For a moment, it felt like the room itself had stalled, as if the air-conditioning had cut out and left everyone breathing the same thick, stale pocket of disbelief. Then the murmurs started. Quiet at first. Careful. Almost polite. “That’s not funny.” Someone laughed—short, sharp, defensive. “Johnny? As in… that Johnny?” A few heads turned, not toward Mr. Silva, but toward Johnny. As if looking at him long enough might correct the mistake. It didn’t. “He doesn’t look like—” a woman near the glass wall began, then stopped herself, but it was too late. The thought had already landed. “He doesn’t look like a CEO,” someone else finished for her. The words carried more offense than disbelief. Johnny stood where he was. Hands relaxed at his sides. Jacket still rumpled from earlier. No effort made to straighten himself. No effort made to look like anything other than what he was. That, more than anything, seemed to enrage them. “I know him,” a man from Finance said, louder now. “

“She is my daughter,” Santiago continued, his voice steady, practiced, “and the Head of Operations. She will brief you on—” Johnny didn’t hear the rest. He couldn’t. Something about the way she stood rewired the rhythm of the room. It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t dramatic. It was quieter than that—more dangerous. Her presence didn’t announce itself; it settled. Like gravity deciding where everything else belonged. Her gaze moved across the room with surgical precision. Executives. Board members. Guards. She catalogued them without expression, without hesitation. No fear. No curiosity. Just assessment. Then her eyes found him. It lasted a second. Maybe two. But in that thin slice of time, everything slowed. Johnny felt it before he understood it—a tightening in his chest, a strange mix of clarity and distraction. His thoughts sharpened and blurred at once, as if his mind couldn’t decide whether to focus or surrender. He noticed details he shouldn’t have. The line of her jaw. The

Johnny stepped into the Nebula Hotel lobby like he owned the place. Which he did. Heads turned right away. Staff fixed their uniforms quick. Guests paused, eyes flicking over him. Sophie, the hotel manager was already waiting by the desk with her tablet in hand. Her clean suit fit tight around her curvy hips and full chest, and a few strands of hair had escaped her ponytail to brush against her soft neck. "Welcome back, sir," she said with a small smile as her eyes flicked over his strong arms. Johnny nodded quick. “How long was I gone” “Just under six hours,” she replied. He blinked. "...That long?" Johnny checked the time on his phone. 4:30PM. Almost six hours gone. He had spent over five hours at the Silvercrest Hotel. Didn't feel like it. It was all so fast paced and felt like it all happened under an hour. "Your Sky Sovereign suite is ready," Sophie said, leaning in a tad. The move made her cleavage peek just enough to tease. Johnny nodded. "Thanks." As he passed

Johnny stared at Lydia like she had just spoken a different language. For a moment, the words did not land. They hovered in the air between them, light and unreal, as if they could still be laughed off. Darius King’s fiancée. That made no sense. None at all. Johnny let out a short breath, almost a laugh, but it died halfway. “That’s not funny,” he said. “You’re joking, right?” Lydia did not smile this time. She only watched him, calm and patient, like someone waiting for another person to catch up. As she breathed, the fabric stretched tight over her heavy breasts, a faint outline teasing through. Johnny ran a hand through his hair and took a step back. His mind started racing, trying to rearrange facts that no longer fit. Darius. That man. Arrogant, slimy, bully, always pretending to be bigger than he was. The same man who had begged, sweated, and cried at Johnny’s feet earlier. And this woman was engaged to him? “How is that even possible?” Johnny muttered, more to himself

The word sorry still hung in the air. It didn’t fade. It didn’t soften. It just stayed there, heavy, unfinished. Darren was still on his knees. His back straight. Too straight. Like he was holding himself together with tension alone. Johnny didn’t react right away. That was the worst part. The pause stretched long enough for people to start counting breaths without meaning to. One. Two. Three. Johnny stepped forward. Just one step. The sound of his shoe against the floor echoed louder than it should have. Darren’s eyes followed the movement without lifting his head. Another step. Johnny stopped right in front of him. Close. Close enough that Darren noticed things he shouldn’t have been noticing. Things he couldn’t even explain or understand himself. Johnny leaned down slightly. Not to help him. Not to lift him. Just enough to speak. “Look at you,” Johnny said in a quiet., low. It wasn’t for the for the room to hear, just for him. Darren’s jaw clenched. “You r