ADRIAN'S HOUSE The television was still on when Lily walked into the living room.Voices murmuring in the background, images shifting across the screen—faces, captions, headlines that meant nothing to her at first glance.She stopped just a few steps in, her small fingers curled loosely around the edge of the toy she had been carrying. Her eyes lifted toward the screen, watching without fully understanding.It was only after a few seconds that recognition clicked.“Daddy?”Her voice was soft, uncertain.Adrian, seated on the couch, looked up immediately.He had been watching, but not really seeing. The screen had been more noise than focus—something he hadn’t bothered turning off after returning home.Now, his attention shifted completely.Lily was looking at the television.At him.Or rather—the version of him on the screen.He picked up the remote without a word and turned it off.The room fell quiet.But the question had already settled.Lily looked at him now, her brows slightly

Vanessa stayed where she was for a moment longer, her back half-turned, her arms still folded tight across her chest.Then she let out a quiet, sharp breath.“You know what,” she said, turning back slowly. “if you want him that much, you should just go after him.”Monica blinked once.Then her brows lifted slightly—not shocked, just… mildly taken aback.“That’s where we are now?”Vanessa didn’t soften.“You’re the one talking about how ‘hot’ he is,” she said. “Might as well act on it.”Monica let out a short laugh, shaking her head. “You’re overreacting.”“I’m being realistic," Vanessa said.“No,” Monica said, her tone still calm, “you’re being dramatic.”Vanessa scoffed.“Of course I am. That’s what this whole thing is, right? Drama.”Monica didn’t rise to it.“If I wanted him,” she said evenly, “you wouldn’t need to guess.”Vanessa tilted her head slightly. “That confident?”“I’m honest,” Monica replied.A small pause. “And right now, I’m just observing. Nothing more.”Vanessa let o

Victor held his ground, watching him carefully now.“He’s still your father,” he said.The words didn’t land gently.They didn’t even try to.Adrian let out a quiet breath that didn’t quite pass for calm.“That doesn’t mean anything to me.”Victor’s gaze didn’t waver.“It should.”Adrian gave a short, humorless laugh, turning slightly away before facing him again.“Should?” he repeated. “According to who?”“According to the fact that he’s standing in your house right now,” Victor replied.Adrian’s jaw tightened.“He’s standing here because you brought him here,” he said. “Not because I asked for him. Not because I want him here.”Victor didn’t interrupt.Didn’t try to cut him off this time.So Adrian continued.“He wasn’t there,” he said, his voice still controlled but harder now. “When it actually mattered.”A pause.“When I needed him.”Victor’s expression shifted slightly, but he stayed quiet.Adrian took a step back, running a hand briefly through his hair before letting it fall a

MALCOLM VALE'S HOUSE:Morning settled easily over Malcolm Vale’s estate, the kind of quiet that came with routine and control rather than peace.The dining room was already set.Everything in its place—precise.Malcolm sat at the head of the table, a newspaper folded neatly beside his plate, a cup of tea resting just within reach. He wasn’t reading. He rarely did in the mornings anymore. The headlines repeated themselves too often, and the ones that didn’t were rarely worth the attention.Instead, he ate.Each movement unhurried, like time itself adjusted around him rather than the other way around.There was no one else at the table.No conversation.No distraction.Just the quiet rhythm of cutlery against porcelain and the occasional shift of his chair against the floor.It suited him.Or at least, it used to.These days, his mind didn’t stay where he placed it.It wandered.Not wildly.Not without control.But enough.Enough to return—again and again—to something he had not yet res

Vanessa stepped out of the building with the same energy she had walked in with—sharp, controlled, and already set on the next move.Her heels hit the pavement of the parking lot with quiet precision, each step measured, her mind already turning over what had just happened in Adrian’s office.It had gone better than she expected.Too easily, if she was being honest.Adrian hadn’t shut her down completely.He hadn’t dismissed the idea outright beyond his usual restraint.He had offered something.A condition.And that meant there was room to maneuver.Vanessa’s lips curved faintly to herself as she made her way toward her car.Lily.That was all she needed.And Lily—Was manageable.She was already thinking ahead, already planning how she would present it later. How she would frame the trip. The excitement. The promise of something bigger than routine.Something better.Her fingers brushed lightly against her car key as she reached into her bag.Then—She stopped.Not because she heard