LOGINKira’s POV “She’s turning,” Elijah said from the passenger seat. Kira watched the silver car’s indicator come on and the brake lights flare and she said to the security driver, “Stay with her, not too close, but don’t loose her,” and he nodded and moved into the left lane. Her phone was in her hand, Adrian still on the line. “She’s taken a turn off the main road, heading toward the waterfront I think.” “The detective is seven minutes out,” Adrian said. “Don’t approach her alone.” “I’m not alone, plus why are they taking so much time, we’ve informed them ever since.” “Kira.” “I have security with me, Adrian, I’m fine.” She watched the silver car ahead take the curve at the bottom of the turning and she watched the speed of it and sat forward. “She’s going too fast.” “Tell the driver to slow down.” “She’s going too fast, Adri
Sophia’s POVShe got the car moving before the door was even fully closed.“Victor.” She took the forecourt exit without stopping, felt the underside of the car scrape the speed bump and didn’t lift her foot. “It’s blown. Everything is blown, I need an extraction tonight, if possible right now.”“Talk to me.”“Elijah was there. He walked into the dinner and Marcus has one Mr Torres’s report who’s a private investigator, and I just ran.” She took the first turn onto the main road and pressed the accelerator down. “I ran, Victor, I’m in the car right now.”A pause, two seconds, the pause of a man rearranging things in his head. “Where are you.”“I just left the Langham, heading toward the bridge. I don’t have a destination, I’m just driving.”“Okay. Stay on the line and drive normally. Don’t speed.”“There are headlights behind me.”“There are headlights behind everyone, Sophia, s
Kira’s POVKira had been on the phone for the last ten minutes.Not visibly, she had one earbud in and her phone in her clutch and she’d been talking to Adrian in a low voice while she moved through the edges of the room, keeping Marcus and Sophia in her sightline, watching the distance and all the drama between them.“Torres sent everything to the detective this afternoon,” Adrian said. “If Marcus calls tonight they can move.”“He’ll definitely call.”“Are you sure?”“He just stepped back from her, with the way things are escalating, I hope he doesn’t lose his temper.” She stopped near a pillar. “He just closed the folder and stepped back.”A pause on the other end. “How is he.”“Standing very still.” She watched Marcus across the room. “Which is worse than if he was shouting.”“And Sophia.”“Still talking. She won’t stop talking, she’s definitely looking for ways to wiggle out of this.” Kira
Sophia’s POV“Which one is it,” Marcus said.She looked at the folder in his hands and at Elijah standing two feet away and at Alyssa already moving back into the crowd and at Kira thirty meters away watching from the pillar and she thought about Victor telling her “don’t improvise, just call me,” and she smiled.“Marcus.” She put her hand on his arm. “Can we go somewhere quiet and talk privately please?”“We’re talking here, Sophia Isabel.”The way he said both names with so much hurt in his eyes, she almost felt pity. “There are people around us.”“I don’t care about the people around us.” He looked at the folder and looked at her. “Answer the question.”“My name is Sophia Mitchell.” She kept her voice low and steady. “You know my name. You’ve known my name for months we’ve been together. You’ve said it every single day for seven months.”“Then who is Isabel Morrison?”“I don’t know who tha
Marcus’s POVHe heard the glass break before he saw anything.A sharp clean sound cutting through the table conversation and Mrs. Adeyemi stopped mid-sentence and looked toward the bar and Marcus looked too, the way everyone near enough looked, and he saw the waiter crouching for the pieces and he saw Elijah standing at the bar and he saw Sophia. He was on his feet before he even decided to stand.“Excuse me,” he said to the table and crossed the room.Sophia hadn’t moved from the bar stool. She was sitting with her bag in both hands and her back straight and her eyes on Elijah and the expression on her face stopped Marcus two steps away because he had never seen it before. Not once since they’ve been together for months. Not at any dinner or argument or difficult conversation or even moment of surprise. He had never seen her face look like that.Like she was calculating the distance to every door in the room, her eyes moving on their own like she’s seen a ghost.“Babe.” He touched h
Elijah’s POVThe woman at the welcome desk found his name on the third line of the second page and drew a small tick beside it and handed him a table card and said enjoy your evening and he thanked her and stepped into the ballroom.He’d worn the navy jacket, the one his stylist in Seoul had picked for the restaurant group’s send-off dinner two weeks ago, because it was the only formal option he’d unpacked and ironing anything else ar early hours of that day wasn’t happening. He straightened his cuffs and looked at the table card and put it in his pocket.His phone buzzed.Kira. A single letter. ?He typed back: In. and put the phone away.The room was full, round tables and black tie and the particular noise of an event that had been going for long enough that the formal parts were over and people had relaxed into their wine, and he stood at the edge of it and let his eyes move.He found Kira first.She was near the far left pillar, clutch in both hands, and when his eyes landed on
**KIRA**The front doors of the Ashford Estate opened before Kira even reached them.And there, standing in the foyer with his hands in his pockets and that familiar smirk on his face, was Marcus.“Surprise,” he said.Kira’s breath caught. She let go of Lily’s
**KIRA**The convoy stopped in front of the Ashford International Events Center.Kira looked out the window. The building was huge. Glass walls, expensive cars everywhere, photographers standing behind ropes with their cameras ready.A lot of people.More than
VANESSA POV Vanessa sat in her car outside the boutique, hands gripping the steering wheel so tight her knuckles turned white. Adrian had dropped her off twenty minutes ago. No goodbye. No apology. Just a curt “Get another dress” before driving away. G
**KIRA** Kira stepped off the yacht, her hand in Lily’s, still trying to process everything that had just happened. The skywriting. Her name across the entire sky. The yacht. The champagne. The ocean. It was the best birthday she’d had in nine years.







