MasukKira's POVThe doctor stopped outside a door marked with Lily's name on a small whiteboard, his hand resting on the handle without turning it yet."Before you go in, I need to tell you what we're dealing with.""Just say it." Adrian's grip tightened at Kira's back. "Whatever it is.""Your daughter suffered a skull fracture and significant internal bleeding. We had to operate to relieve pressure on her brain. The surgery went well, but she's in an induced coma to let the swelling go down."Kira's legs buckled and this time Adrian caught her fully, one arm wrapping around her waist, holding her upright against him."A coma." Her voice came out as barely a breath. "For how long?""That depends on how she responds. Could be days, could be longer. We won't know until we start bringing her out of it.""And if she doesn't respond?""Let's not go there yet." The doctor's tone gentled. "Right now, she's stable, and stable is good news.""Can we see her?""Two minutes. She needs quiet."The doc
Kira's POV“I need a fucking answer right now.” Adrian's voice echoed through the hallway. "Sir, if you can just take a seat, someone will be out to update you shortly.""I've been sitting for two hours." Adrian's voice had dropped low, the kind of low that made people around him go still. "My daughter came in unresponsive and nobody has told us a single thing since.""I understand your frustration, but I don't have access to her chart, I'm front desk staff, I can only….""Then get me someone who does have a freaking access, oh my goodness ."Kira sat frozen in the chair, her hands pressed together so tightly her fingers had gone numb. Every time the doors down the hall opened she looked up, and every time it wasn't for them, something in her chest cracked a little further."Adrian.""What.""Sit down. Please.""I'm not sitting down, Kira. Our daughter is somewhere behind that door and nobody will tell us if she's breathing on her own." He turned back to the receptionist, both palms
Kira's POV "How did you even get here before me." Kira sat down hard in the plastic chair, her legs finally giving out beneath her. "You live in the city." "They called me too." Adrian sat beside her, elbows on his knees, hands clasped so tight his knuckles had gone pale. "Same way as they called you. I was in a meeting, my assistant ran in with the message, I didn't even grab my jacket." "You drove." "I broke every speed limit between here and Manhattan." He glanced sideways at her. "You flew." "I panicked. I didn't know what else to do." "You didn't have to explain that to me." A nurse walked past and Kira half rose out of her seat before realizing the woman wasn't stopping for them. She sank back down, her hands twisting in her lap. "Why is she even here," Kira said. "Weslake is nowhere near her campus." "It's the closest trauma center to the interstate. If something happened on the road..." "On the road doing what?" "I don't know, Kira. Nobody's told us anythi
Kira's POV "Which hospital." Her voice didn't sound like her own. "Ma'am, I need you to stay calm. Your daughter is stable, she's being transported to Weslake Regional." "Where is that." "About an hour and twenty minutes from Brooklyn, ma'am." The phone nearly slipped out of her hand. "An hour and twenty minutes." "Kira?" Alyssa was already at her side, one hand on her arm. "What's wrong?" "Lily." The name came out cracked. "There's been an accident." "Oh my God." "I need my coat. I need my bag. I need..." Kira pressed her palm flat against her own chest like she could hold herself together with pressure alone. "I need a car." "I'll call Desmond right now." "Tell him to pull around front, don't wait for valet." Alyssa was already moving, phone to her ear, and Kira followed her out through the kitchen doors, past the chef who called after her, past the sous chef who half rose from checking a ticket, none of it registering, none of it mattering. The car was wait
Kira's POV 6 months later "Table nine needs their check and table twelve is asking for you by name again." Alyssa's voice cut through the noise of the kitchen pass, a printout already in her hand. "By name or by face?" "Name. She said Chef Ashford like she's known you her whole life." Kira wiped her palms on her apron and took the printout without looking at it. "Fine. Give me two minutes." She never got two minutes. Not on a Friday like this one, every table full since five, a line still curling out the door when she'd last checked, Marco, one of the chefs on the line shouting for more scallops and Denise on garde manger falling behind on plating because they were down two servers who'd both called in sick within an hour of each other. "Chef, we need hands on the floor." Denise didn't even look up from the plate she was finishing. "Rob can't keep up alone out there." "I'll go." "You're supposed to be running the pass ma’am ." "Marco can run the pass for ten minutes
Kira’s POV Alyssa’s text said come see and nothing else mattered as Kira drove to Brooklyn in the new Rolls Royce with the radio off and the early morning city moving past the windows and her finger still feeling lighter than it had in three weeks. She parked outside and sat for a moment. The restaurant was dark inside, a closed sign on the door, the street still doing its early morning thing, a delivery van two doors down, a woman walking fast with coffee, the ordinary unremarkable beginning of a Tuesday. She got out and let herself in through the kitchen entrance. The kitchen smelled the way it always smelled before service, clean and ready, the particular smell of a space that knew what it was for and was waiting to do it, and she stood in the middle of it with her bag on her shoulder and her keys in her hand and looked at the counters and the pass and the equipment and the strip lighting and thought about the first time she stood in this space when it was still just a mere b
**ADRIAN**Adrian stood in the middle of the ballroom, watching Kira walk away.Her hand was in his pocket.That man. Ohh that man.The one who’d stepped in front of him. The one who’d smiled and said “your replacement” like it was a joke.Adrian couldn’t get that conversation off his head. He kept
**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
Elijah stood frozen in the doorway, staring at her like she might disappear if he blinked. Kira’s heart beat very fast. Nine years. Nine years since she’d seen that face, heard that voice, felt the weight of everything she’d walked away from. “Elijah,” she said again, quieter this time. He cro







