جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 30

KINGSTONRenee’s comment from the morning was still sitting in my head when I walked into the dining room that night.You look different lately. Happier.Nia had brushed it off with the job excuse. I had watched her do it from the hallway and felt the same tight pull in my chest that had started the night before when she almost said the thing neither of us was ready to name.Dinner was already set. Dad at the head of the table, Renee across from him, Nia in the chair that had become hers. I took the seat opposite her out of habit and immediately regretted it. Every time I looked up I had to manage my face.Renee passed the salad. “Long day?”“The usual,” I said.Dad glanced at me over his glass. “East Coast numbers settled?”“Mostly. Still waiting on two confirmations.”Nia kept her eyes on her plate. She answered when spoken to, short and polite, but every so often her gaze flicked to mine and held a second too long. I looked away first. The performance was already exhausting and we

NIAThe private elevator felt too bright after the hotel.Kingston stood on the opposite side, hands in his pockets, staring at the mirrored wall like it might give him a better version of the night. My dress still smelled like his cologne. One earring was missing. The other felt too heavy on my ear. Neither of us spoke.The doors opened straight into the penthouse.Mom was in the sitting room.She sat on the edge of the couch in a robe, scrolling her phone under the low lamp light. The second the elevator chimed she looked up. Her eyes moved from me to Kingston and back again. Something quiet and careful settled over her face.“You’re both out late,” she said.Kingston answered before I could. “We ran into each other at the club. Figured it was safer if I brought her home.”Mom’s gaze lingered on my dress, then on the place where the second earring should have been. “The club.”“Yeah.” His voice stayed even

KINGSTONDad’s suitcase sat open on the bed like it was daring him to fill it wrong.I handed him another stack of folded shirts from the closet. He took them, stared at the pile for a second too long, then set them down carefully like the wrong fold might ruin the whole trip.“You good?” I asked.He let out a short breath and rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t want to fuck this up, son.”I paused. My father didn’t talk like that often. Not out loud.“You’re not gonna fuck it up,” I said. “Renee loves you. Y’all been solid.”He shook his head, still looking at the suitcase. “It’s different this time. I already lost one wife. I can’t… I don’t want to mess around and lose another one because I rushed something or didn’t handle it right. She’s it for me. I can’t even picture anything going wrong between us and it still scares the hell out of me.”I leaned against the dresser. “Dad. You’ve been married for a few months now. She looks at you like you hung the moon. That woman is happy.

KINGSTONThe numbers on my screen stopped making sense around ten.I rubbed my eyes and leaned back in the chair. The office was already half-empty. Most of the marketing floor had cleared out for lunch or meetings. Nia’s desk sat in my line of sight through the glass. She had her headphones in, fingers moving fast across her keyboard, jaw set the way it got when she was locked in.I messaged her.Me: Got a minute? Bring your laptop.She looked up, met my eyes through the glass, and nodded once.Two minutes later she stepped into my office and shut the door behind her. No greeting. Just set her laptop on the edge of my desk and waited.“Show me what you found this morning,” I said.She turned the screen toward me. “Same account string from before, but look at the access pattern. It only hits files that require senior operations clearance. Not the general admin level. The exact permissions Marcus uses when he’s overriding somet

KINGSTONThe new access string was still glowing on my screen when the first knock sounded.Neither of us heard it.Nia was leaning over my desk, one hand braced next to the keyboard, the other pointing at the route the file had taken. Senior ops clearance. Secondary server. Same pattern as before, just tighter. We were so close the only thing between us was the heat coming off her skin and the fact that I couldn’t stop looking at her mouth.The second knock was harder.We both jerked back. I clicked the window closed a second before the door opened.Marcus’s junior analyst, Derek, stuck his head in. Operations badge swinging from his neck. “Mr. Carter—sorry. Didn’t know you still had company. I can come back.”“It’s fine,” I said, voice even. “We were just wrapping up the campaign numbers.”Derek’s eyes flicked to Nia, then to the blank screen, then back to me. “Cool. Just needed to drop the revised projections for