Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 61 - Chapitre 70

Chapter 61Estelle✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦Rebecca from IT turned out to be a nervous twenty-something with purple highlights and eyebags that suggested she ran on caffeine and anxiety. She got me set up with logins, passwords, and access to what she called “the nightmare” which was just a befitting name for the campaign’s existing social media accounts.“Fair warning,” she said, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she pulled up dashboards. “It’s bad. Like, really bad. The last person who joined us here lasted three weeks before Barbara made them cry in the supply closet.”“Three weeks?”“Well, two weeks and four days, technically. But who’s counting?” She gave me a sympathetic look. “You seem nice. Try not to take anything Barbara says personally. She’s terrifying to everyone.”“Good to know.”“Also, don’t ever be late to morning briefings. Don’t contradict Ms. Ashford in public. And for the love of God, don’t mention the polling numbers in Yorkshire unless you want to watch her have an ane

Chapter 63 Estelle ✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦ Marco drove us to Kegan’s penthouse using a route so complicated I lost track after the third unnecessary turn. We entered through the underground garage, then took a service elevator that required a keycard and a fingerprint scan. “This is excessive,” I muttered. “And very necessary,” Marco responded. “After that reporter ambushed you, we have to assume you’re being watched. Which means we take precautions.” The elevator opened directly into Kegan’s apartment, and he was waiting. The relief that flooded through me at seeing him was almost painful in its intensity. It had only been hours since I’d seen him last, but those hours had felt like years. And now, with everything falling apart around me, he looked like the only solid thing in a world that wouldn’t stop spinning. Solid trouble. “Come here,” he said quietly. I went, and his arms closed around me, and for the first time since that reporter had stepped into my path, I could actually breathe.

Chapter 65 Estelle ✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦ I finally finished editing Carrie’s disaster of a social media campaign at 4:23 AM. My eyes burnt from staring at the screen for two straight hours. Every muscle in my body ached from sitting hunched over Kegan’s reading table, and all I wanted was to crawl back into bed and sleep for approximately seventeen years. But I was also weirdly wired. That particular combination of exhaustion and alertness that came from working late into the night while running on adrenaline and caffeine. So instead of going back to the bedroom, I decided to find Kegan. Show him I’d finished. Maybe steal a few minutes of his time before the sun came up and the real world intruded again. I knew he loved working in the kitchen so I strolled into the lift. It took me down to the kitchen level. I could hear voices before the doors even opened. I could hear the deep, familiar male voice. Then a second voice—lighter, feminine. The doors slid open, and I saw them. Kegan was st

Chapter 67 Estelle ✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦ I’d been working with Carrie for two weeks already. Two weeks of pretending I was Elara Rothschild, sophisticated social media strategist, and not Estelle Mercer, the terrified poor girl thrown into the world of the high and mighty now playing dress-up. They’d moved me to a new office after the first week. This one was bigger and more private. No glass walls this time. An actual door that locked. A window overlooking the street where Marco’s car was always visible, he was now a dark shadow of protection I’d grown dependent on. Kegan wouldn’t listen when I raised concerns about what people might think with Marco always hovering at work, so to keep up with my status, we’d had to inform Barbara that Marco was my personal bodyguard and my brother wouldn’t let me leave the house without him. Carrie herself didn’t care much. I mean, if anything, it was extra proof that I came from wealth and was working for passion and not just money. I was reviewing

Chapter 69Kegan✦༺⚜︎☠︎⚜︎༻✦The coffee had gone cold two hours ago, but I kept drinking it anyway, staring at the security feeds from Carrie’s campaign headquarters on one monitor while tracking shipment manifests on another.Multitasking had always been my strong suit, and lately it was a survival requirement.Through the earpiece I’d been wearing since Estelle walked into that building this morning, I’d heard everything. From the conversations, to every footstep in her hallway, to every anxious breath she took when she thought no one was listening.That Oliver guy had already written his will in my books, he just didn’t know it. All there was left was the signature on his death certificate. It was halfway there. It’d just take one more foolishness from him for him to sign It. The baby blanket had nearly made me drive straight to her office and drag her out by force.But Estelle—stubborn, brilliant, infuriating Estelle—had made it clear she wasn’t going anywhere. But that wouldn’t h