LOGINShare
C3
publish date:
2026-08-24 00:33:21Chapter 3
The Morning After Doesn't Ask Permission
The building looked exactly the same. That was the first thing Ivie noticed, and it annoyed her a little, that it did.
She walked through the lobby the way she always did, heels loud on the marble, phone in one hand, scrolling through the morning's messages like they might tell her nothing had happened. Security nodded at her. The coffee cart sat in its usual spot. Somewhere above her, Sterling Holdings was doing exactly what it did every Tuesday.
She held on to that. The sameness of it.
She'd barely slept. Lying awake, she told herself coming in today mattered that if she stayed home, if she let one bad night keep her out of her own building, she'd be handing them something. She didn't know exactly who "them" was yet. She just knew she wasn't giving it to them.
The elevator opened onto the fourteenth floor, and the first thing she registered was how fast two assistants near the reception desk stopped talking.
Not dramatically. Not like a movie where everyone turns and stares. Just a small drop in the conversation, a beat too quick, and then one of them found something urgent to do with a stapler that didn't need attention.
"Morning," Ivie said, the way she always did.
"Morning, Ms. Sterling." The girl's eyes didn't quite reach hers.
Ivie kept walking. It meant nothing, she told herself. People were tired on Mondays. It was Tuesday, but that didn't mean much. People were tired every day.
She reached her office, set her bag down, and pulled up her calendar out of habit before she'd even sat, checking what was ahead the way she did every morning, so the day had shape.
The nine-thirty wasn't there.
She scrolled back up, thinking she'd misread it. Now the product licensing review that had been on her calendar for two weeks, the one she'd prepared notes for, the one she specifically asked to sit in on, was gone.
She picked up the phone and called down to Marcus, who managed the scheduling for that department, a man she known since she was an intern shadowing meetings she wasn't allowed to speak in.
"Marcus. Hi. My nine-thirty isn't on my calendar."
A pause on the other end. Longer than a scheduling question should need.
"It got moved," he said.
"Moved to when?"
"I… I'm not totally sure. I was told to take you off the list."
"Told by who?"
Another pause. "I think it came down from Edmund's office."
Ivie sat with the phone against her ear, not saying anything for a second. The office around her looked exactly the same as it had ten minutes ago.
"Okay," she said, because there wasn't anything else to say to Marcus, who sounded like he wanted the call over. "Thanks."
She hung up, looked at her closed office door, then opened it and went to find out for herself.
She got as far as the hallway outside the boardroom before Edmund found her. Or maybe he'd been waiting. She couldn't tell which.
"Ivie." He said her name the way he always did warm, careful, an uncle's voice. "I was hoping I'd catch you."
"Why was I taken off the licensing review?"
"Let's talk in my office."
"I'd rather talk here."
He studied her, and his face settled into patience. "All right. Here, then." He glanced down the hallway and lowered his voice, though nobody was close enough to hear. "Last night was difficult. I think everyone understands that."
"This isn't about last night. This is a meeting I've been preparing for."
"It's connected, whether we like it or not." His voice stayed even, careful, like he was choosing each word before he used it. "People talk, Ivie. By this morning, half the building had heard some version of what happened at the party. I'm not saying that's fair. I'm saying it's true."
"So I get pulled from a meeting because people are gossiping?"
"You get pulled from a meeting because the board wants a calm few weeks, and I agreed that was reasonable." He held up a hand before she could answer. "Not because anyone doubts you. Because you shouldn't have to sit in a room defending your engagement while trying to talk about licensing terms."
"I can separate the two."
"I know you can. I'm not sure everyone else in that room can, right now." He said it kindly, which was what made it hard to argue with. "Give it a little time. Let things settle. Nobody's taking anything away from you."
"It doesn't feel that way."
"I understand why." He touched her shoulder briefly, the way he had at every family funeral and holiday since she was a child. "You've had an awful night. You don't need to prove anything to anyone today."
"I'm not trying to prove anything. I'm trying to do my job."
"I know." He said it like he meant it, and maybe he did. That was worse, somehow. "And you will. Just not this meeting. Not this week."
"That's not your decision to make."
"No," he agreed easily, "it isn't. It's the board's. I only carried the message." He smiled, small and sad, like he wished it were different. "Go home early today, if you want. Or don't. Whatever helps."
He walked off before she found the next thing to say, which she suspected was the point.
Ivie stood in the hallway longer than she needed to. Then she straightened the way she'd been taught to straighten at every dinner table where her father expected her not to embarrass him and walked back toward her office like nothing had happened, because right now that was the only thing she knew how to do.
At her desk, she opened the company calendar again, going further out this time, past today, past the week, scrolling through everything booked for Sterling Holdings.
That was when she saw it.
An entry for the following Tuesday. Board Session Emergency. No description. No attendees listed that she could see. She clicked into it anyway, out of habit, expecting the agenda to load the way it always did.
One item appeared on the list.
Blacked out. A single redacted line where the subject should have been, as though someone had gone in and erased it on purpose, then left the blank space there so she'd know exactly what had been kept from her.
She sat looking at it for a long time.
She hadn't been invited. She hadn't b
een told. And whatever it was, someone had decided she wasn't allowed to know even that much.
