Todos os capítulos de HER BOSS,HIS DESIRE : Capítulo 21 - Capítulo 30

The photo appeared online sometime around six in the morning, and by the time Serena's phone buzzed with a text from Mira, it had already been shared enough times that the damage, whatever it was going to be, had already been done.*Serena. Have you seen this???*Attached was a screenshot from some gossip column Serena had never heard of, the kind that existed entirely to catalog the lives of people wealthier and more photographed than anyone she'd ever known personally. The headline sat above a photo of her and Kael on the dance floor from Saturday night, caught mid-turn, his hand at her back, her face turned up toward his in a way that left absolutely nothing to the imagination.**BILLIONAIRE KAEL VALE SPOTTED GETTING COZY WITH DAUGHTER'S NANNY AT WHITFIELD GALA**Serena read it twice before her stomach fully caught up with what she was looking at.The article itself wasn't long, but it didn't need to be. It had a photo doing most of the work, and just enough speculation stitched ar

The dinner had been Serena's idea, though she'd second-guessed it at least a dozen times in the week leading up to it."You don't have to do this," she told Kael on Tuesday, watching him check his tie in the hallway mirror like a man preparing for a hostile board meeting rather than dinner with a sixteen-year-old. "Mira can be — a lot.""I want to meet her properly. She's important to you. That makes her important to me.""She's going to interrogate you.""I've survived worse.""I don't think you have."Kael's mouth twitched at that, though the nervous energy underneath it didn't fully dissolve. Serena found it strangely endearing — a man who negotiated eight-figure contracts without blinking, visibly bracing himself for dinner with her sister.---They met at a small Italian place a few blocks from the apartment Serena and Mira shared, Kael's choice, deliberately unglamorous, no valet, no reserved private room, nothing that might read as trying too hard or, worse, trying to buy Mira'

Kael noticed it before Serena said a word about it, which didn't surprise her. He noticed most things about her by now the small shifts in her mood, the way she went quiet when something was sitting unresolved in her chest, the particular kind of distracted that meant she was somewhere else entirely even while standing right in front of him.It started small. A beat too long before she answered a question at dinner. A smile that didn't quite reach her eyes when Lia said something funny. A hand that didn't quite reach for his the way it had started to, unconsciously, over the past two weeks.By Thursday, he couldn't ignore it any longer."Serena."She looked up from the dishes, startled slightly, like she'd genuinely forgotten he was standing there. "Sorry, what?""You've been somewhere else all week.""I'm fine.""I didn't ask if you were fine. I asked where you've been." His voice stayed gentle, careful, but there was a firmness underneath it now, the kind that came from genuine worr

Lia's fever started small enough that nobody worried much about it a little warm at bedtime, a little more tired than usual but by two in the morning it had climbed high enough that Serena woke to the sound of her crying softly down the hall, disoriented and uncomfortable in a way that had Serena out of bed and moving before she was even fully conscious.She found Kael already there, sitting on the edge of Lia's bed, a hand pressed gently to his daughter's flushed forehead, his expression tight with the particular fear that came from watching your child hurt and not being able to immediately fix it."How high?" Serena asked, crossing the room."103.2, last I checked." Kael's voice was steady, but his eyes gave away more than his tone did. "I already called Dr. Fenwick's service. He's out of the country until next week apparently they've got someone covering."The covering doctor arrived forty minutes later, a man who looked to be somewhere in his early thirties, dark hair slightly dis

The text from Ethan arrived on a Wednesday afternoon, casual enough that Serena almost didn't think twice about it.*Hey, was in the neighborhood for a follow-up call. Any chance you have twenty minutes for coffee? Would love to hear how the little troublemaker's doing.*She read it twice before responding, some small, unnamed part of her weighing the invitation more carefully than a simple coffee probably warranted. But it was innocent enough Lia's doctor, checking in, nothing more and Lia was at a friend's for the afternoon, and Serena found herself with an unexpected free hour and no particular reason to say no.*Sure. There's a place two blocks from the manor, Corner & Co. 20 min?**Perfect. See you there.*---Ethan was already at a table when she arrived, two coffees ordered, having apparently guessed correctly that she took hers with cream and no sugar."Lucky guess," he said, when she raised an eyebrow at it. "Most people who run after a six-year-old all day don't have room fo