Too Late, Governor: My Freedom Is Mine

For three years, I was Julian Davenport's shadow – his bodyguard by day, his lover by night. Our routine was a carefully guarded secret, a stolen rhythm of illicit nights and cold mornings.

Then, in the pre-dawn chill, his voice, flat and emotionless, sliced through the quiet: "It's over, Ava." He was marrying Chloe Vanderbilt, the perfect political match, and I was just… practice.

He tossed my birth control pills onto the bed, a cruel reminder not to complicate his future.