JULIAN
The leather chair creaked as I shut the laptop. Marcus had delivered exactly what I needed. The financial picture between Daniel and Ava looked clean—mentoring, a promised cut, professional boundaries. Nothing that smelled like conspiracy. A quiet relief uncoiled in my chest. Maybe it really was just business. No hidden blades,the constant knot behind my ribs loosened.
I was falling. I could feel it happening, like a slow tide I had no interest in fighting. It had been years since anyone stirred anything real in me. Sienna carried my child, yet her presence felt like background noise. Ava, though—she made the air feel charged.
Tonight I could enjoy the hunt instead of bracing for it.
The car hummed through London’s glittering streets and deposited me at Le Gavroche. Inside, the
