Hali stared at Finley, her grip on her purse tightening until her knuckles turned white. The morning sun glared off the polished black paint of the Maybach, stinging her tired eyes.

"I can take the subway," she said, though her voice lacked conviction.

Finley didn't stop smiling. "The doorman is watching, Ms. Andrews. And I believe the paparazzi are often camped out at the corner café this time of morning hoping for a glimpse of Mr. Gardner. It would be best to get in."

Hali glanced back at the building entrance. The doorman was indeed watching, his eyebrows raised slightly at the sight of the junior assistant in Chanel standing next to the CEO's car.

She grit her teeth and opened the back door, sliding onto the leather seat. The interior smelled faintly of the same sandalwood scent that clung to her skin. It was suffocating.

Finley pulled away from the curb effortlessly, merging into the chaotic Manhattan traffic. The partition between the front and back was down. Hali stared out the window, watching the blur of yellow taxis and pedestrians.

"Where to?" Finley asked, his eyes meeting hers in the rearview mirror.

"Brooklyn," she said, giving him her address. It felt wrong to say the street name in this car. It was like mixing oil and water.

Finley nodded. "Brooklyn. A long drive."

The silence that followed was heavy. Hali picked at a loose thread on the seat-wait, there were no loose threads in a Maybach. She clasped her hands in her lap to stop fidgeting.

"Mr. Gardner rarely loses control," Finley said suddenly. His tone was casual, conversational, as if he were commenting on the weather. "You must be... unexpected."

Heat flared in Hali's cheeks, burning hot and fast. She felt the blood rush to her face. "I don't know what you're talking about. It was the champagne. It was a mistake."

Finley hummed, a noncommittal sound. "Mistakes usually don't involve archival Chanel."

Hali looked down at the suit. The fabric was soft against her skin, a constant reminder of the man who had given it to her. She remembered the way Ezra had looked at her last night in the elevator. There had been a hunger in his eyes that terrified her. And she had pulled his tie. She remembered that now. She had pulled him down to her.

She closed her eyes, wishing the ground would swallow her whole.

Her phone buzzed in her hand. She jumped, her heart skipping a beat. It was a text from Irving.

"Hey babe. Sorry I missed your calls. Passed out early last night. Crazy week. Morning coffee?"

Hali stared at the screen. Passed out early.

She looked at the timestamp of her last call to him: 11:45 PM. Irving was a night owl. He never slept before 2 AM.

A knot of unease tightened in her stomach. He was lying. But why?

Then, a darker, colder thought washed over the suspicion. The date. She did the mental math quickly, counting the days on her internal calendar.

She felt the blood drain from her face.

"Stop the car," she said. Her voice was sharp, urgent.

Finley frowned, glancing in the mirror. "Ms. Andrews? We are in the middle of-"

"Please, stop. There's a CVS right there. I need... I need something."

Finley's eyes narrowed slightly, assessing her pale face. He understood. He didn't say a word, just signaled and pulled the massive car over to the curb in front of the pharmacy.

Hali didn't wait for him to open the door. She scrambled out, nearly tripping in the borrowed heels.

The fluorescent lights of the pharmacy were harsh. She walked straight to the family planning aisle, her heart pounding in her ears. She felt like everyone was looking at her. The woman in the hair care aisle. The teenager buying soda. They all knew.

She grabbed the small box of Plan B. One pill. Fifty dollars. A small price to pay to erase a life-altering mistake, even if the tiny print on the back warned of its diminishing efficacy window.

She took it to the counter. The cashier, a middle-aged woman with tired eyes, scanned the box. She looked at Hali's expensive suit, then at her messy hair, then at the box. She didn't say anything, but her expression screamed judgment.

Hali paid cash. She didn't want a paper trail. She shoved the box into her bag and walked out, keeping her head down.

When she got back into the car, Finley didn't ask what she had bought. He simply merged back into traffic. But the air in the car had changed. It felt heavier.

"He suspects," Hali thought. And if he suspects, he will tell Ezra.

