AVA MONROE'S POV
People often say the truth will set you free.
Whoever said that never lived in the Kingsley penthouse.
The truth here was a currency, one you spent carefully,
traded for power, or buried when it threatened your narrative. And the deeper I
sank into this life, the more I realized I wasn't the only one keeping secrets.
Three weeks had passed since the scandal.
And Ethan and I…, we'd become a spectacle of affection. The
perfect couple. Always together, always glowing. At least, when cameras were
on.
When they weren't?
Silence.
Rooms full of tension.
Conversations clipped, calculated.
But something had shifted. A small, almost imperceptible
change in Ethan's gaze. He watched me longer. Asked about my schedule. Even
shared coffee once instead of rushing off.
It wasn't affection.
It was curiosity.
Like he'd begun to suspect I wasn't what I seemed.
He was right.
I had my own meeting.
In secret.
