LOGINArthur~The funny thing about betrayal was that it never looked the way you expected. People imagined dramatic confrontations, shouting, threats, and fists slamming on tables. Real betrayal wore expensive suits. It smiled politely. It thanked you for your years of service before putting a knife in your back.The boardroom was almost full when I walked in. Nobody met my eyes. That should have told me everything. For thirty-two years, I had worked with some of these people. Thirty-two years. Longer than some of their marriages. Longer than some of their careers. Longer than some of their children had been alive. And now they could not even look at me.Interesting.I took my seat anyway. Because what else was I supposed to do? Run? Beg? Pretend I did not know why we were here?The chairman cleared his throat. Nobody spoke. The silence felt thick. Heavy. The kind that settled over a room before something ugly happened.“We will begin.”Straight to business. No small talk. No pretending. A
Rebecca~The first notification arrived at 8:17 in the morning. I only remember the exact time because it seemed completely harmless. One message. One alert. One tiny interruption. Nothing important.By 8:45, the entire company was on fire.My phone started vibrating before I even stepped out of the elevator. Emails, messages, calls, and more messages flooded in. The screen barely stopped lighting up long enough for me to read anything. People were running through the building. Actually running. Not the usual corporate speed-walking. Real running.The atmosphere felt wrong immediately. Like somebody had pulled the pin from a grenade and forgotten to tell everyone else.I stepped onto the executive floor and nearly collided with Martin from Legal. He looked pale and terrified. That was concerning because Martin usually looked like he charged extra just to experience emotions.“What is happening?” I asked.He stopped walking. “Please tell me you are joking.”My stomach tightened. “What
POV: Rebecca“She’s been preparing to leave everything behind for years.”Nina’s voice stayed low, almost careful, like she was afraid saying it too loudly would make it more real. The words hung between us in the dim glow of the monitors, heavy and suffocating.I didn’t answer right away. My eyes were glued to the screen, but the data blurred, fracturing into something darker, something that twisted in my gut like a knife. Years. Not a rushed escape. Not panic. Samantha had been orchestrating this like a goddamn symphony, right under our noses.I pulled my chair closer, the wheels scraping softly against the floor, and scrolled back through the files Nina had opened for me. Emails. Internal notes. Authorizations that should have lit up every security flag in the building. But she’d slipped through it all, shaping the system around herself like a lover she kept hidden in the shadows.“I don’t get it,” I muttered, my voice sounding raw and foreign. “If she was building all this… why st
POV: Rebecca“She’s been preparing to leave everything behind for years.”Nina’s voice stayed low, almost careful, like she was afraid saying it too loudly would make it more real.I didn’t answer immediately.My eyes were still on the screen, but the words had stopped making sense in a straight line. They were breaking apart in my head, rearranging themselves into something heavier, something I didn’t like the shape of.Years.Not months. Not panic. Not a sudden escape plan triggered by pressure.Years.I pulled the chair closer without realizing I’d moved at all and scrolled back through the files Nina had opened. The emails, the internal notes, the quiet authorizations signed off in systems that shouldn’t have even been accessible without raising alarms.But somehow she had done it.Samantha hadn’t just been working inside the system. She had been shaping it around herself.“I don’t get it,” I said finally, though my voice didn’t sound like mine. “If she was building all this… why
POV: EvelynThe first thing I noticed the next morning was the man standing near the front gate. I almost dropped my coffee mug. Not because he looked obviously threatening, but because he absolutely did not belong there. He wore dark clothes, sunglasses, and one of those earpieces that screamed professional security in every movie I had ever seen.For a second, I just stared. Then I spotted another one farther down the driveway. My eye twitched. “No.”Leone looked up from his newspaper. “What?”I pointed toward the window. “What is that?”He followed my finger and nodded casually. “Oh. Good, they got here.”I slowly turned to face him. “They got here?”“Yeah.”“You say that like it’s completely normal.”“It is now,” he replied calmly.“No, Leone. Normal is a delivery driver or someone dropping off groceries. Those are armed men with earpieces standing guard like we’re in a spy thriller.”Leone remained completely unbothered, folding his newspaper neatly. “They’re security.”“I figure
POV: EvelynI didn’t breathe a word about the shadowy figure on the beach to anyone.Not to Leone. Not to Marshall. Not to Rebecca. And definitely not to Toby. He was a child but still on the list. The more daylight poured into the house, the more insane the whole thing sounded in my head.“Hey everyone, I think someone stood in the dark last night, watching our house like a predator for who knows how long before melting back into the shadows.”Yeah. Completely normal conversation starter. The kind that would send everyone into full-blown panic mode.So I kept my mouth shut.For now.But secrets have a way of eating you alive from the inside. They don’t just disappear because you ignore them. They linger. They whisper.I thought about those cold, watching eyes while I made breakfast. I thought about them while helping Toby sort through the ridiculous pile of souvenirs he’d collected from the gift shops yesterday. I thought about them even while pretending I wasn’t thinking
POV: SamanthaI wasn’t supposed to hear that.That’s the first thing that hits me, sitting in my car with the engine off and the air too still, like even the world knows I just crossed into something I shouldn’t have.Because this? This wasn’t part of the plan. I stare at my phone, thumb hovering o
POV: EvelynI don’t like waiting.There’s something about it that gets under my skin in a way I don’t show on the surface. Outwardly, I look calm, composed, like I always do but inside? I was a wrecking ballMalachi texted me not long after the café incident.“He saw the kid. Clocked it immediately
POV : ArthurI don’t scare easily and no, it was not coming from a place of arrogance. It’s just a fact I’ve built my life around. When you spend years dealing with people who lie for a living, cheat when it benefits them, and smile while doing both, you either learn to stand your ground or you get
CHAPTER : OutingI didn’t plan on spending my afternoon babysitting.Not that I’d ever say that out loud. Nina would probably stab me with a fork, and Evelyn… well, Evelyn wouldn’t say anything. She’d just look at me in that calm, quiet way of hers that somehow makes you feel like you’ve already di







