Tessa's POVI sat in a less classy cafe, sitting in a corner booth. The clinking of ceramic cups, soft humming chatters everywhere, my fingers absently trailing the rim of my coffee, scanning around at the view of people going about their day oblivious to the storm raging inside of me. It had been as if everything weighed upon my chest, as if everything that happened around me, everything that had happened in the past days, was becoming with every breath so insupportable that it seemed to suffocate.I knew I had to see Carson; he was about the only person I could really trust now. I was just a little leery of how much to tell. What if he thinks I'm crazy? Or what if I sound like I'm reaching for straws, trying to shift the blame onto some other person?I exhaled deeply before shaking my head. No. I had to do this. If there was ever going to be any remote chance of clearing my name, then Carson needed to know what was happening.It was then, I checked my watch once more, and burst Cars
Aiden's POVThe day was endless and pitiless. Until I reached for my coat, to brace myself for the journey home, it had felt carved from lead. My phone buzzed on the desk. Carson."Dude, in town," he said so cheerily. "Thought we could catch up. Have a drink?"I hedged. Normally, I would have said no because enough was going on at work and already more than enough piled on my plate. But Carson was a good business partner and it wouldn't be polite of me to turn him down.Besides, I could use the break."Yeah, sure," I said, rubbing a hand over my face. "Where do you want to meet?"‘There's a bar near that old secondhand bookstore," Carson said. "I'll send the address over to you."See you there.”I jammed my phone into my pocket and made a beeline for the office door, snatching my coat as I went. The city was alive with all the excitement of , but my brain was too muddled to pay much attention to anything, Tessa and Damien and the competition, all one endless fight. I had to get away f
Tessa's POV"Tessa, sweetie, I have something for you," my mom cut through the silence of my morning, framing herself in my bedroom doorway with a well-worn envelope in her hand.I lifted my gaze from my coffee to her; her eyes were brimming with something that I couldn't quite place, worry? Guilt? My heart dropped a little as I set my cup down. "What is it?”She stepped inside, extending the envelope out to me. "When we adopted you, the head of the orphanage gave us this letter. We were told to keep it until we thought you were ready."I stared at the yellowed paper-the edges frayed from years of being handled. "Who's it from?"She hesitated, as if searching for exactly how to phrase her words. "It's from your biological mother.”It sent a cold shiver up my spine, and I froze. Since I found out the truth about my parents, I never once thought of finding them or knowing anything about them. I have the best parents in the world, what more could I ask? Yet holding this letter, it felt l
TESSA'S POV‘Mom, remember that orphanage from which you adopted me?" I whispered. Early morning rays of sunlight crawled through the window and entered the kitchen, framing my mom in soft light as she placed her coffee cup on the table.Her eyebrows furrowed in deep concentration while her concerned stare met mine. "Yes, of course, sweetheart. Why? You're thinking of going there?”I nodded, trying to hope the building storm inside of me would not show. "I need answers. I feel like there's more to my past than I know." I reached into my pocket and pulled out the letter from my biological mother. "And I think the orphanage is a first step at finding that out.”Softly her eyes relaxed, and she nodded. "It's on the outskirts of New York City. I remember it well. I can give you the address."I swallowed hard. "Thanks," I said. My heart was racing in my chest as my mom jotted the address on a piece of paper. The orphanage. The source from which it had all begun.It was a long, quiet drive
Aiden's POVI sat at the desk, looking down at the email on my cell phone. The pictures had finally come through from the private investigator that I had hired to tail Chloe. I'd refused even to consider it when Carson said she might be working for the rival company, and now, looking at images of her laughing and chatting with one of their project managers, it was impossible to deny.It was all starting to weigh on me, and I slumped back in my chair under the weight of it. Why would she do that? Was she trying to make things go wrong for Tessa? That couldn't be it. There just had to be more to it than that. My mind reeled, confused and angry.I picked up the phone, dialed Chloe's office number, and counted to two rings as she answered. "Mr. Gray?""We need to talk," I said, and my voice was firm, even to my ears. "Come to my office immediately."There was a slight pause. "Is everything okay?"I bit back the sarcastic reply that sprang forth. "Sure."Few minutes later, Chloe tapped lig
Tessa's PovI watched as the skyline started to come into view out of the back of the cab. It seemed like with each ticking mile my nerves were twisting deeper in my chest. Strange was the thought of coming here, under such circumstances, a fact to which, really, I had no other choice. I found my hands clasped tight around the letter from my biological mother, as if somehow that would anchor me.When I finally arrived back into the city, and did not feel like going back home, well, I just had to text Carson. It was just too chaotic at my house-too many reporters lying around outside in wait for the next big story. And I wasn't ready to face it. In the space of a second or two, he had fixed up a room in whatever hotel he had stayed in, and a wave of relief washed down my body as I read his text.I got out of the taxi in front of the hotel, Carson waiting by the door. Easy smile, unruffled air, it lightened me a bit against the weight that had hung heavy on me since what I'd found."Hey
