تسجيل الدخولCassienne hesitated for a moment before shaking her head gently. “Just family matters.” Jeff nodded slowly, not pushing further. “Those are usually the worst kind.” For a second, she wondered how much he understood simply by observing people. Jeff Sandler was far more perceptive than most people realized. He glanced toward the development floor outside before speaking again. “You know, when I first approached you for this collaboration, everyone told me the same thing.” Cassienne looked at him curiously. “What was that?” “That you were brilliant but emotionally detached. Difficult to read. Difficult to approach.” “And now?” Jeff smiled faintly. “Now I think they were completely wrong.” Cassienne frowned slightly. “How so?” “Because people like you only look cold when they’re protecting something.” The words settled strangely inside her. Before she could respond, her phone vibrated again across the desk nearby. The moment she saw Dreston’s name on the screen, her expression
By the time most of the employees left Nerox Technology that evening, the atmosphere inside the building had finally grown silent. The constant movement across the development floor slowed gradually until only a few late-night engineers and system analysts remained behind. Beyond the glass walls of the upper levels, the city lights of Southvale stretched endlessly into the distance, glowing beneath the darkening sky. Inside her private office, Cassienne Rhodes remained seated behind her desk, though her attention had long drifted away from the reports spread before her. Her conversation with Dreston Tremont still lingered heavily inside her mind. Harold Ackley knows something. The words refused to leave her thoughts. Cassienne leaned back slowly in her chair and stared through the floor-to-ceiling glass walls surrounding her office. The city outside looked calm from up here. Peaceful. Yet her life had never felt more uncertain than it did now. Everything seemed connected someh
That question hit harder than Cassienne expected. Because suddenly, she realized Helena was right. She remembered the grief. The sickness afterward, and the endless hospital visits during that period of her childhood. But the details surrounding Ethan Rhodes’ death itself? They felt strangely blurred. Broken. Almost buried. “I can tell you the truth,” Helena said quietly. “But not over the phone. When you’re ready to hear everything, come home.” The line disconnected shortly afterward. Cassienne remained standing there for several long seconds, staring blankly at the dark screen of her phone. Her heartbeat had slowed strangely. Not from calmness. But from shock. Fragments of memory suddenly moved through her mind without warning. Bright hospital lights. How her mother cried. And how someone carried her. Voices speaking too loudly around her. The pain. Then nothing. A sharp voice suddenly pulled her back. “Cassienne?” She blinked immediately. One of her assistants stood ne
By noon, Nerox Technology was already alive with activity. Employees moved steadily through the open development floor while holographic displays glowed across several workstations. Voices overlapped in low technical discussions, coding projections shifted constantly across transparent screens, and somewhere near the testing division, a group of engineers broke into applause after another successful synchronization run. At the center of it all stood Cassienne Rhodes. Her attention remained fixed on the large interactive display in front of her as lines of system feedback rolled across the screen. She wore a fitted cream blouse tucked into dark tailored pants, her long hair loosely tied back to keep it away from her face while she worked. There was no trace of distraction in her posture now. The moment she stepped into work mode, everything else around her seemed to disappear naturally. One of the lead programmers approached her carefully with a tablet in his hand. “The latency is
At the Noah mansion, Daisy sat curled near the edge of the couch beside the open balcony doors. A fashion magazine rested open beside her, completely untouched. Soft music played quietly somewhere in the room, but she barely heard it. Her phone remained in her hand. Yet her attention stayed elsewhere completely. On Ray Simpson. Everything somehow returned to him lately. His face. His silence at the airport. The cold distance between them. The luggage beside him. The engagement. The woman who had answered his phone with that soft, sleepy voice. No matter how much Daisy tried distracting herself, the ache inside her chest refused to disappear. It lingered stubbornly, growing heavier with each passing hour. Frustrated, she tossed her phone carelessly onto the couch before standing abruptly. She walked toward the balcony doors and pushed them open immediately. Cold Lisbourn air greeted her at once, carrying the faint scent of night-blooming flowers from the gardens below. Usually, Da
The private jet landed smoothly at Lisbourn International Private Aviation Terminal shortly after noon. Dark clouds stretched across the sky while a cold breeze swept through the heavily secured runway area. Everything had already been prepared well ahead of arrival. No media. No public access. No unnecessary personnel. Only heavily armed security, medical transport teams, and authorized hospital staff occupied the isolated section of the terminal. Inside the rear section of the aircraft, the temporary airborne ICU remained fully active even after landing. Portable cardiac monitors continued their steady rhythm beside Tina Ackley while oxygen support remained connected carefully beside her transport bed. Several IV lines fed medication slowly into her system. The portable ventilator maintained controlled breathing support while one of the neurological specialists checked her pupil response again. “Vitals stable.” “Prepare ground transfer.” “Careful with the line placement.”
The bedroom was bathed in the soft, golden hues of dawn. Sunlight slipped through the sheer curtains like gentle fingers, tracing patterns across the rumpled white sheets. Cassienne lay nestled in the warmth of the bed, her body still lax from the deep, restorative sleep that had claimed her aft
The sliding glass doors parted. And Emily Rhodes stepped into the arrival hall with the slow confidence of a woman who had fought her way back to herself. For a second, she simply stood there, taking everything in. The lights. The people. The movements. The freedom of being out in the world witho
“I understand, doctor. We shall be there.” Her voice had been steady when she said it. It was too steady. Then she disconnected the call. And silence followed. The air in the room felt heavier. Cassienne lowered the phone slowly from her ear. For a second, she just stared at the blank screen, as
The arena was nothing short of breathtaking. Built inside the heart of the Lisbourn Royal Resorts, the e-sport hall looked more like a futuristic coliseum than a gaming venue. Layers of curved LED screens wrapped around the circular structure, displaying rotating graphics of the competing compan







