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"What are you thinking about?" What was I thinking about? Seawater flooding my lungs. Steel-toed boots slamming into my abdomen until the life inside me became a pool of blood… My fingers dug into my palms, nails biting deep into flesh. I forced the memory down and managed a smile. "I'm severely allergic to caviar. I absolutely cannot have it. However, you can add plenty of truffles. I love the aroma." A flash of something sharp flickered in Giulia's eyes. "Of course," she said sweetly. "I'll make sure everything is perfect."

"This is quantified. This is what drives purchasing decisions." "For the first purchase, maybe," Eli said, sitting on the edge of the table in a way that was completely unprofessional and somehow made it difficult to maintain my train of thought. "For loyalty, for repeat purchases, for recommending to others—that's driven by whether they feel seen by the brand." "You're contradicting established consumer psychology research," I said. "I'm contradicting your interpretation of it," Eli said. "You're reading the data as 'people care about effectiveness.' I'm reading it as 'people care about feeling like the company takes their health seriously.' Same data. Different story."

All these were irrelevant to Mr Jack. When it was his turn to represent his pack, he stood up and after clearing his throat, he began to speak. "Your highness," he bowed. "and my fellow men in council. I can stand here and tell you that my pack which you all know has the strongest of warriors is very peaceful, healthy and not hungry which is a good thing because the king hasn't failed in providing us the right markets and easy means of trading but.....," He paused as he turned round to study the faces of his listeners.

I asked and he nod his head negatively. "What's the meaning of that? Talk because I don't understand deaf and dumb language" I said. "Yes I'm still with her Miss Maxwell" He replied with a smile. "Better because girls like her, are very rare to find," I said, yeah girls like Nora are hard to find, she was the one I want the put in the managing position, but she gave it to Leo, which is her boyfriend, things we do for love, I can't do that for love again.

"You have never complained before and now all of a sudden buying you a bracelet is such a big deal." Suddenly I feel like crying. It's everything she's saying and what she's not saying. For her it's not a big deal to buy me stuff, but to it is. I don't want to be my friend's charity case. I hate their pity and I also hate that there's no equal ground in our friendship. I can never afford to buy all those fancy stuff they buy and while it's not a problem for them, it's a huge problem for me.

I wink. Inhaling a breath, I shut the door and head inside Quinn's house. Ice cream first. Pity party second. Anti-male chick-flicks third. ***

In the end, it was Nathan's misjudgment that caused everything, but somehow, I became the one who wasn't generous enough. "Lois, I…" Nathan's eyes darkened, a bitter smile on his lips. "I've already had my assistant handle things with the platform. I'm sorry for the trouble you've been through. I didn't realize how much you've been dealing with. I didn't know—" "You knew," I interrupted softly, looking at him. My tone was indifferent. If he hadn't known how painful and suffocating public opinion could be, he wouldn't have chosen to divorce me just to help Jenny.

“Berry, nude or matte blue?” Audrey squinted closer to her computer screen where Jessica was holding three nail polishes and Kathie was shifting in her enormous couch. “Nude.” Since two out of three has had hassles going to places, they resorted to video calls. “Yeah, nude.” Kathie nods, pausing to fluff a throw pillow. “Boring. I think I’ll choose matte blue.” She glances briefly at them, then snort laughed.

he asked. "I was just thinking about my new jewelry auction." I smiled, forcing my tone to sound light and normal. He rested his head on my shoulder, his fingers gliding through my hair. "Honey, you've stayed up too many nights for this auction. I hired a world-class nutrition consultant for you. She'll be here tomorrow." In the five years we had been married, Ethan had spoiled me in every way imaginable. I hated the cold, so he kept warmers in his pockets at all times. I was afraid of the dark, so he never turned off the lights until after I fell asleep.