Wednesday morning arrived.
Four days.
Four days until Marcus Webb walked through those doors and potentially destroyed everything Asher had built.
He woke at 4 AM from another nightmare—this one where Marcus recognized him at the networking event, announced it to everyone, and Kael immediately demanded custody of the twins. Kai and Lily crying as they were taken away while Asher screamed...
"Fer-daddy?"
Asher jolted upright to find both twins standing in his doorway, silhouetted by the hallway light.
"What's wrong, babies? Why are you awake?"
"You were making the scared sounds again," Lily said, climbing into bed with him. "The ones that mean you're having bad dreams."
Kai followed, curling up on Asher's other side. "We don't like it when you have bad dreams."
Asher pulled them both close, breathing in their familiar scent—shampoo and innocence and everything good in his life.
"I'm sorry I woke you."
