“And this…” Smith pulled out another picture. Two men. Not just shaking hands, no—they were tangled in ways that made Charles’ stomach churn. “They’re both top executives.”Charles snapped his gaze to him. “If I wanted to watch porn, I’d have downloaded it on my phone.”Smith chuckled, unbothered. “Apologies if this was unexpected, but these are the only pictures I was given to introduce them.” Then, without missing a beat, he shoved more photos forward—each one worse than the last. Charles actually felt his stomach threaten rebellion.“I’ll meet them at work when I come around,” he cut in sharply, waving off the pictures before he gagged.“Oh, really? That makes more sense,” Smith said with a grin, as if none of this was insane.“When should we expect you, sir?”Charles’ brain screeched. Expect me? He hadn’t agreed to anything.“Are there any married people in the company?” Charles asked, partly to buy time, partly beca

Charles slipped into the club, bracing for the usual wall of noise that rattled eardrums from the doorway. Instead, the place was hushed. The music was soft, more like background perfume than sound. For a “crazy night,” it felt like someone had hit mute.“Thought I saw you in baggy pants the other time,” one of Sadie’s friends was saying.Charles spotted them at a round table across the room. All seated, all calm. This was the wild ride August had hyped up? Maybe the guy wasn’t as unhinged as Charles thought.“What do you mean you ordered it?” another friend pressed. “You brought your boyfriend here?”“George and I,” Natasha chimed in, bright and smug. “We ordered it a few minutes ago.”Charles cut the distance fast, before she started rewriting the whole night into some fantasy where he was her sugar sponsor. She was already on the edge of making it sound like he’d bought her dress as some “pick me” gift.“Over here!” Thomas wav

“She was the first woman I ever fell in love with—and the first who loved me back,” August said at last, his voice ragged, minutes after he’d finally forced himself to stop sobbing.“Sorry,” Thomas muttered. “Happens to all of us, man. Nothing you could’ve done to stop it.”August’s eyes burned. “I’m going to destroy the man who caused this.”“Caused what?” Thomas probed, leaning in.And just like that, August spilled everything about their trip to Colombia, every shit that Charles had no intention of telling Thomas landed straight into Thomas’ hands.Later that night, Hardin showed up to fetch Sadie for some pressing matter, and the group slowly dispersed.August left too, off to some meeting with his men, leaving only Charles and Thomas lingering in the quiet.Charles braced for Thomas to start talking shit—another rant about how Dario was some impossible bastard Charles should leave alone. But instead, Thomas caught h

Charles came out of the shower, steam curling behind him, muscles aching after four hours in the gym. The cold water dripping off his skin was an assurance that he was still alive, not dead from the thousand ways he had been planning to carve Dario off the face of the earth.He tossed his damp clothes aside. Unsure whether he’d need to change later or if the Madrid night would turn cold, he pulled on a flannel, slung his bag across his chest, and tucked inside a power bank and charger. At Sadie’s door, he stopped for a moment, staring at the handle.He’d be gone two days. If Thomas stayed as reasonable as last night, Charles was counting on him to make excuses on his behalf. Whatever consequences followed, he’d deal with them when he returned. He closed the door softly, almost like a promise, then made his way out.The men on patrol straightened when they saw him.“Good morning, sir,” one said.Charles gave them a nod. “Keep your eyes sha

August walked up to the door, lifted his hand to knock. His fingers barely brushed the wood when the door swung open like it had a human detector built into it. If August had leaned in any closer, Charles swore he would have ended up face-first on the floor.Charles had been expecting…well, a grandma could be anything at any age, but he expected at least some frail woman. Damn.The woman stood in the doorway, hands folded behind her back, scanning between Charles and August like she was calculating the exact moment she’d need to defend herself.“Go…good evening, ma'am,” August greeted in Spanish, his voice cautious.“Who are you two?” she asked in English, eyes darting between them as if she anticipated a shady move.“We are from your granddaughter, ma'am. Natasha,” Charles replied carefully.“She didn’t say two men were coming,” her gaze lingered on Charles like he was an intruder.“We—” Charles started.“You a