Page 258 of Love Me in the Dark

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Watching.

Claiming.

Knowing.

But the answer to what he’s watching… what he’s claiming… what he knows. The answer to those questions is lost to my dreams.

5

ROMAN

The moment her name hits my screen, I know it’s going to end badly.

Ruby.

She’s always been sloppy. Too much red lipstick and too many games she thinks make her dangerous. But this? This is bold. Even for her.

Asher’s message flashes across the corner of my display.

Asher:Cross-system notification from the Sherwood servers. Ruby pulled one of your dummy HR profiles. Only skimmed the metadata, but... it was that profile.

I freeze.

Open the file.

There it is.Ivy.

Her name.

Pulled by Ruby from an internal database she hadno reasonto be in. She must’ve stumbled across it while reviewing sharedintegration logs between our companies—probably digging for leverage like she always does.

But this time she found something she shouldn’t have.

I tap the call log. The moment she ran the file, she messaged someone on her team.

I read the text twice.

“Someone’s been playing God.Everview’s hiding Tier Twos in fake departments now? Wonder what they’re protecting—unless it’s just a new kink. Lmk if I should leak it.”

My jaw tightens.

Not because of the message. Not even because of the risk.

Because she attached Ivy’s name.

Because she calledhera kink.

Because she looked at something I was keeping for myself.

And joked about it.

That’s what seals it.

I close the tablet. The screen fades to black.

My finger hovers over Ezra’s contact, but I don’t press it.

Not yet.

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