Bianca slowly straightened from where Sebastian had caught her before she could collapse. Her hand still clutched her chest, fingers pressed against the silk of her blouse as though she could physically steady her racing heart. Each breath came shallow and quick, her composure hanging by the thinnest of threads. The room seemed to tilt around her, the familiar contours of Lucas's office suddenly feeling foreign and hostile.
She blinked hard, willing the world back into focus. Years of maintaining perfect control in boardrooms and social gatherings had prepared her for many things, but not this. Never this.
Her eyes locked onto Axel with an intensity that would have made lesser men flinch. The air between them crackled with unspoken tension. In that moment, she looked every inch the formidable woman who had built an empire alongside her husband, except now that foundation felt as though it were crumbling beneath her feet.
