Part 1: The Shared Wish
“Daddy says wishes work better with two people.”
Mia smiled warmly as she held up a second, smaller frosted cake between our tables at Maison Aurelia.
I sat in my deep burgundy dress, a single tear slipping down my cheek under the warm glow of the overhead chandelier.
The tiny flames of the birthday candles flickered between us, casting gentle shadows across the white tablecloth.
"I'm Clara," I said, my voice barely above a whisper as I looked up at the stranger who had saved me from public humiliation.
The man in the dark shirt gave me a gentle, tired smile that reached his eyes.
"I'm Daniel," he replied softly. "And this is Mia."
I looked down at the glowing candles, the cold reality of my thirty-nine notifications fading into the background of the quiet corner booth.
We leaned forward together, our breaths matching as we blew out the tiny warnings of flame.
But as the room dipped into a brief, peaceful shadow, my phone on the table buzzed violently with a private priority alert.
May you like
The screen lit up with an unread message from an unknown number:
"Happy birthday, CEO Whitmore. Enjoy the cake, because by midnight, your majority shares at the firm belong to me."
