Working late is a way of life for me. Ever since I struck out on my own as a teenager, severing ties with my vicious family and declaring to the world that I'd get by alone, work has been my sanctuary.
Back then, in the tiny apartment I rented on the docks, and these days too, in this glittering penthouse office—I've never needed to second-guess anything. Don't need to chew over the painful past.
When I'm working, the rest of the world fades away. Thank god.
It used to be like that, anyway. But over the last few years, there's one figure I can never fully evict from my brain—and I'm not sure I even want to. Even though she's slowed my productivity, even though it's harder to focus now that I've met her, I relish every moment spent with Kiara. Even the moments in my own mind.
Has her an