Damien's PovJust as I'd turned the key in the ignition, the passenger door had swung wide and Chloe had dived into the seat beside me, yanking the door shut behind her."What the hell-" I began frowning in her direction."Damien please," she cut in, breathlessly. She turned to me, wide-eyed with panic. "I need your help."I bit into my jaw, clamping down on my hands onto the steering wheel. "What now, Chloe?“Aiden,” she muttered, glancing around the window nervously, as if he'd magically pop up. "He's onto me."I cocked an eyebrow-my patience already starting to wear. "And that has what to do with me?”She swallowed, fidgeting her hands in her lap. "I think he's tailing me. He almost caught me yesterday. I barely managed to cover it up but I won't be able to keep this up, Damien. I need you to handle it."I scoffed, shaking my head. "That's your problem, not mine. I told you to be careful.”"I was being careful!" she exclaimed, desperation clinging to her tone. "But he's smarter tha
AIDEN'S POVI was neck-deep in work when Carson strode into my office, his face unreadable, but something in his eyes putting me on guard."She's back in town," he said without preamble, crossing his arms as he stood before my desk.I froze, pen poised above the signature. I didn't have to ask who he meant. "Tessa?"He nodded. "She's back. Figured you'd want to know."I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, clenched my jaw, and played cool. "Not that I care. All I want is to bring out the truth."“I can read you, Aiden. You care about her more than you admit to yourself, but I've seen the way you look at her. And now you're just gonna sit here, acting like you don't wanna see her?"They were words that stung, and he knew it. But I couldn't let myself get dragged back into that, not after everything. "What do you want from me, Carson?Carson shrugged, coolly. "I'm being serious this time. I am only telling you this because if you aren't going to take a chance with her, I am. I was only hol
TESSA'S POVSunlight streamed through the huge window panes of our house onto the invitations laid across the dining table. I sat with a pen in hand, writing down final guest names, while Aiden leaned against the counter sipping his coffee."We could just elope, you know," he joked, the corner of one lip tugging upwards with a mischievous smirk.I turned a mock glare his way. "After all this planning? Not in your life, Aiden GRAY. We're doing this properly."He laughed, setting his mug down as he ambled over to me. "Properly, huh? That's why you've been vetoing half my suggestions?""You wanted a firework display during the vows!" I reminded him, laughing.“And what’s wrong with that? It would’ve been epic.” He leaned down, pressing a kiss to my temple. “But fine, no fireworks. As long as you’re there, it’ll be perfect.”It was what he said that always made my heart flutter, and the words this time were not an exception. It was one of those weddings that put me into anticipation and j
AIDEN'S POVMonths melted away.Weirdly, life went on since it all came crashing down. It had been months since Damien's death, Chloe leaving the city, Tessa and me over his grave saying our goodbyes. Time didn't heal everything; that it never could. But the space it gave. to breathe, rebuild, and put pieces of our lives back into place-was something all of us had desperately needed.That, with me and Tessa, gradually slipped into rhythm, and whatever in our daily life had disappeared with time turned into the time worth living. The daily morning coffee on the balcony, the late evening lying on the couch curled up, making small talks about the future-this had become a routine thing with us. Indeed, chaos seemed to bypass us somehow, yet the shadows took one corner of my mind with the coming night.But as I watched Tessa, humming to herself and arranging flowers in the sitting room, it suddenly hit me-the ton of bricks they say are always used in such situations. I loved her; I had alw
AIDEN'S POVI did not want to come here. I had told myself that I wouldn't-that some things quite simply were not worth a second chance. But here we were. Tessa stood beside me, her hand in mine, as we walked through the cemetery toward Damien's grave. The wind was cold, a bite into my skin, but nothing compared to the chill now setting into my chest.There it lay, the newly turned soil, the headstone, and the blunt inscription stating his name: "Damien Gray." Seemed so … normal. No great sentences of poetically flowing verbiages, no flowery platitudes of an exaggerated regard. A plain, uneventful name to denote an end of the life so full of promise to me and torn by just so many things… in particular by myself.I had stopped in front of the grave, said nothing. All these emotions warred in my brain, jumbling anger, guilt, sorrow. And it wasn't just because of what happened to him. It was for everything, things that could have gone differently, which I should have done."Do you think
