LOGINLydia POVAfter the issue with the anonymous call at work, life settled into something almost predictable.Not peaceful.Just predictable.Clara remained committed to being the physical embodiment of a workplace curse.She still found new ways to stress me out at least twice a week.She still assigned me tasks that were somehow urgent and impossible at the same time.She still smiled whenever she thought she had cornered me.But by then, I had learned how to survive her.Which was unfortunate for her, honestly.Three months into living in my tiny apartment in a country that still did not fully feel like mine, I was lying in bed one night doomscrolling through pregnancy forums when a post stopped me cold.How many weeks should you be before registering for antenatal care?My stomach dropped.Then dropped harder as I read.I sat up so fast my back protested.“Oh my God.”My hand flew to my stomach.“How did I forget?”Guilt hit me instantly.Hot and vicious.Because how had I been so co
Dave POVTwo weeks after Cyn walked out of that restaurant and ended things, she came back.She stood in my office doorway like she had not disappeared for fourteen days and ignored every call I made after.“Let’s start over,” she said.And because I was bored, because routine is often mistaken for attachment, because I had not yet examined myself honestly enough—I said yes.That lasted four weeks.Then she came to my office again.No warning.No apology.Just my assistant’s voice over the intercom.“Miss Cyn is here.”Then the door opening before I could respond.She walked in carrying a gift bag and wearing a cream trench coat that told me immediately she was wearing something expensive and inappropriate underneath.Calculated.As always.She placed the bag on my desk.“I got you something.”I did not look up.Her heels clicked closer.“A peace offering.”I finally raised my eyes.She pulled out a signed first edition.My favorite book.Rare.Expensive.Thoughtful, technically.A m
Lydia POVThree months into the job, I had learned three things.First: the office coffee was terrible.Second: pregnancy and public transport should never coexist.Third: Clara was the kind of woman who treated competence like a personal attack.She had made that clear on my second day.“Lydia, can you print the client briefs for me?”I printed them.Five minutes later“Actually no, staple them by region.”I stapled them.Ten minutes later“Why would you staple them? I needed them sorted by account size.”I stared at her.She stared back.Smiling.That kind of smiling women do when they want you angry enough to react first.I swallowed it.For the baby.Always for the baby.So I redid everything.Again.And again.And again.By the end of second month, I had learned Clara’s real hobby was manufacturing inconvenience.StillI kept my head down.Did my work.Ignored her.Because I needed this job more than I needed pride.And pride, unfortunately, does not pay rent.Thursday morning br
Lydia POVThe apartment was terrible.Not in a dramatic, rats-in-the-walls kind of way.Just… aggressively disappointing.Small enough that if I stretched my arms in the kitchen, I could probably touch both walls.The paint was peeling near the windows.The fridge made a noise every seventeen minutes like it was reconsidering life.And the bathroom looked like it had personally survived several economic recessions.I stood in the middle of it with my suitcase in one hand and my plant cutting in the other and thought:Well.This is humbling.StillIt was mine.Just me.And silence.I set my plant by the window.Unwrapped the photograph I had carried with me for years and taped it carefully to the wardrobe door where it had always belonged.Then I sat on the bare mattress I had bought that afternoon and stared at the wall.My hand drifted to my stomach.It was still flat.Still easy to pretend nothing had changed.But everything had.I lay down that night in a room too quiet for sleep a
Cyn POVI was never interested in Dave Ashton.Not really.The first time I saw him in person, I was standing in a room full of fake laughter and expensive perfume, holding a glass of champagne I didn’t want and pretending to enjoy a business mixer I had only attended because Richard asked me to.Richard never liked being called my sugar daddy.He preferred investor.Mentor.Sometimes partner, when he was feeling particularly delusional.I preferred not to label old men who funded my lifestyle and expected loyalty in return.“Relax,” he had told me over the phone that evening. “You’re not seducing a prince. You’re getting close to a businessman.”Easy for him to say.He wasn’t the one in six-inch heels pretending any of this was normal.“Just get him comfortable,” Richard had said. “That’s all I need.”That was how it started.Just a job.And then Dave walked in.The room shifted in that irritating way rooms always do when a certain kind of man enters.He had that cold, expensive stil
Dave POV I woke up with a headache sitting directly behind my eyes. The kind that made everything feel one degree more irritating than necessary. My phone was already buzzing on the bedside table before I fully opened my eyes. Europe branch. Again. Of course. For the last forty eight hours, one of my overseas branches had been dealing with an internal compliance issue that should never have escalated this far. Legal was involved. Finance was involved. Three different people had suddenly become incompetent at the same time. So no, I had not been home. And no, I had not had the patience to think about anything outside work. At least, that was what I had been telling myself. I got out of bed, answered the Europe call, and spent the next hour trying not to fire three people before breakfast. By the time I got into the car later that afternoon, my head was still pounding. I loosened my tie and leaned back against the leather seat as the city blurred past the window. And, agains
Lydia POVDave came home with a face I had never seen before.Not angry.Not even his usual emotionally constipated billionaire expression.This one was worse.He looked tired.The kind of tired that sits behind a person’s eyes after something has gone very wrong and they are trying not to let it s
Dave POV"That's ridiculous.""Is it?""Yes."She laughed again.Still humorless."You have a wife, Dave."The words landed harder than they should have.Because technically, yes.Obviously.But hearing it out loud in a setting like this made it sound less like paperwork and more like accusation.I
Dave POVThe merger had taken three weeks, two near-collapses, and more emergency calls than I cared to count. By the time the ink dried, I was done with boardrooms, done with spreadsheets, and done with people who needed things from me.So I booked dinner.A private rooftop at one of the most expe
Lydia POVStraight at me.For one stupid second, I almost pretended I had spoken to the toaster.Dave’s eyes narrowed slightly.“What?”I lifted my mug and nodded toward the files.“The merger,” I said. “It’s not the numbers making you hesitate.”Silence.Then, very flatly, “And what exactly makes







