Page 49 of He Knows When You're Awake

First car?

Never had one. I lived in Brooklyn.

Biggest fear?

That one I leave unanswered. Some truths need wine and darkness to emerge.

I type out one last message:

Eight o’clock. I’ll be ready and hungry. Don’t work through dinner.

Her reply comes instantly:

I have protein bars.

Not dinner. Don’t be late.

Then I close my messages, letting the calm settle over me. The one I’ve perfected over years of boardroom battles. Julian mistakes my silence for weakness. His first of many errors.

The car turns onto Madison Avenue. Time to remind him why that’s always been a mistake.

Chapter NineteenCole

My office door opens without a knock. Julian’s never respected boundaries. Not in the decade we worked together, and certainly not now.

“Making me come to you?” He drops into the chair across from my desk, sprawling like he owns it. Like he still owns any part of this. “Bit dramatic, don’t you think?”

I continue reading the document in front of me for another thirty seconds before looking up. “You’re the one who wanted a meeting.”

“In the boardroom. With the full board present.” His smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “But you’ve always preferred to handle things... privately.”

“Some conversations shouldn’t have witnesses.”

He laughs, but there’s an edge to it. “Always so cautious. So controlled. It’s that control I’ve come for today, Cole.”

The morning sun catches on the steel and glass buildings outside my window. I’ve had this office for fifteen years, watched the skyline change, watched empires rise and fall. But Julian didn’t come here to admire the view.

“I want what’s mine,” Julian says, his voice deceptively calm. “Claire’s designs. The case.”

“We’ve been over this,” I say. “Nothing in that case belongs to you.”

His jaw tightens. “She was my wife.”

“Unfortunately.”

“You have no reason to hold on to that case.”

“How about Claire wouldn’t want you to have them. She gave them to me.”

“Claire is dead. I’m her husband so they belong to me.”

I take a deep breath, determined to not lose my shit in this exchange. “She was going to divorce you, and you and I both know it.”

“Only because you got into her head.” He rolls his eyes. “The Boy Scout. Always doing what you feel is right. And then you got her on your side.”

“We wanted nothing to do with blood diamonds. Smuggled goods! And you fucking knew it. You tried to taint her name and her brand. I wasn’t going to allow it. And when she found out, saw you for what you are—”

“You shouldn’t have gotten involved!” Julian’s face turns red as sweat beads on his temples, a tell that I’m getting to him.