TESSA'S POVChloe sat up against the mountain of pillows that propped her back. Her skin was a dull white; those alert features dulled by exhaustion and pain. When her gaze locked with mine, something flickered over her face-shame, perhaps? Regret?"Tessa," she husked out, her voice husky, yet steady. "I didn't expect you to be here.”"I did," I said, stepping inside. The door clicked shut behind me, and the soft hum of machinery in the room served to fill the brief moment of silence.A minute swept by with neither of us speaking. I had absolutely no idea where to begin, while Chloe seemed to fish for the right words. Then she spoke.“I'm so sorry," Chloe said, her voice breaking. She looked down at her hands, which were twisting the hospital blanket over and over in a nervous fashion. "For everything. For what I did to you. For what I let Damien do.”Her words were like a wave, and all the anger and hurt I'd been trying to bury surfaced. I crossed my arms, my voice sharper than I mea
AIDEN'S POVIt all boiled down to me standing against cold brick outside of a hospital. The sharp night air almost nipped my skin but couldn't take away what had been brewing inside of me since the night Damien was finally gone.Dead.The word reverberated in my mind, hollow yet heavy. He had not reached the hospital. Just a few minutes later, when the ambulance had speedily gone away from the warehouse, the police confirmed that my brother was no longer alive. In the pit of my chest, a tussle between relief and guilt twisted itself into this sensation, which has made me so ill.I stared upwards, trying to make sense of the darkened sky. It was a path he'd chosen, wasn't it? He'd refused every olive branch, clung to his rage, and let it consume him. Still, a part of me couldn't help but ask: What if?The sound of footsteps pulled me from my reverie. Tessa came forward, her face ashen, eyes red-rimmed from crying. She wrapped her arms around her middle, as if holding herself to protect
AIDEN'S POVThe ropes chafing my wrists were heaved into the painfully darkened room by two of Damien's men. My rib cage was racing, pounding within me like a war drum, as my eyes coursed over every inch, scanning the space for her. The echoes of my footsteps rattled through this large, high-ceilinged area, joined by the smothering tension in the air.Then I see her.“Tessa!” screams my hoarse voice in desperation while seeing her tied around the chair, white faced, and tear streaks covering it, her arms bound behind her back, a gag over her mouth, muffling her cries while her big terrified eyes remained fixed on mine, imploring for help.It came finally with the breaking of the silence from Damien's cruel laughter. "Well, well, your Prince Charming is finally here.""Let her go, Damien," I said, shaking all over with anger mixed with fear.Damienne cocked his head to one side, his face a mockery. "And miss this little family reunion? I don't think so.”Damien started to circle me wit
TESSA'S POVThe stench of that dark room shredded through my senses. My wrists throbbed, sore where the coarse ropes had lacerated into the skin, and with each weak inhalation, it was like the final one that could break this tenuous will hanging by a thread.I was not going to back away from him, not from Damien after what he pulled on Aiden, on me, and our lives.Standing in the doorway was a mountain of a man, with a great scar running down his cheek, scraping his boots on the floor and yawning and weighing his weight on one side. He had been left to watch me; now or never was the time to try anything that came into my head.I pulled carefully, testing the looseness of the rope binding my hands, my heart racing in my chest. Hours of subtly working at this knot had finally paid off; it gave way just enough for me to slide my wrists free.I glanced over to the guard, who now had his head leaned back against the wall, his eyes shutting.Go, Tessa. Now.Summoning every last shred of cou
AIDEN'S POVThe house was creepily silent when I went in-the kind of silence that twisted my gut. Something was off because it was too still, too empty."Tessa?" I called out, dropping keys on the counter. Nobody answered.My eyes scanned around the living room, the kitchen-nothing. My chest had already tightened as I tried again, louder this time. "Tessa? Marcus? Garret?"No response.And then I saw it-her phone. It lay on the counter, cracked at the screen, looking like she had dropped it there in haste. Tessa would never leave her phone lying anywhere.Now dread set in as my heart began racing, strode toward the security room for some answers, though my gut already told me otherwise.I burst through the door into the room to find Marcus and two other guards huddled around the monitors."Where the hell is Tessa?" I growled low, an edge to my voice that could cut through glass.Marcus slowly turned to me, white as marble, and seemed to fish for his answer. "Sir… we were reviewing the
TESSA'S POVIt wasn't until we stopped before Aiden's building that the car came to rest; it was my safe refuge now turned into a sanctuary in which the fears inside my head seemed to nestle. Those were instances from two weeks ago, haunting in my mind like some unsavable storm-accusations which memory just didn't seem willing or able to rid itself of."You're home," Aiden whispered, and immediately his voice was an anchor of solace amidst my rioting thoughts.Turning back to him, I pushed a small smile. "Home," I echoed, though the word felt wrong. Was I ever again safe?Aiden climbed out first, coming around and pulling my door open. His firm hand reached inside toward me, steady and reassuringly strong. "Come on; got you.I hesitated, staring at his hand. For a moment, the hospital was safer. Out here, the world was too big, too dangerous. But I chased the fear away, telling myself Aiden would never let anything happen to me.I took his hand and he led me out of the car."Take it e