Then I saw it—a photo of him and Sebastian at some gala, standing too close to be accidental. They were turned toward each other, Luca smiling, Sebastian’s familiar half-smirk in place. It made bile rise in my throat. That single image felt more intimate than anything I had witnessed the day before.
I shoved those feelings into a small box and kept going, searching Sebastian’s name.
The results multiplied instantly—interviews, features, market analyses, business journals—all of them recent, and none of them had anything to do with his private life.
My eyes fixed on one title, and my throat went instantly dry.
Langley Executive Faces Mounting Pressure Amid State Investigation
I read it again, like the words might rearrange themselves into something less dire.
They didn’t.
CHAPTER FIVE
ASH
“When are you leaving?” Luca asked.
I lifted my head from my laptop, dragging my attention back to him. “I’m not. I’m here for the rest of the month.”
“I leave next Monday.” His thumbs were already flying over his phone. “Back on the twenty-third. Would you like to do XO on Friday?”
My lips parted to answer, but an email notification appeared in the corner of my screen. I glanced at it automatically, jaw tightening, before forcing my focus back to him. “Yes,” I said. “Friday works.”
Someone knocked at the door.
“Yes?”
It flew open, and Henry stepped in with a stack of takeout boxes. “Brotherly delivery. No excuses; we’re doing a sushi lunch break—” He spotted Luca and stopped. “Oh. Sorry. Didn’t know you were already busy.”
“Like that’s ever stopped you before,” I said, pushing the laptop aside but not closing it. “We’re just finishing up. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Henry crossed the room and dropped the boxes on my desk before shaking Luca’s hand. “Sorry for crashing your date.”
“Don’t worry—not a date. It is nice to see you again.” Luca’s gaze drifted to the spread. “And this is very sweet.”
“Yeah, Ash is shit at feeding himself,” Henry said. “As you must know by now. So I’m just putting in the work.”
Luca turned back to me, a faint crease forming between his brows. “Are you missing lunch right now?”
“It’s fine,” I said, waving him off, eyes flicking briefly to the screen as it dimmed beside me. I tapped the trackpad to wake it. “I would’ve just asked Vanessa to get me something down the street in a little while.”
Henry hesitated, then dropped into the chair and pretended to scroll through his phone, though his gaze lifted every few seconds.
“Oh. Okay, then. So… XO?” Luca asked.
I tipped my chin toward Henry, already reaching to silence another notification. “This’ll just be a minute.”
“That’s fine.” Henry blinked, face scrunching in confusion. “There’s plenty in there for all of us.”
Luca smiled politely. “I have to leave—I had plans already. Maybe next time.”
“Sure…”
“I can do dinner on Friday.” The words came out distracted, my attention snagging on the subject line that had just appeared in my inbox. “We’ll figure out the rest after you get back.”
Luca nodded, still tapping away on his phone.