She sat in silence for the rest of the ride, clutching her bag to her chest like a shield. When the car finally pulled up to her worn-down apartment building in Brooklyn, the contrast was stark. The peeling paint of the entryway looked pathetic next to the gleaming black metal of the car.

"Thank you," Hali muttered, pushing the door open.

"Ms. Andrews," Finley said.

She paused, looking back.

"Ezra is a man who takes care of his assets," Finley said. His voice was devoid of mockery now. It was a warning. Or maybe a promise.

Hali slammed the door shut and ran up the steps to her building.

She fumbled with her keys, her hands shaking so badly she dropped them twice. Finally, she got the door open and stumbled into her apartment. She locked the deadbolt, threw the chain, and leaned back against the wood, sliding down until she hit the floor.

It was quiet. Safe.

She pulled the box out of her bag. Her hands trembled as she tore the foil packaging. The small white pill looked innocuous.

She went to the kitchen, filled a glass with tap water, and swallowed the pill. It scraped against her dry throat.

Almost immediately, a wave of nausea rolled over her. It was psychosomatic, she knew, but she still gagged, clutching the edge of the sink.

She needed to get this scent off her. She needed to get Ezra off her skin.

She went to the bathroom and stripped off the Chanel suit. She looked at herself in the mirror. The bruises on her neck were darkening. A love bite right over her pulse point.

She turned the shower on as hot as she could stand it. She scrubbed her skin until it was raw and red, trying to erase the ghost of his touch.

When she finally stepped out, wrapped in her old, fraying bathrobe, she felt hollowed out. She bundled the Chanel suit and the lingerie into a plastic bag and shoved it into the back of her closet, behind her winter coats. She never wanted to see it again.

Her phone buzzed again. It was Lia, her best friend and a junior designer at the firm.

"Did you see Irving last night? I swear I saw him at The Box around 1 AM."

Hali stared at the message. The Box. A nightclub.

Irving had texted her saying he was asleep.

The knot in her stomach twisted tighter. He lied.

Why would he lie about being at a club? Unless he wasn't alone.

In the front seat of the Maybach, blocks away, Finley typed a message on his encrypted phone.

"She visited the pharmacy. She looks ill. Urgent."

Across the city, in the penthouse suite, Ezra Gardner looked at the message. The phone in his hand creaked under the pressure of his grip.

He stared at the words, his jaw tightening until a muscle feathered in his cheek. He closed his eyes, exhaling a slow, controlled breath. Then, with a sudden, violent motion, he snapped the fountain pen he was holding in half. Ink bled onto his fingers, black as oil.

Monday morning arrived with the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Hali stood in front of her mirror, adjusting the collar of her thickest, highest cashmere sweater. It was charcoal gray and stiflingly warm for September, but it was the only thing that effectively hid the bruising on her neck.

She applied an extra layer of concealer under her eyes, trying to mask the shadows left by a sleepless weekend. The nausea from the Plan B had settled into a dull, constant ache in her lower abdomen.

She checked her phone. No new messages from Irving since his Sunday night "hope you had a good weekend" text. She hadn't replied.

On the subway ride to Midtown, Hali obsessively refreshed Irving's Instagram. Nothing. His tagged photos were clean. But the doubt planted by Lia's text had taken root and was growing fast.

She swiped her badge at the turnstiles of Gardner Holdings, the beep sounding like an accusation. The lobby was a hive of activity, heels clicking on marble, the hum of ambition and caffeine filling the air.

Hali kept her head down, clutching her coffee cup like a lifeline. She made it to the design department without running into anyone important.

Her cubicle was exactly as she had left it: cluttered with fabric swatches, sketches, and half-finished mood boards. It felt like a different lifetime.

Yara, the department gossip and Hali's work friend, rolled her chair over the moment Hali sat down.

"Oh my god, you look like death," Yara whispered, her eyes wide. "But listen. The rumor mill is on fire."

Hali's heart skipped a beat. She forced a smile, booting up her computer. "What else is new?"

"No, this is big. Someone from the cleaning crew said they found a woman's dress in Ezra's penthouse suite on Saturday morning. Ripped."

