As Isabelle stood alone in the quiet of her room, the remnants of the morning clinging to her skin—flour on her sleeve, a soft ache behind her eyes—her gaze drifted to the birthday card Elliott had drawn.
He’d drawn them all together.
Her. Sebastian. Amelia. Himself.
Holding hands.
She traced the crayon lines with her fingertips, and just like that, her mind was pulled backward… to a time she didn’t revisit often.
A time she never meant to fall in love.
⸻
The first time she met Sebastian Hale, he hadn’t even looked up.
She’d been ushered into his corner office at Hale Enterprises by Celeste herself—an elegant arrangement she had no say in.
“He’s wealthy, intelligent, and powerful,” her mother had said, her voice clipped and decisive. “And you’ll learn to love him. Or at the very l
