came properly. Every time I drifted off, I saw the photograph again.Thane and Rissa standing outside the café and beneath them, written in dark ink:FOUND YOU.I had turned the photograph over so many times during the night that the edges had started to soften beneath my fingers.I had stared at the words until they blurred, then I had convinced myself there had to be another explanation.Someone wanted to scare me, someone connected to the harbor acquisition had taken it. Or maybe one of Caspian's people had followed me, maybe someone had recognized me, maybe…..I had run out of maybes sometime around four in the morning, because none of them explained the one thing that terrified me most.The photograph hadn't been of me. It had been of my children.I stared at the ceiling until dawn began to seep through the curtains, and one thought kept circling through my head.Someone had been watch
Caspian By the time I returned to the temporary Montenegro residence, I was irritated.I couldn't have said exactly why.The acquisition was proceeding exactly as planned. The council meeting had been postponed for now. The revised offer was ready, and the harbor property was still within reach.Everything was under control. Everything except my thoughts.I walked into my office, loosened my tie, and dropped the folder containing Kaitlyn Stones' information onto my desk.I stared at it, then I looked away. Three seconds later though, I looked back again. I hated that woman already, but not because she'd refused to sell.People refused offers all the time. It was the way she'd looked at me.The fear in her eyes, the anger that had followed, the way she'd reacted to my name before I'd even properly introduced myself, and then there were the children.I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes. Thane's stare came back to me immediately.I saw his dark eyes that were too steady for
Daisy By the time I unlocked the café the next morning, the sun had barely risen above the horizon.I hadn't slept much and honestly, that wasn't unusual anymore.Five years had taught me how to function on little sleep, how to wake at every unfamiliar sound, how to check the locks twice before going to bed and how to pretend I wasn't afraid when every instinct in my body told me to run.But last night had been different, because Caspian was here.He was alive, had walked into my café, stood three feet away from my children and looked at me without knowing who I was.I still hadn't decided whether that was a blessing or a curse.I pushed the door open and stepped inside. The familiar scent of coffee beans and freshly baked bread greeted me, and for a moment, I simply stood there with my hand resting against the door.This place had become my sanctuary,maybe because I built more than I was willing to admit. I'd done that from almost nothing, with two newborn babies and a level of d
Caspian By the time we reached the temporary Montenegro residence, I had already made my decision.I was going back. I just hadn't decided what I was going to do when I got there.The car stopped beneath the covered entrance of the estate, and one of the security guards immediately opened my door.I stepped out without a word and Octavian followed. The executives were already talking before we'd made it through the entrance."The council representatives have been waiting for almost forty minutes." The first one started. "We can still salvage the meeting if we leave within the next ten minutes.""The acquisition team has prepared the revised offer."I kept walking, because none of it mattered.Not yet, and not when my mind was still inside that café, still behind that counter and still looking into Kaitlyn Stones' eyes.I entered the main sitting room where the rest of the acquisition team had gathered. Files covered the long table, laptops were open, and several men stood around
Caspian The moment I stepped out of the café, I knew something was wrong. I just didn't know what.I crossed the pavement without looking back, or at least, that was what I told myself.I reached the car, pulled open the rear door, and got inside. Octavian followed me and that's when I realized he'd been hovering outside the cafe door and didn't exactly come in with me. The two executives climbed in after us, immediately launching into the acquisition discussion."The council representatives have already arrived at the conference room," one of them said. "If we leave now, we'll still make the meeting with…"I didn't answer, and my gaze remained fixed on the café through the tinted window.The woman was still standing behind the counter.Kaitlyn Stones.She had looked terrified when I introduced myself. Not nervous or intimidated. There was a difference, and I knew it because I'd spent five years learning what fear looked like in the eyes of people who had something to hide.She h
Daisy For several seconds, nobody moved. Not me, not Caspian and not even the children, while the café seemed to hold its breath around us.Caspian's eyes remained fixed on Thane, and I watched every tiny change in his expression with growing dread.His gaze moved slowly over my son's face, down to his dark hair, his eyes, his little nose and even the shape of his mouth.Then his attention shifted to Rissa.She stood beside Thane, one hand still wrapped around the doorway while her curls fell messily around her face.As Caspian stared at both of them, my fingers tightened around the cup in my hand.I wanted to say something, anything, but my throat had gone completely dry.Finally, one of the men who had entered with him cleared his throat."Mr. Montenegro?" Caspian didn't answer. "Sir?"“Who are these?” Caspian's eyes remained on the children. "Your children?"The question was quiet, but loud enough for a fire alarm to go off in my head. "Yes." My heart slammed against my ribs a
Daisy I couldn’t stop thinking about the kitchen.No matter how hard I tried, the memory kept replaying itself in pieces that refused to leave me alone.I remembered the tea, the tension and the look on Caspian’s face when he asked me if Octavian made me feel safer.That was the part haunting m
Caspian The second I stepped into the kitchen, the bond turned vicious. It wasn't angry as usual, this one was worse. It felt desperate. It hit me all at once, sharp enough to make my chest tighten painfully as my gaze landed on Daisy standing beside Octavian with a mug cradled between her han
Daisy The palace was in controlled chaos, and for the life of me, I didn't know what to think of it. Servants rushed through the corridors with bolts of black silk and silver threaded veils draped over their arms, while guards stood straighter when I passed, bowing low enough that their forehea
FourDaisy The clearing had gone so quiet I could hear my own pulse in my ears.“I want her.” Even in a million years,I never thought I'd hear those words,not from Nathan, and definitely not from the Greek god in human form; Caspian.His voice didn’t need to be loud. It carried anyway, low, contr







