Adira's POV
The moment I left my parents' house, I couldn't breathe.
Their words clung to me like smoke my father's measured disappointment, my mother's disdain, Ashley's smug smile.
By the time I reached my apartment, I was shaking. And when the door opened, Sam and Tiana were already there, waiting.
Sam didn't ask questions. She just wrapped her arms around me, holding me the way only she could.
"You don't have to be strong with us, Addy," she whispered.
For the first time in years, I let myself fall apart. Tears I hadn't cried in boardrooms or interviews spilled freely as Tiana rubbed my back and Sam squeezed my hand.
"We've got you," Tiana said firmly. "You're not fighting this war alone."
Her words were an anchor. For a moment, I wasn't a CEO. I wasn't a daughter failing her parents' expectations. I was just Adira, a girl with friends who refused to let her drown.
Sam's POV
It hurt, seeing Addy like this. She carried so much too much and her family's poison only pushed her deeper into the fire.
I wanted to protect her. But how do you shield someone from their own blood?
A knock at the door pulled me out of my thoughts.
When I opened it, I froze.
"Kendrick?"
He stood there in a suit, holding a folder, his expression hesitant in a way I'd never seen before.
"Adira here?" he asked.
I narrowed my eyes. "Why?"
He glanced past me, then back. "Because Ashley's not just playing with the press anymore. She's circling investors. Some of them are mine. And I thought Adira deserved to know before it's too late."
Adira's POV
When Kendrick stepped into my apartment, memories of high school slammed into me. The boy who once laughed as I cried on the school bus, the boy who humiliated anyone who dared stand in his way.
But the man standing before me wasn't that boy. His eyes were sharper, yes, but also steadier. There was no arrogance in his voice now just something that sounded like warning.
"She's working Ristone hard," he said, laying documents on my table. "If she convinces them to pull two more investors from your side, you'll be vulnerable. I can try to slow it down, but" His gaze met mine. "She's relentless, Adira. You know that better than anyone."
I stared at him, thrown off balance. "Why are you helping me?"
He hesitated, then said quietly, "Because I know what it's like to burn bridges you can't rebuild. And because..." His eyes flicked briefly to Sam, then back to me. "Maybe it's time I stopped being the villain."
Sam's POV
I didn't know what shocked me more — Kendrick showing up with actual business intel, or the way he glanced at me when he said those words.
For the first time, I wondered if the boy who once made our teenage years hell might just become the man who could help us all survive this new war.
And against my better judgment... my heart skipped.