Two days. I have two days to make sure she's comfortable enough to go through with this. Two days to make sure she doesn't realize what's really happening.
Two days to keep lying.
Because the alternative is telling her the truth. And the truth would destroy this before it even begins.
My phone buzzes. Another text from Marcus.
She’s coming with you right?
Yes.
Good. We can’t fuck this up. $50M is on the line.
I delete the message.
Marcus thinks this is about money. About the deal. About impressing investors and closing the biggest acquisition of our careers.
He's wrong.
This is about Jade. It's always been about Jade.
The money is just an excuse. A reason to keep her close. A justification for the obsession I've been nursing for seventeen years.
If the deal falls apart, I'll survive. I have enough money to last ten lifetimes.
But if I lose Jade?
That's not something I'll recover from.
So I'll do whatever it takes. I'll lie, manipulate, control.
I'll make her need me the way I need her.
And if she ever finds out the truth, if she ever discovers the extent of what I've done to get her here?
I'll deal with that when it happens.
For now, I have two more days.
Two days to make her mine.
And I'm not wasting a single second.
14
JADE
Ifeel like Phoenix is avoiding me.
I haven't seen him since yesterday. No breakfast invitation. No text about hanging out. Nothing.
The guest cottage feels smaller every hour. Beautiful, luxurious, and suffocating.
By eleven at night, I can't take it anymore.
I walk the stone pathway to the main house in bare feet and pajama shorts, my heart pounding with every step. The lights are on in his office, warm yellow rectangles cutting through the darkness.
I don't knock.
