LOGINArthur~The knock came at six in the morning. Not a normal knock. Not the kind delivered by neighbors, friends, or delivery drivers. This one was sharp. Deliberate. The kind that immediately made your stomach tighten before your brain caught up.I was already awake. Sleep and I had not been getting along lately. So when the second knock came, I was standing before it finished.The moment I opened the door, I knew something was wrong. My lawyer stood outside. Still wearing yesterday’s suit. His tie was crooked. His eyes looked exhausted. And in twenty years of knowing him, I had learned one very important thing. He only looked like that when the situation was terrible. Not difficult. Not complicated. Terrible.I stepped aside. “What happened?”He entered without speaking. That answered the question immediately. Whatever it was, it was bad enough that he did not want to discuss it outside. Wonderful. Exactly how I wanted to start my morning.He dropped a folder onto the kitchen table. I
Evelyn~The house had finally gone quiet. Toby’s door sat cracked open like always, that soft blue nightlight spilling into the hall so I could hear if he had one of his bad dreams. I lay in bed with the sheet twisted around my legs, wearing nothing but that old oversized shirt that barely covered anything. My hair was still damp from the shower, sticking to my neck. The fan spun lazy circles above me but it did nothing for the heat crawling under my skin.Leone’s footsteps came up the stairs slow and deliberate. He paused right outside my door, one hand resting on the frame like he was giving both of us one last chance to pretend this was still just friendly tension. Our eyes met through the doorway and something in the air went thick. Heavy. The kind of heavy that had been building since the porch conversation about Arthur.“You’re thinking too loud again,” I whispered.He stepped inside and shut the door behind him with a soft click that felt final. “Been thinking since we stood ou
Evelyn~The sink chose violence at seven in the morning. I was halfway through making breakfast when the faucet made a horrible choking sound and blasted water directly across the kitchen.I yelped and jumped backward. The pan nearly hit the floor. Water sprayed everywhere. The counter. The cabinets. My shirt. The stupid fruit bowl. For a few seconds I just stood there getting attacked by plumbing because apparently life had decided Samantha was not enough stress.“What happened?” Toby appeared in the doorway.I pointed dramatically. “The sink has declared war.”He stared. The faucet continued spraying water across the room. “That is actually kind of impressive.”“Not helping.”“A little helping.”The water somehow got worse. I groaned. Then another voice appeared behind us. “Move.”Leone. Of course. The man had not even finished his coffee yet. He stepped into the kitchen, took one look at the disaster, and immediately disappeared under the sink.I watched him open cabinets, reach fo
Evelyn~The request came during breakfast. Which honestly should have warned me. Nothing good ever happened when Toby sounded casual. Absolutely nothing.One minute he was eating cereal and complaining that Leone had bought the wrong orange juice. The next minute he said, “I think I want to meet Arthur.”Just like that. Like he was asking about the weather.I nearly dropped my coffee. Across the table, Leone stopped reading whatever security report he was pretending not to obsess over. The room went quiet.Toby looked between us. “What?”I set my mug down carefully. “What do you mean what?”He shrugged. “I want to meet him.”“You already met him.”“You know what I mean.”Unfortunately, I did. I knew exactly what he meant. Not courtrooms. Not hospitals. Not emergency situations. Not disasters. An actual meeting. A normal one. As normal as anything involving Arthur could be.Leone leaned back in his chair. “Why?”Toby considered the question. Not defensive. Not emotional. Just thinking.
Arthur~For a second, I just stared at the phone. Certain I was reading it wrong. The screen still displayed the same name. Toby. Not Evelyn. Not Rebecca. Not a lawyer. Not a reporter. Toby.My hand actually hesitated before answering. Which was ridiculous. I had negotiated billion-dollar deals without blinking. Faced hostile boards. Handled crises. Taken questions from entire rooms full of angry investors. Yet somehow a phone call from a thirteen-year-old boy had my heart pounding like an idiot.The phone rang again. Then again. I answered. “Hello?”Silence. Not complete silence. Breathing. Faint breathing. Like someone was suddenly questioning every decision that had brought him here.“Toby?”A pause. Then: “Hi.”The voice was smaller than I expected. Not physically smaller. Careful. Uncertain. Like he was not entirely sure what this conversation was supposed to be. I sat down slowly. “Hi.”Another silence. Already awkward. Wonderful. Neither of us seemed to know what came next. Eve
Arthur~The first morning was the worst. Not because of the headlines. Not because of the messages. Not even because every business channel in the country seemed determined to use my face every fifteen minutes. It was the silence.For thirty-two years, I had not needed an alarm. My phone had been the alarm. Calls. Emails. Meetings. Problems. Crises. People wanting things. People needing things. People demanding things. Every day started with noise.Now it did not.I woke up at six anyway. Years of habit. The house was quiet. Too quiet. I lay there staring at the ceiling for a while. Waiting. For what, I was not entirely sure. A call. A message. Something. Nothing came.Eventually I got up. Made coffee. Sat in the kitchen. And realized I had nowhere to be. The thought hit harder than it should have. Nowhere. Not later. Not this afternoon. Not tomorrow. Nowhere. My entire schedule had vanished overnight.The coffee tasted terrible. Maybe it always had. Maybe I had just never noticed bef
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 pr
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.“
Arthur~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
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 th







