The penthouse was quiet, but Aria couldn’t shake the storm brewing inside her chest. Ethan had left early for a board meeting, his commanding presence replaced by an unsettling emptiness.

She tried to distract herself with coffee, with the skyline, with anything—but the rival’s smirk from the other night wouldn’t leave her mind. The way she had leaned in, the way she had spoken, the way Ethan’s hand had tightened protectively around her waist.

What if she came back? What if she pushed ...