Lombard had lived a shit life. That was the professional summary. The longer version: he had clawed his way up from nothing, built companies that made grown men in suits nervous, made the kind of money that gets you invited to parties you have to pretend to enjoy — and then his fiancée died under circumstances so suspicious that even the word “suspicious” felt like a cover-up, and he realized he’d been chasing wind the whole time. You could build everything right. Do everything right. And the worst thing would still find you at home, wipe its feet on your doormat, and let itself in. So he quit. Not quit like taking a sabbatical. Quit like walking out of the casino mid-hand. He signed his companies away. Cut off his own access to accounts most men would commit felonies for. Walked out of that entire life with the clothes he liked and one firm decision: he was done chasing things. Anything. Forever. Then, two years ago, he met a woman from the Belmont family. She didn’t know who he

Everything in Lombard’s brain shut down. Every cell. Every department. The lights went off floor by floor.One hundred million.“I — I…” God. He was stuttering now? Really? Twenty minutes ago he’d been threatened by cops over a parking fine and hadn’t blinked. “I just… I just have to stay with him?”“Yeah, man. I’m really sorry for breaking into your schedule like this,” the voice said quickly. “But don’t worry — I got you someone. A woman. She’s twenty-seven. I already gave her your number.”Lombard frowned.He almost asked what a woman was supposed to do when all he needed was to sit with a kid for one night — but no. Pride. Composure. Whatever scraps of dignity the day had left in the bag.“Okay,” he said, forcing his voice into something flippant.“Thank you so much, Lomb. My son’s gonna be really happy to have you. I told you about him already.”“Alright.”Lombard hung up first. A man has to win something today.Then he checked again.Credit Alert: $100,000,000.For one night of b

“Finn said you have a lot of connections in the Ivy League? Like, all of them?” the girl asked, eyes wide.Girls this age were still easy to deal with. That was the only reason Lombard tolerated the question with a lazy smile.“Not really,” he said.“What? Finn said that!” she protested, like he was hoarding a national secret.“Yeah. I graduated from one of them, got my master’s at another, then my PhD at a third. So — been to three of them,” Lombard explained, in the exact tone of a man reading out a grocery list.Her jaw practically hit the floor.“How did you do it? Did you have connections? Your parents are rich, right?”“Huh. Not really. Went on scholarship,” Lombard dropped, like it was nothing.Boom. Mind blown.“Oh. My. God!” she cried. “Did you… also know people there?”“Go to any of their offices and you’ll find my name on the list of professors they’d recruit if given the chance. Plus, I’ve held business and academic seminars at all of them. They were all making a fuss.”Her

Cassian rose from his seat.“A joke seems to be happening tonight,” he said lightly, already walking toward Abigail’s table. His eyes never left the man beside her. “Lombard August?”Lombard lifted his head mid-drink and looked at him.That look.It irritated Cassian more than Lombard’s presence itself. The audacity of him being here was one thing — but the calm? The familiarity in his eyes, like they were somehow equals?“You’re going to tell me what you’re doing here,” Cassian said, carefully arranging his face into something pleasant. Abigail was watching, after all.“Your sister’s pregnant,” Lombard replied. “Three months.”Cassian blinked. “Yeah. So?”Lombard let out a short, humorless scoff. “So I was the only fucking idiot who didn’t know?”Cassian’s lips curved. “So you agree — you’re a fucking idiot?”Their eyes locked.Abigail shifted in her seat. She had no idea what history sat between these two men, but the air had gone tight and volatile, like the room was one wrong word

Now, Cassian walked out of the hall, straight toward the car waiting outside.He spotted the man’s PA and lifted a hand casually. “Longest time, man.”They hugged like old friends.“It’s been crazy,” the PA said. “But I’m surviving. You? And Mireya—man, I wish I could see her again. I still can’t thank her enough. My father would’ve been dead ten years ago if she hadn’t noticed he was sick and forced him to get checked. Even now, he still says he doesn't know what made her know he was sick. He was perfectly fine.”Cassian smiled faintly. “My kid sister’s always been good at what she does.”But the smile froze halfway. He saw Lombard walking toward the same car.Cassian’s eyes narrowed. “That man,” he asked quietly, “does your boss know him?”The PA followed his gaze, then waved it off easily. “Nah. Don’t worry about it. Probably someone from the team I sent to get him water. He wants to be alone before the next round.”Cassian scoffed.Oh, Lombard.The biggest disgrace a man could ev