Now that I’ve said it aloud?
I know I’m right.
Whatever this thing is between Cecilia and me—this pull, this burn, this collision we keep circling—I want time to explore it.
Hell, I need that time.
Because while these men are posturing and negotiating and plotting, some bastard calling himself the General is trying to screw me over on the mine contract, claiming I need to renegotiate terms.
He thinks I’ll bend. He thinks I’m distracted.
And maybe I am.
But not for the reason he thinks.
Because yeah, Cecilia could fix that mess in her sleep. She has the degrees, the instincts, the diplomacy.
She could rewrite his entire treaty before breakfast and have the man thanking her afterward.
But that’s not why I want her.
Not even close.
There’s a beat of stunned silence.
A heartbeat.
Two.
And then everything in me clicks into place.
Cecilia wasn’t supposed to be part of the long game.
She wasn’t supposed to matter beyond the edges of a contract.
Just another piece on the board—useful leverage, a temporary ally, someone to negotiate beside before we went our separate ways.
But now?
Now I see her clearly.
No—she’s not part of the game.
She’s the goal.
She’s the end.
The prize.
The fire I never saw coming.
The one thing I suddenly can’t imagine walking away from.
And I’ll risk it all—my deals, my empire, my bloodline, the fragile alliances I’ve spent years constructing—to claim her.
To keep her.
To make her mine in every way the word can mean.
