Chapter 321

OSTARA’S POV“I wanted him to see her clearly. Not… marry her,” Anthony muttered.I stared at him. “Are you sure they got married?”He huffed out a humourless laugh. “They brought a priest into a private visitation room, Ossie. What else would they get him for? I doubt he exorcised Natalie, even though she could use one.”“Don’t joke like that,” I said quietly. “I’m serious.”“So am I.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “If he married her, he’s locked himself into this. He’s not going to walk away now.”I leaned back against the wall, the painted plaster cool through my sweater.“Maybe that’s not a bad thing,” I said.He shot me a look. “You can’t be serious.”“I’m not saying I’m happy about it,” I said. “But maybe she needs someone who still believes in her when she has nothing.”“She doesn’t deserve that kind of loyalty,” Anthony snapped. His voice stayed low, but the anger was there. “She used people, lied to us, nearly got you killed, and my grandad died because of her scheming.

Last Updated : 2026-02-24

Chapter 322

ANTHONY’S POVChristmas morning in London felt different.New York Christmases were all glass and steel and noise—a city trying to out-sparkle itself. But London was softer. Grey skies, damp air, breath in little clouds. The townhouse woke up slowly.Donna was the first one to stir, of course. She tiptoed into our room at some ungodly hour, climbed right between us, and went back to sleep with her cold feet pressed into my ribs.By the time the sun dragged itself up properly, the whole house was alive.Pans clanged in the kitchen. Someone put on a Christmas playlist. Elijah cursed softly in the hall after stepping on a rogue ornament. The smell of coffee and cinnamon drifted under the bedroom door.I lay there for a moment, watching Ostara.She was still half-asleep, lashes resting on her cheeks, hair a dark mess against the pillow. Donna had rolled onto her, one arm flung across her chest like a very small, very determined bodyguard.My phone buzzed on the nightstand.I reached for

Last Updated : 2026-02-25

Chapter 323

ANTHONY’S POVI’d always thought “quiet work mode” happened in a glass tower, in a suit, with assistants hovering outside my office. Turned out it could also happen in an old London townhouse, in a faded sweater, with a gingerbread house on the table.I sat there with my laptop and a mug of coffee. Everyone else was out. Me and the quiet.I clicked into the video meeting.Mark’s face appeared, framed by the glass walls of the Zenith conference room in New York.“Morning, sir,” he said.“Evening, actually. Time zones.”He smiled. “Right. Evening. How’s London?”I glanced at the window; drizzle streaked the glass, and Christmas lights blurred in the distance. “Damp. British. Perfect.”“Sounds ideal.”We spent fifteen minutes on the usual: year-end numbers, projections, clients, rollouts.“Do we have enough people to train the staff on the new machines?” I asked.“Yes,” he said. “They’re coming from Japan; we’ve arranged everything.”“Good.”Silence hummed.He’d taken his tie off, sleeve

Last Updated : 2026-02-25

Chapter 324

OSTARA’S POVThe holiday season finished in a blur of food, family, and an insane number of fairy lights. Eventually, reality called.It came in the form of emails, voicemails, and one particularly long message from Davina that began with: “I have IDEAS” and ended with three PDFs.By the first working Monday of January, I was back in the Harvest Bloom conference room with Elijah at the head of the table, Ethan half-slumped in a chair, and Davina with her laptop open and a notebook full of scribbles.“So,” Davina said, tapping the screen. “Festive flavours for this year. I was thinking we lean into comforting and nostalgic more than experimental. Last year’s smoked chili cinnamon did well but it scared some people.”“It scared me,” Ethan said.“You ate a whole bar,” she shot back.“Because I was trying to figure it out,” he said. “I couldn’t tell if I was eating chocolate or signing my soul over to the devil.”Elijah snorted. I bit back a laugh.Davina glared at Ethan. “You are either

Last Updated : 2026-02-27

Chapter 325

ANTHONY’S POVI adjusted the laptop so my face was framed properly. Behind me, the Christmas tree still blinked faintly in the corner, refusing to accept that the holiday was over.“Alright,” came Mrs. Kaplan’s crisp voice as more little rectangles blinked into life on-screen. “We have Anthony, we have Mark. Is everyone here?”Faces appeared one by one—board members in their respective offices, some at polished desks, some clearly at home.“Thank you all for joining,” I began, slipping easily into the tone I’d used a thousand times. “I’ll keep this brief. We’ve had a strong year despite… unexpected turbulence.”A few people gave tight, knowing smiles at that.“I’ll send a full written review later this week,” I said. “But I do want to share one major change. Effective by the end of next month, I will be stepping down as CEO of both Möller Industries and Zenith.”Silence.For once, not even Mrs. Kaplan spoke. A couple of the newer board members glanced at each other onscreen like they