I enter her standing up.
She gasps, her head falling back against the wet stone. She is tight, slick, ready.
I drive into her. Hard. Deep. Possessive.
"Mine," I growl against her throat. "You are mine. The city is mine. The world is ours."
We fuck in the steam, washing away the death with life. It is messy and loud and desperate. We slip against the walls, we bruise each other, we bite.
When she comes, she screams my name into the echo chamber of the bathroom. It is a sound of victory.
I follow her, emptying myself into her, grounding us both in the only reality that matters.
The next morning, the sun hits me like a spotlight.
I wake up in the massive king bed. Ivy is draped across my chest, sleeping the sleep of the dead. Her hair is fanned out, smelling of expensive hotel shampoo.
I feel... calm.
For the first time in twenty years, the noise in my head has stopped. There is no enemy at the gate. There is no debt hanging over my head.
My phone buzzes on the nightstand.
I reach for it carefully, not wanting to wake her.
It’s Luca.
Meeting set for 10 AM. The lawyers are ready. The transfer of the Sokolov holdings is prepared.
I sit up. Ivy shifts, her hand sliding down my chest.
"Silas?" she mumbles, her voice husky.
"Go back to sleep," I say, leaning down to kiss her bare shoulder. "I have some paperwork to sign."
"Paperwork?" She blinks one eye open. "You’re the King of New York now. Can't you delegate?"
I smirk. "Kings don't delegate the signing of treaties."
I get out of bed. I walk to the window and pull back the curtain.
Central Park is spread out below, a green jewel in the gray city. From this height, the people look like ants. The cars look like toys.
I own this view now. Not just the hotel room. The city.
I turn back to the room.
Ivy is sitting up, pulling the sheet around her. She looks at me.
"What are we going to do?" she asks. "We can't go back to the Estate. It’s ruined."
"We’re not going back," I say. "I sold the land this morning at 6 AM. Let the developers have the cliffs. Too many ghosts."
"Then where?"
I walk to the desk where room service left a large, thick envelope earlier. I pick it up and toss it onto the bed.
"Open it."
