Joy exhaled, relief flickering across her face. "Thank you."
Silas nodded. "No need. But maybe you should all get some rest. It's going to be a long night."
He turned to me. "Your suite is ready."
I frowned. "What suite?"
"You're part of the family," Silas said simply. "Everyone has a suite."
Something in my chest tightened at that.
Family.
I'd spent fifteen years thinking I didn't have one, anymore. That the only brothers I had were scattered across the globe, that home was a concept I'd outgrown.
And now here I was, standing on the lawn of a mansion built by a father I'd thought was dead, surrounded by brothers, being told I had a suite.
It didn't compute.
But I nodded anyway.
Everyone split off—Caleb, Ethan and Lucas heading upstairs, Gideon and Levi disappearing down a hallway I didn't recognize.
Silas led us through the mansion, down a corridor lined with dark wood paneling and soft lighting, until we reached a door at the end.
"This is the Montana wing," Silas said. "Your brothers are all here. You're the last one."
He opened the door.
The suite was spartan but beautifully crafted. A large bed with crisp white linens. A desk by the window. A closet already stocked with clothes in my size. Everything clean, minimal, functional. It was huge.
Somehow, it felt like home.
"The kitchen's open if you want anything," Silas added. "Otherwise, I'll see you both tonight."
He closed the door behind him, leaving Joy and me alone.
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then Joy turned to me, her expression uncertain. "What now?"
I looked at her—standing in the middle of my suite, her hair still windblown from the helicopter, her eyes dark and searching.
And I felt it again.
That pull. That hunger. That desperate need to drown out the noise in my head with the one thing that had ever worked.
Her.
Ever since she'd grabbed my hand and said she was coming with me to meet Victoria—ever since she'd stood in front of her family and chosen me in a way that left no room for doubt—I'd been fighting the urge to take her somewhere private and remind her exactly what that choice meant.
Now we were alone.
And I was done fighting.
I turned to face her fully, my voice low and controlled. "Take off your clothes."
Her eyes widened slightly. "What?"
