Semua Bab The Fine Print of Falling: Bab 51 - Bab 60

Days turned into a few weeks I was strong enough to leave the penthouse without assistance. “Are you sure about this?” Xander asked as I put on my coat. “You don’t have to confront him alone. I can come with you.” “No. If you’re there, he’ll shut down completely. He’ll suspect something.” I checked my reflection in the mirror. “This needs to be just me and him.” Xander had spent the past three days showing me everything he’d collected on Alistair Pembroke. Documents. Financial records. Email trails. A paper trail of fraud and deception that went back years. But it wasn’t enough for a criminal case. Just enough for a civil suit. Enough to hurt Alistair financially, but not enough to put him in prison. I wanted more. I wanted him to pay for what he’d done to Arthur Lockwood. “At least take this.” Xander held out a small device. “It’s a panic button. If anything happens, if you feel threatened at all, just press it and my security team will be there in minutes.” I took it, slipp

The day after the sentencing, I started looking for apartments. I did it quietly. Scrolling through listings in the mornings before Xander woke up. Calling real estate agents during my breaks at Veridian. Scheduling viewings when he was in meetings. I wasn’t trying to be secretive. I just needed to do this on my own. Make this decision without his input or influence. I found one in the West Village after two weeks of searching. A one-bedroom with exposed brick and large windows overlooking a tree-lined street. It was small compared to the penthouse. Modest. But it was perfect. The rent was reasonable. I could afford it comfortably with what Veridian was paying me now. The restaurant was doing well. Better than well. We were booked solid three weeks out. The reviews were glowing. I was finally making the kind of money that meant independence. Real independence. I signed the lease on a Thursday afternoon. That evening, I told Xander. He was in the kitchen making dinner when I wa

Six months passed. Six months of building my life on my own terms. Six months of watching Veridian grow from a successful restaurant into something extraordinary. Six months of flowers arriving at work—one single bloom every morning, each with a card that made me smile despite myself. Thinking of you today. - X Hope you’re having a beautiful morning. - X This reminded me of your smile. - X Simple messages. Nothing demanding. Nothing pressuring. Just consistent reminders that Alexander Lockwood was still there. Still trying. Still waiting. The expansion was nearly complete. Using the air rights Xander had secured for me, we’d added two floors above Veridian. The second floor would house an exclusive private dining room and event space with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city. The third floor was my office suite and a test kitchen for menu development and event planning. I’d overseen every detail. The custom chandeliers from Italy. The imported marble for the bars. The

Dating Xander again was like breathing after being underwater for months. Different from before. Better. He picked me up for our first date at exactly seven on Friday. Showed up at my door with a single peony and a nervous smile that made my heart ache. “You look beautiful,” he said. “You look terrified.” “I am. Feels like everything is riding on tonight.” I touched his face. “No pressure. Just dinner. Just us.” He’d taken me to a small Italian restaurant in the Village. Not flashy. Not expensive. Just good food and candlelight and conversation that flowed like we’d never been apart. We talked about everything. Veridian. His latest projects. Maya’s new gallery showing. Books we’d read. Movies we’d seen. We didn’t talk about the plan. About the trial. About the six months apart. We just talked about now. About who we were becoming. He walked me home. Kissed me goodnight on my doorstep. Didn’t ask to come up. “I meant it about taking things slow,” he said. “I k

Three months of planning. Three months of Vivienne and Maya tag-teaming every detail with the efficiency of military generals. Three months of Eleanor quietly handling the logistics that required someone with decades of high-society experience. Three months of me mostly staying out of the way and trusting them to create something beautiful. “You’re the bride,” Maya had said. “You just have to show up and look gorgeous. We’ll handle everything else.” “That feels wrong. I should be helping—” “You run a restaurant empire and you just got engaged. Let us do this. Please.” So I did. I let them plan. Let them coordinate. Let them handle the million tiny decisions that went into creating a destination wedding in Greece. I had already chosen my dress. The one that was bought for the wedding that was not held. Now, standing in a villa overlooking the Aegean Sea, staring at myself in the floor-length mirror, I could barely breathe. The dress was ivory silk, simple and elegant. Just perf