Latest chapter
The Vows we broke C17
Chapter 17 What the Papers Say About HimIvie set the folder from Alexander’s office on the kitchen table, unopened, and opened her laptop instead.She typed his name into the search bar. Three years of press releases arranged themselves into a tidy, flattering timeline. Blackwood International’s expansion into logistics. A profile calling him “notoriously private.” A charity gala photo dark suit, not smiling, standing slightly apart from the group even in a posed shot.None of it told her anything she hadn’t already picked up sitting across from the man himself.She scrolled back further. Ten years. Fifteen. The coverage thinned the deeper she went, the way it does for someone who kept himself out of cameras on purpose. She tried a different search: Alexander Blackwood early career.Most results repeated the same short paragraph, word for word, the kind of biography a company writes about itself and lets journalists copy from it without checking. Built his first company from a small
The Vows we broke C16
Chapter 16- Marriage, Typed at the Top of the PageIvie stared at the word again Marriage.She hesitated with her hand over the paper, then slowly drew it back into her lap.Alexander said nothing.She looked up."This is a joke right?”“Does it look like a joke to you?""You're asking me to marry you?""I'm offering a contract. Marriage is a legal structure that facilitates the possibility of the rest of it."Ivie exchanged a long look with the page, then with the remainder of the folder still tucked beneath his hand. "You said you could clear the debt. Keep the house.""Yes. If you agree to become my wife under the contract.”"For how long.""Two years minimum before either of us can request a termination. After that, either party may dissolve the arrangement freely under the given terms.""And during those two years.""You keep the house. The debt is cleared in full. Your father's estate remains your responsibility. You retain your name, if that is your preference. Nothing is clai
The Vows we broke C15
Chapter 15 Two WeeksIvie had barely woken when she stretched beneath the sheets and yawned. Sleep still clung to her, but she pushed herself out of bed and reached for the clothes she had left on the chair the night before.She was pulling her top over her head when her phone buzzed on the bedside table.She stopped.For a moment, she considered ignoring it. Then she reached for the phone and unlocked the screen.An email.She opened it.The message was short and formal. An invitation to a meeting concerning a mutually beneficial arrangement. The time was stated clearly. So was the address.She stared at the screen for several seconds before letting out a quiet hiss and dropping the phone back onto the bed.Of course.She should have known Alexander Blackwood wasn't finished with her.She picked up her clothes and walked into the bathroom.The shower helped wake her up, but it did nothing to settle her thoughts. By the time she
The Vows we broke C14
Chapter 14What He Doesn't Say Out LoudShe had said no without actually saying it.Alexander sat with that after she left, the pen still in his hand until he noticed and set it down. Most people who came into this office already knew how the meeting would end. They arrived prepared to accept whatever terms he offered because they had run out of other options. Ivie Sterling had not done that. She had made him repeat himself. She had called him on the pacing before he had fully decided to do it.He hadn’t planned for that.Seventeen days still left her with almost no room to maneuver. She would need the money. Pride only stretched so far when a house and a deadline were involved. But the arrangement would require more handling than he had expected, and he preferred plans that did not need handling.He buzzed his lawyer’s office. “Marcus Reid in my office now, if he’s free.”Reid arrived twenty minutes later with a laptop bag over one shoulder.Alexander didn't waste time.“I want you to
The Vows we broke C13
Chapter 13 The First Ten MinutesThe meeting was set for ten the next morning. Reyes had sent her the address, but Ivie didn’t recognize the place. She hadn’t even agreed to anything yet, yet he had already arranged everything as though her answer had never been in doubt.She didn’t trust Alexander. She didn’t trust the place he wanted her to go, either. But trust was a luxury she could no longer afford.She had seventeen days left.Maybe less.The following morning, Ivie took a bath and chose one of her best outfits, the navy suit she used to wear to board meetings.Putting it on brought back memories she had been trying not to think about. Those days when she had walked into her father’s company with confidence, knowing exactly where she belonged. Now, the same clothes felt almost like something borrowed from a life that no longer existed.She ate a quick breakfast, then ordered a Bolt ride and showed the driver the address Reyes had sent her.The drive was quiet.Ivie stared out t
The Vows we broke C12
Chapter 12The Last Number in the ColumnThe bank opened at nine. Ivie was on the phone a few minutes past nine.“Hello, good morning.”“Good morning, ma’am. How may I help you?”“I need to speak with the loan officer.” Ivie said over the phone “One moment, please.”She waited, gripping the phone tighter when the call finally connected.“Good morning. This is the loan department.”“Hi. I want to apply for a loan.”“Alright, ma’am. What amount are you looking for?”“I’m not sure yet. I have a problem I need to solve, and I have seventeen days left.”“Alright, what is your name please.”“Ivie Sterling,” Ivie replied, hoping for good news.There was a short pause.“Okay ma'am,” the loan officer said. His tone was polite, but distant. “But the deadline isn’t the problem. Your financial profile has changed.”Ivie frowned. “Changed how?”“Your income status. A month ago, you had steady employment with Sterling Holdings. Our records now show that your position has been terminated, so your c
You May Also Like
Powerful Papa with Triplet Babies
Pink Dolphin638.8K viewsWarning: My Mommy is A Savage!
Seeking A Peaceful Life2.2M viewsHIS REGRET (Ex-Husband wants Me Back)
Major_Canis1.9M viewsHook Up With The Naughty Maid
Wild Dreams2.3M viewsI Died Loving Him. This Time He Remembers Too.
Lyra Vance92 viewsDivorced, Yet He Can’t Let Me Go
Golden Koi325 viewsTHE 6-MONTH TROPHY HUSBAND
Joiley101 viewsThe Plants Know What You Did
Anne Kingston145 views
