CHAPTER 6 [An Anomaly] ~TRAVIS~ I’ve dealt with mergers that threatened to collapse entire divisions of my company. I’ve handled hostile negotiations with billionaires who’d rather burn than concede. I’ve faced reporters armed with intrusive questions and competitors who’d sell their souls to see
CHAPTER 7 [Sweet Tooth] ~SOPHIE~ The car ride back to the office was painfully silent. Not just any kind of silence—the loud, suffocating kind that made every second stretch like an eternity. I had played my cards too boldly today, and Travis Sinclair’s scowl was proof of that. He didn’t speak.
CHAPTER 8 [Anything But Ordinary] TRAVIS It had been two days since the disaster at Ridgeview, but Sophie Summers had refused to leave my mind. No matter how hard I tried to push her out, she lingered like a splinter under my skin, irritating and unavoidable. I leaned back in my chair, rubbing m
CHAPTER 9 [The Picture Of Caution]~SOPHIE~Celeste was already waiting for me as I stepped out of Travis office, her arms crossed and her usual look of exasperation firmly in place. I knew I had this coming when I came here but it was actually surprising that she let me in without a fight.“Sophie,
CHAPTER 10 [The Sophie Effect] ~TRAVIS~ If chaos had a face, it would undoubtedly wear Sophie Summers’ unrelenting smile. For the past few days, she had inserted herself into every corner of my life at my textile company, leaving me to wonder how someone so seemingly innocent could wreak such calc
CHAPTER 11 [Kill-Joy] TRAVIS I wasn’t sure what annoyed me more: Sophie Summers’ audacity or the fact that I had actually turned around and come back. Sitting in the backseat of my car, I stared out the tinted window at the pub just across the street from my company. I had never step foot there bu
CHAPTER 12 [A Return To The Shadows] ~SOPHIE~ The dull throb in my head woke me before anything else. It pulsed behind my eyes like a relentless drumbeat, making it impossible to open them fully. I groaned, rolling over and burying my face into the pillow, hoping to escape the nausea curling in m
CHAPTER 13 [In Her Absence] ~TRAVIS~ The absence was the first thing I noticed. It wasn’t the missing coffee on my desk—although I’d gotten far too accustomed to finding it there, piping hot and prepared just the way I liked it. Nor was it the lack of a sticky note, usually plastered on the edge
CHAPTER 62 [ Sugar Daddy ] ~SEBASTIAN~ (2) I’ll be damned if I have to suffer because my father was trying to correct his misdeeds. “Do you have a better plan?” My mother faced me squarely, an unimpressed look in her eyes. “Can’t we just ignore him? He’s too weak to do anything by himself any
CHAPTER 61 [ Daddy Dearest ] ~SEBASTIAN~ (1) “I am going to move into the estate with Sophie.” Daddy Dearest knew how to drop a bombshell—the kind that takes a while to recover from. It was also the kind that makes me wonder if all the drugs he’s been pumped full of in the past month have made
CHAPTER 60 [ The Hell for Bad Fathers ] ~SOPHIE~ I stared at him, convinced I’d misheard. “You want me to what?” My voice came out sharper than I intended, but I couldn’t help it. “Move back in,” my father repeated, his tone calm, as if he hadn’t just said something insane. Did he even hear
Hello, everyone! Adeola here… Although a new chapter will follow this note, please bear in mind that you would have to read the last five chapters ( which are 367-371 on the overall book, and 54-59 on Travis’ and Sophie’s book) to understand the chapter. Those last five chapters have been worked on
CHAPTER 59 [ For Lost Time ] ~SOPHIE~ I thought I was well prepared—that I could stand face to face with Sebastian and not feel like my heart was going to explode. But no amount of preparation changed that. My heart was still pounding as I stared at his smug face. I steadied myself despite that,
CHAPTER 58 [ Home So Soon ] ~SOPHIE~ The moment Sebastian disappeared down the street, a crushing silence fell over me, broken only by the unsteady rhythm of my breathing. My fingers twitched at my sides, my entire body locked in place as if moving would make the moment real, as if accepting tha
CHAPTER 57 [ A Masterpiece ] ~TRAVIS~ Returning to the city in the company of Elaine’s family was an exercise in patience—one that I had already run out of. Three days of forced pleasantries, insufferable small talk, and veiled attempts at control had drained what little tolerance I had left. I
CHAPTER 56 [ Home ] ~SOPHIE~ He always manages to find me. Even as a child who would hide anywhere to avoid Mother Gothel’s wrath, Sebastian, as the dangerous snake he was, would drag me out. He would have that malicious look in his eyes—much like right now—and smirk like he enjoys my pain. I
CHAPTER 55 [ A Next Time ] ~SOPHIE~ Oh! What a joy it is to wake up tangled in sheets and in the limbs of the man who almost made you go insane with pleasure the night before. With the hotel’s thick curtains blocking all means of knowing if the sun had risen, I had to use my hands to blindly feel