Hali's hand jerked, splashing hot coffee onto her wrist. She hissed, grabbing a tissue.

Yara leaned in closer. "They say he took someone home from the gala. Everyone is trying to guess who. Some say it was that model, Kaia. Others think it might be a socialite."

Hali wiped her wrist, her heart pounding against her ribs. "Or maybe a junior assistant who wants to die," she thought.

"Probably a model," Hali said, her voice sounding thin to her own ears.

Just then, Nolan Hayes, the Design Director, swept through the aisles. He paused at Hali's desk, picking up a sketch she had left out-a rough charcoal drawing of a structured bodice.

"Interesting lines, Andrews," Nolan murmured, adjusting his glasses. "Very aggressive. It has a certain... disruptive quality. Reminds me of the avant-garde movement in Berlin."

Hali froze. The blood drained from her face. "Oh, I... I was just doodling. It's nothing."

Nolan hummed, dropping the sketch back onto the desk. "Don't be so modest. I need you in the concept meeting this afternoon. Taking notes. 2 PM."

He walked away before she could protest.

Hali exhaled, sinking into her chair. Being noticed was dangerous. She had to be more careful.

A ping from her computer drew her attention. A small notification box popped up in the bottom right corner of her screen. It was from the company's internal messaging system, Slack.

New Friend Request.

Hali frowned. Who added people as friends on Slack? It was usually automatic.

She clicked the notification.

User: E.G.

Role: CEO

Hali stared at the screen. The avatar was a black square.

Ezra.

Her breath hitched. He was adding her. On the company server. Where IT could see. Where anyone looking over her shoulder could see.

Her mouse hovered over the Accept button. Her finger trembled. This was a power move. He was invading her workspace, reminding her that he was everywhere, asserting his dominance even through a digital screen.

She gritted her teeth. No. She wasn't going to play this game. She wasn't his fiancée. She was his employee.

She moved the cursor to the Decline button and clicked.

Request Declined.

She sat back, her heart racing. She had just rejected the CEO. She was insane. She was going to be fired.

Five minutes passed. Hali tried to focus on a spreadsheet, but the numbers were swimming.

The phone on her desk rang. The shrill sound made her jump.

"Design Department, Hali Andrews," she answered, her voice tight.

"Ms. Andrews," Finley Butler's smooth voice came through the line. "Mr. Gardner would like to see you in his office. Now."

Hali closed her eyes. Of course.

"I'm in the middle of preparing for-"

"Now, Ms. Andrews."

The line went dead.

Hali hung up the phone slowly. Yara was looking at her with pity. "You're getting called to the principal's office? What did you do?"

"Nothing," Hali said, standing up. Her legs felt like jelly.

She walked to the elevator banks, clutching her notebook to her chest. She pressed the button for the penthouse floor.

The ride up was agonizingly fast. The doors opened onto the 45th floor, a space of quiet luxury and terrifying silence.

Finley was seated at his desk outside the double mahogany doors. He looked up, his expression neutral.

"Go right in."

Hali walked to the door and knocked.

"Enter."

She pushed the door open. Ezra was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, his back to her. He was wearing a suit that cost more than her father-if she knew who he was-probably made in a year.

He turned slowly. He held his phone in his hand. The screen was lit up.

Hali stopped in the middle of the room, keeping a safe distance.

"You wanted to see me, Mr. Gardner?"

Ezra didn't answer immediately. He walked toward her, his steps slow and deliberate. He stopped two feet away, invading her personal space.

He held up the phone. On the screen was the notification: Hali Andrews declined your request.

He looked at her, his dark eyes boring into hers.

"Is this how you treat your fiancé?" he asked, his voice low and laced with a dangerous calm.

"I'm not your fiancé," Hali whispered, backing up until her heels hit the wood of the door behind her.

Ezra followed, placing one hand on the doorframe above her head, boxing her in. The scent of sandalwood enveloped her again, triggering a sensory flashback to the silk sheets and his warm skin.

"We are negotiating," Ezra said, leaning down until his mouth was inches from her ear. "And declining a friend request is a poor opening move, Hali."