Aiden's POVMy car came silently to a stop under my switching it off, into the night's silence. Tessa's house sat in front of me still, silent; the soft glow of her bedroom light spills out from behind her curtains. Much earlier, when parking, I had seen her shadow moving around, but now the light was turned off.My head jerkily jolted forward to come to rest with a loud thud against the steering wheel; my chest closed up in the wake of guilt and frustration. Chloe's announcement replayed itself in my head, some broken record, some nightmare refusing to let me wake up. That first vision of Tessa's eyes showing her betrayal continued staring at me.That wasn't how this was supposed to go down. I'd worked so hard to break down those walls she'd put up around her heart, to get her to trust me again; now it was going to be like everything came crashing down and was going to be all my fault.I turned my head toward her window again; she was in there, in pain because of me. Should have gone
Tessa's POVThe morning sunlight pale, creeping between the sides of my curtains into my room, was my greet back into consciousness. That soft glow cast some warmth, though with no great success at thawing that cold knot in my chest.Puffy eyes and an aching throat-the leftovers of last night's tears-and I was so done with that. Today was supposed to be the day that Aiden Gray and Chloe no longer controlled my life.No more wallowing around, no pity parties.I swung my legs over the side, letting them fall with a solid thud onto the floor-as if somehow this mere act of grounding equated to emotional strength. I wasn't going to fall to pieces. Aiden may have shattered my heart and Chloe may have embarrassed me before the world, but they weren't going to take my dignity too.I would take back my life, and it was going to start with my career.I showered long, pulled out my sharpest blazer-a navy blue crisp affair with gold buttons-pulled on some black tailored pants. In front of the mir
Aiden's P.O.VI leaned back in my chair, letting my eyes haze on the ceiling of my office. My life was becoming a jumbled mess, spiraling out of control. Chloe's little stunt at the anniversary party had shattered everything that I worked so desperately to protect. Tessa-the one person I couldn't live without-had shut me out completely.All that did was let the silence of my office press in on that guilt, making it heavier. My hand had firmed onto the edge of my desk, the knuckles white at the mental image of her tear-stained face that night. She'd looked at me like I was a stranger.And I hated myself for it.I needed to fix this somehow.I pushed back from my desk and dialed Tessa, reaching for the phone. Hoarse and gruff, the weight of a quagmire of my own making weighed upon me."Come to my office," I said briefly, and hung up without waiting for her to respond.All I could do now was wait-and try to find the right words to explain.---That knock to my door had come a little soon
DAMIEN'S POV"You're not thinking on a big enough scale, Chloe," I said, my tone razor-sharp as I poured myself a glass of whiskey. "If you want to secure Aiden, you can't just stop at throwing a tantrum at a party. You have to think strategically."Chloe pulled herself up onto the couch, wrapping herself protectively in her arms. "I already announced the pregnancy, Damien. What more am I supposed to do? Beg him to care about me?" She narrowed her eyes filled with distrust at himI let out a dark laugh, swishing the amber in my glass before taking a slow sip. "No, Chloe. You don't beg. You make him care. You have the ace card in your hand-his so-called child. Use it.”She frowned, her perfectly arched eyebrows furrowing together in a mess of confusion. "What are you insinuating?”I leaned against the desk, setting my glass down with deliberate precision. “Push your way into his life. Show him you’re serious about raising this baby together. Make it impossible for him to ignore you. An
TESSA'S POVI came into the office, clutching a file under my arm, and the air swirled thick with fresh brewings of coffee. The new day had passed the self-promised decree of not wallowing in what Aiden did, what the lies were, and definitely what Chloe's antics were all about. There was one thing that I knew I still could control-my work-so the goal was clear within my mind: excel.I could feel the weight of their gazes, the hushed murmurs that abruptly ended when I came into line of sight. It didn't matter. They could talk. I was going to prove I was more than Aiden Gray's girlfriend or last week's gossip girl."Morning, Tessa," Mia chimed, my colleague with an annoyingly cheerful morning greeting.Good morning, Mia," I returned with a smile. "What's the plan today?”Mia handed me a schedule, duly prepared, and I ran my eyes through it, meetings, project reviews, deadlines, all sounded like it would just make the days go better. For the first time in days, I started to feel like I h
TESSA'S POVEarly morning sunlight filtered in through my office window as I sat at my desk staring at the computer screen in front of me. What was actually getting at my nerves was this constant replay that kept playing inside my head-what had happened that night, all the insinuations regarding Aiden and this so-called "connection."The smirk of a smile, the words cut out with her cutting tongue, just kept playing in my head in unending loops. I tried hard, but the insinuations would just not allow me to focus at work.Come on, Tessa girl, she's just trying to get under your skin.I let out a sharp breath and then reached for my coffee cup, taking a long sip. Just as I set it back down, the knock to the door pulled me from my thoughts."Come in," I called out, actually relieved for the distraction.With that, the door opened, and to my surprise, Jack came in, one of the best of my mates within the Media Technology Department. Since I joined the company, Jack and I had remained close
DAMIEN'S POVThe inky night air hung heavy, like a cloud of suspense as I leaned back in my chair. The study lamp cast that long shadow across the room. In an instant, the stillness of the night was dismissed as my phone ran. A number that I didn't know flashed across the screen.I picked up, irritation crawling into my voice. "What is it?The voice at the other end was trembling and sounded fumbling. "Mr. Gray, I have something that you may want to hear. There's somebody from the media team snooping around. They found the transfers and had been snooping on what you've been doing."My hold turned tighter into the phone as I asked, "Who?I-I don't know all the details, sir, but they've been piecing things together, and I thought you should know before it's too late."The words set fire to that too-familiar anger burn in my chest, and I didn't waste another word on the call. Somebody had dared to dig into my business and threatened everything I worked for.I slammed my fist onto the des
TESSA'S POVThe house was too still-an uncomfortable stillness, unnatural even. I tossed and turned, trying to get my head around the chaos inside my head. Damien, Aiden, Chloe, they haunted me, ghosts from the past impossible to shake off. It had been weeks like this, but tonight it just felt hopeless.Then I heard it, a knock.At first, I really thought it had to be my imagination. Perhaps the sound had just been carried along by the wind, or it was only the creaks and groans of this old house. But straining my ears, I knew beyond doubt-a steady, insistent knock on my front door.I froze-my breath caught in my throat. Whoever in his right mind would turn up at that hour?My heart was pounding, and I threw back the covers, sliding out of bed to grab my robe. The coolness of night nipped at my skin, but it was nothing compared with the dread making an icy creep through me. I was cautious in my movements; my bare feet shuffled softly as I tiptoed toward the living room-the only sound,
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