ログインKnowing the nurse couldn't do more, Naomi scanned the crowded hallway.A man stepped forward from the group. "I'm type B, actually."Naomi's face lit up. Before she could get a word out, he added, "You said 'anything.' You mean that?"Something in his gaze made her skin crawl, oily and calculating.I thought he was being kind. Should've known better.She ignored him and turned to the rest of the crowd, hoping someone else would step up.Every set of eyes she met slid away instead.Something bitter twisted in Naomi's chest.The world's cruel enough that people won't even donate blood, standard type or not, without an angle.Do I call Ethan? Ask him to come?The divorce was so close to finalizing. She didn't want to hand him another opening this late in the game.But Lily's condition wasn't something that could wait.Right as she was working through it, a tall figure crossed toward her."I'm type B."Naomi's head snapped up, hope flooding in. "Thank you so much"She caught his face and
Without exception, every voice in the room was tilting in Ethan's favor. His mouth curved, confident he'd already won.With this much of a crowd behind him, there's no way Naomi holds out."I'm not going anywhere with you." Naomi's refusal didn't waver.Something in Ethan's expression faltered this was the first time he'd seen her dig in quite this hard."Naomi. Don't you still feel something for me and Julian?" Ethan reached for the emotional angle. "He misses you. He knows he was wrong. He shouldn't have said that thing about Chloe being his mother, right in front of you."He paused, something uneasy flickering across his face. "I shouldn't have proposed to her either. I didn't think about how that would land for you."Naomi said nothing, meeting his sudden remorse with a flat, unmoved stare.She didn't believe for a second this was genuine.This is just Ethan's version of pulling me back into servitude for that family."Ethan. Isn't this a little late for a wake-up call?" Naomi's l
"Naomi, what exactly is" Marcus started, then trailed off.A handful of socialites sat slumped against the wall, clothes rumpled, hair a mess, eyeing Naomi with visible terror.One of them, face swollen like she'd taken a beating, huddled in the corner clutching her head.Whatever happened here, someone definitely lost.Naomi's dress was slightly wrinkled, half her face flushed from a hit. Something protective flared in Marcus's chest. "Naomi, are you hurt?""Marcus! Finally!" The woman with the swollen face wailed the second she registered his first concern went to Naomi instead of her. "Naomi's completely unhinged!"Naomi turned a slow look on her. The woman shut up instantly, cowed."They came at me first," Naomi said, flat.Marcus nodded, understanding immediately.He'd known Naomi long enough to know she wasn't the type to throw the first punch. Provoked was the only version of this that made sense."Who told you to go after my sister?"Watching Marcus defend Naomi without even h
Vivian put on a worried face. "Paige, my brothers genuinely like Naomi. You don't need to go pick a fight with her on my account.""No, I'm doing this. Someone needs to stand up for you tonight."Paige squeezed Vivian's hand reassuringly and headed off toward Naomi.Vivian watched her go, something entertained flickering across her face."You're Naomi?"Paige arrived in front of her, chin lifted, sweeping a dismissive glance over her outfit. "You're seriously wearing that to Vivian's birthday party?"Naomi recognized her instantly for what she was Vivian's loyal best friend, here for a fight.She met Paige's stare, unbothered. "What exactly is wrong with what I'm wearing?"The question caught Paige off guard for a beat."Look around. Nobody else is dressed this plain." Paige's expression soured further. "This is genuinely disrespectful to Vivian.""You're in a pretty ordinary outfit yourself," Naomi said, mouth curving faintly. "Should I take that as disrespect too?"Paige, unused to
The guests had mostly arrived, but Vivian still hadn't come down."Miss, you can head out now," the housekeeper reminded gently.Vivian glanced at her, unbothered. "A little longer."The housekeeper gave up, though she couldn't help the thought forming.Everyone's already here. What exactly is she waiting for?That's when Vivian shot up off the couch, eyes locked on a figure that had just appeared in the entrance hall, something bright sparking behind them.He's here."I'm heading down now."Her mouth curved. She gathered her skirt and descended the stairs.The second she appeared, every set of eyes in the room turned to her."So this is the Sinclair daughter they found?""Absolutely gorgeous. Elegant, too fits the family name.""Wait, wasn't the real daughter missing for over two decades? Feels like she'd look... different, coming back after all that. Isn't this the adopted one?"The murmuring reached Vivian clearly, and the smile on her face dimmed by a fraction."Thank you all for
The implication being she was there with Sebastian purely to oversee the site nothing more, nothing that warranted his tone.The answer landed cleanly."That right? Because your grasp of this field seems way beyond what most professionals I've worked with have."Praise, sure. But also, unmistakably, a probe.Naomi pressed her lips together. "What exactly are you trying to find out, Mr. Cole?"Sebastian hadn't expected her to just call it outright.He held her gaze, dark and unreadable. "That designer everyone in the industry knows as A. Hart. Is that you?""Seems like a stretch, coincidence-wise same letter, same field, entirely different people."Naomi's composure didn't slip. "You're accusing me of being A. Hart. Do you have proof of that, Mr. Cole?"Watching something flicker across his face at the pushback, Naomi already had her answer.She let a faint smile settle in. "It's one letter. Why does that automatically point to me? Should you be interrogating every architect whose name







