s chest heaving as if he'd just

scent of Candice Luna's perfume still clinging to the furniture like a disease. He remembered the weight of the we

eaked with tears, as she walked

she had said. "You chose

hantom limb that ached with a loss

ckles white. The hatred he felt for Candice

es wide with alarm. "Mr. Hansen, you need to

the room, sharp and assessing. "Where am I?

ammered the name of the ho

us f

wn hands. No wedding ring. No faint scar on his palm

was back before the forced engagement, before he'd lost Amin

eadying breath, the physical discomfort a dull echo compared to the psychological torment he'd just escaped. He grabbed his phone fr

phone," the nurse began, but a single,

nd pressed call. It rang

l, not a figment of his tortured memo

osed up. He c

ou there? Is e

e, Amina. Just... wanted to make sure you were safe."

there. He hadn

the ground before he let Candic

al assistant rushed in, his hair disheveled and his su

ed, "that woman, Candice Lun

us on the Luna merger? And how is she?"

iliating encounter, from the th

et out a short, sharp laugh.

fe. The calculated tantrums, the feigned vulnerability. Candice Luna was a master manipulator, play

the lawyer. I want the merger documents pushed through. I w

uinely unstable," the a

patience gone. "She's an actress,

he curtains. Sunlight streamed in, glinting off the glass and steel o

He would protect Amina, and he woul

Morrison, an old friend of his

k a spill, son

ing some aggressive moves in the coming weeks. I may nee

ion. "Brandon Castro. Ex-Delta. Runs his own private f

nks. He'd take every a

r. Hansen. I tried to see Miss Luna. She refused

te this time. She was playing hard to get, trying

mile spread ac

t. "Tomorrow, I'll go over there myself. And I wil

ctured Amina's smile, the one true and good

own the hall, the manipulative vip

ng disgust. And the unshakeable cer