The Holloway house looked perfect from the outside manicured lawn, expensive cars parked behind high gates, spotless white walls that hid every ugly truth inside.
Richard Holloway stood at the dining room window, watching the security lights flicker on the driveway.
His phone buzzed every few minutes reporters asking for comment, the board demanding answers, lawyers whispering threats. But tonight, he cared about only one thing.
He turned when he heard the front door open.
Matt stepped inside, shoulders hunched under the weight of another twelve-hour shift. The moment she saw her father waiting, the blood drained from her face.
"Dad," she said carefully. "Why are you up?"
Richard set his glass down with a quiet clink. "Sit down, Matilda."
Matt sat at the table like a child called to the principal's office. She fought to keep her hands from shaking.
Richard watched her eyes sharp as knives. "Tell me you had nothing to do with this leak."
Matt's throat closed. "What leak?"
He slammed a folder onto the table pages spilling out. Fake invoices, charity funds, all over the news now. His empire, rotting in front of him.
"Don't lie to me," Richard hissed. "You work in oncology. You have clearance. You think I don't know about your little friendship with that Thompson boy?"
Matt's heart slammed against her ribs. Kevin. If her father found out she was sleeping with him, helping him it wouldn't just ruin her career. He'd ruin Kevin too. Or worse.
"I didn't do anything," she whispered. "I've been working. Helping patients. You know that."
Richard leaned down until his face was inches from hers. "If I find out you're behind this that you turned on me for some worthless charity case I'll make sure you never work in this city again. I'll bury you along with his sister."
Matt swallowed her fear. She forced herself to meet his eyes. "I didn't do it."
Richard studied her for a long moment, eyes cold and calculating. Then he stepped back, picking up his glass again. "Good. Because if you did, Matilda… I'd know how to handle you."
She fled the house as soon as she could back into the night, away from the suffocating walls. She called Kevin the moment she reached her car.
"Kev? It's me," she whispered into the phone, her voice trembling. "He knows. He suspects. But he didn't find proof."
There was silence on the other end then Kevin's low voice, steady and sharp: "Come to me. Now."
Kevin's door swung open before she even knocked. He pulled her inside, locked it, pressed her back against the wall in one rough motion.
Her breath caught. His mouth was on hers before she could say another word hungry, hard, demanding.
She melted against him, arms winding around his neck, kissing him like he was air and she'd been drowning all her life.
When he finally pulled back, she was trembling, lips swollen. "I love you," she breathed, voice raw. "I'm risking everything for you, Kev. You know that, right?"
Kevin stared down at her. For a split second, something sharp twisted in his chest a flicker of the man who'd first noticed her kindness in a hospital hallway. But then Emily's face flashed through his mind Emily's tiny hand, cold in his and that softness turned to acid.
He leaned in, his breath hot against her ear. "I know," he whispered. "And you'll do anything for me, won't you?"
Matt nodded, desperate, pressing herself closer. "Anything. I just want you. I just want us."
He kissed her again deeper, rougher this time, his hands slipping under her shirt. She gasped his name, clung to him as he pushed her toward the bedroom, careless with the trail of clothes falling to the floor.
In the dark, Kevin buried every flicker of guilt with the heat of her body. He told himself it was just a weapon her love, her trust, her weakness. He told himself Emily needed this. That vengeance needed this.
Matt didn't see the lie. Didn't feel the cold steel behind the kisses. She gave him everything, certain that love could heal them both.
Kevin made sure she felt wanted made sure she believed every desperate promise he whispered between her sighs.
And when it was over, when she fell asleep curled against him, breath steady and soft, he stared at the ceiling awake and hollow.
No mercy, he reminded himself.
No forgiveness. Not even for her.
He'd bury Richard Holloway's empire and when there was nothing left but ashes, he'd bury Matt's foolish heart right beside it.