The morning light broke sharp and thin through the blinds of Gigi’s apartment, slanting across half-open sketchbooks and the faint scent of lilies from last night’s bouquet. She had barely slept.
Jason had sounded exhausted on the phone, his voice taut, distant. She could still hear him saying, “Peace doesn’t come cheap in my world.”
For reasons she didn’t quite understand, that sentence kept echoing in her mind.
So, by mid-morning, after pacing her small living room twice, she made a decision — she would visit him. No warning, no text. Just… show up. Maybe he needed that. Maybe she did too.
Gigi took a cab through the pulsing veins of Manhattan, the city blurring past like watercolor.
The closer they drew to Jae Corporation’s headquarters, the taller and sleeker the buildings became
