LOGINLydia POV The silence that settled over the dining table after my outburst was almost tangible. Just moments ago, the room had been overflowing with laughter, interrupted conversations and two overly excited six-year-olds talking over each other about telescopes, chemistry kits and constellations. Now, the only sounds were the occasional scrape of cutlery against ceramic plates and the faint hum of the air conditioner somewhere behind me. I hated silence like this. Not because it was loud. Because it usually meant someone had been hurt. I glanced across the table at Ava. She had quietly placed the silver constellation necklace beside her plate exactly where Iâd asked her to, her little fingers resting next to it as though she was afraid it might disappear if she looked away for too long. She wasnât crying. She wasnât pouting either. She simply continued eating her dinner in the same calm, polite way she always did. Somehow⊠That made me feel even worse. Children werenât sup
Lydia POVAnna.Anna:Babesssssssss đđđI smiled immediately.Only Anna could make panic look adorable.I opened the chat.Me:Whoâs dying?Three dots appeared almost instantly.Anna:MEEEEEE.Anna:Save me.Anna:I need your giant business brain.I laughed.Me:My giant business brain charges consulting fees.Anna:Iâll pay.Me:How much?Anna:Friendship.Me:Rejected.She sent six crying emojis.Then another message.Anna:Okay serious now.Weâre reviewing next quarterâs influencer strategy.The numbers arenât making sense.Marketing wants three celebrity ambassadors.Finance says absolutely not.Meanwhile weâve got like⊠forty micro-influencers emailing us wanting partnerships.I genuinely donât know which direction gives better returns.Help before I lose my mind.I smiled.Classic Anna.Brilliant at running operations.Less confident whenever marketing became more psychological than mathematical.I typed.Me:Question.Why are the celebrities your first choice?Her reply came
Lydia POVI walked the familiar hallway toward my office on autopilot, offering absent-minded smiles to employees who greeted me as I passed. Someone from the legal department waved. One of the interns nearly dropped her tablet trying to hold the elevator open for me.I thanked them all.I couldnât even remember doing it.My mind was somewhere else entirely.By the time I stepped into my office, I let out a long breath, shut the door behind me, and all but collapsed into my chair.ââŠWhat was that?âI spun the chair slowly toward the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.Theo.What on earth had that been?At first, I thought he was going to ask about the companyâs recovery plan.Then I thought maybe he wanted another womanâs perspective on the custody situation with his ex wife.Or perhaps he wanted clarification on one of our campaigns.InsteadâŠâHow are your twins?âI laughed quietly to myself.âSeriously?âThen came the even stranger part.âTeach me how to raise my daughter
Theoâs POVLydia.The search engine practically exploded.Hundreds.NoâŠThousands of results.Magazine covers.Television interviews.Leadership podcasts.Business journals.Award ceremonies.Government advisory panels.International keynote speeches.Conference appearances.Forbes.Fortune.Bloomberg.Financial Times.Every major publication seemed to have interviewed her at one point.Curiosity slowly turned into admiration as I clicked through article after article.At twenty-seven, sheâd been named Entrepreneur of the Year.At twenty-nine, sheâd advised government agencies during a national communications crisis.At thirty-one, sheâd become one of the youngest women to lead a multinational public relations firm.Another article called her âthe woman corporations hire when apologies are no longer enough.âI actually laughed.Accurate.Painfully accurate.After everything sheâd done to my executive teamâŠI couldnât disagree.I kept reading.In one interview, she spoke passionately a
Theoâs POVâTheir father is present in their lives.ââWeâre simply⊠no longer a thing.âIt wasnât even the words that stayed with me.It was the way sheâd said them.There had been no bitterness.No anger.No resentment.No passive-aggressive remarks that divorced people usually slipped into conversations without realizing.Nothing.If anythingâŠThere had been warmth.Quiet warmth.Respect.Almost⊠affection.Not romantic affection.At least, I didnât think it was.But it certainly wasnât indifference.And that fascinated me.Over the past year, Iâd watched people turn divorce into warfare.Iâd sat inside courtrooms where parents used children as bargaining chips.Iâd watched million-dollar custody battles where two people who had once sworn forever now couldnât bear hearing each otherâs names.I had lived through one myself.So hearing Lydia casually acknowledge the father of her children with nothing but quiet respectâŠIt felt unusual.Almost impossible.She hadnât rolled her eyes.
Lydia POVThe moment the question left Theoâs lips, I already began forming possible answers in my head.Not because I knew what he was about to ask.Because I was convinced it would be about work.Maybe he wanted to know if we could move into the next phase of rebuilding the companyâs public image.Maybe he wanted my opinion on whether it was too soon to begin investor interviews again.Or perhaps, after everything heâd shared with me over the past week, he wanted another womanâs perspective on the custody battle with his ex-wife.Those were the kinds of conversations we usually had.Professional.Strategic.Safe.So when he hesitated for a fraction of a second, resting one hand against the back of the conference chair as though carefully choosing his next words, I kept waiting for something related to business.InsteadââHow are your twins?âFor a brief moment, my thoughts simply⊠stopped.It wasnât the question I had expected.Not even close.Theo smiled at my obvious surprise befo
Lydia POVAfter what seems like forever, a black Rolls-Royce pulled into the court compound, I had already imagined three different ways to murder my husband.Future husband.Potential husband.Missing husband.Whatever.At that point, I wasnât being picky.The sleek black car glided through the ga
Lydia POVOh.That was⊠unfortunate.Because he was beautiful.In a sharp, expensive, dangerous kind of way.Dark suit.Sharper jaw.Dark eyes that looked almost black under certain lighting.Everything about him looked controlled.I clicked another picture.Still no smile.Another.Same expression
Lydiaâs POVThe inside of the house was even worse than the outside.Worse, because now I had to physically stand inside it and accept that this was where I was expected to live.The space swallowed me the second I stepped in.The entrance opened into a massive living area with floors so polished I
Lydia I turned.He was standing a few feet away now, hands in his pockets, his expression unreadable.There was no softness in his face.Just cool detachment.The kind that made the evening breeze feel warmer by comparison.For the first time since he arrived, he looked directly at me and held the







