Chapter 124

• Ivan’s POV
• Mornings in my world never began gently. They came with phone calls, numbers blinking across screens, silent demands waiting in the form of red folders on my desk. Today was no different. By the time I reached the office, the city was still rubbing sleep out of its eyes, but I’d already downed two espressos and survived a conference call with our Paris branch.
• Jeremy was already there, dressed as always like a man who had lost a war with time. His shirt was unwrinkled, but his hair rebelled at the crown of his head in a small, defiant wave. He held his tablet in one hand and a bottle of water in the other.