“Dom’s presence has always been a destabilizing force,” Alexander murmurs. “Now he’s dragging her down with him.”
“I don’t know how to help her anymore.” The words fracture on the way out. “And honestly? I’m not sure I want to. You’ve given me a chance. Shown faith in me when no one else did. I can’t let her drag me down with her paranoid theories.”
Alexander tilts my chin, gaze burning into mine. “Tell me, Luna—did you finish reading the journal I gave you last week?”
“Yes.” My pulse flutters at the rare flicker of approval in his smile. “The Apex Initiative. It’s brilliant. The potential applications alone . . .”
“Exactly.” His hand at my waist sweeps lower, thumb pressing into the hollow there. “Your parents entrusted Aria with their formulas and the techniques. But trust can be misplaced.” Alexander’s fingers dig into the edge of my hipbone. “Now we need someone with vision. A mind that understands progress comes at a cost. A hand willing to take what it’s owed.”
“You want me to take her place?” The confession trembles on my lips, but it isn’t fear that moves through me—it’s hunger.
“I want you to claim what you’ve earned.” His other hand smooths over my hair, and the intimacy of it sends a tremor down my spine. “You came to me weeks ago, remember? No fear or hesitation.Only pure ambition, and that fire in your eyes that reminded me so much of myself at your age.” His voice is quieter now. “So, I’ll ask you one last time—are you ready to do what must be done?”
I hold his gaze without any hesitation. “Yes.”
Alexander studies me for a long moment, and something unreadable stirs behind his expression, then settles into satisfaction. “Good. I trust you, Luna. Which is why I want there to be no secrets between us.” He slides his hand down my arm and entwines his fingers with mine. “I gave that journal to Kian Blackwood.”
The words hang sharp and brittle between us.
“What?”
“I authorized the transfer,” he says. “And I let it pass to Dom. It was a calculated risk.”
My stomach tightens. “So it was a test.”
“A test of loyalty. Of discernment.” His smile returns. “You saw the bigger picture. Chose progress over sentiment and came to me.”
The admission should hurt; should sting of manipulation. Instead, warmth unfurls in my chest. He trusts me enough to tell me the truth, values me enough to test my potential. “You wanted to see what I would do.”
“I needed to know if you could separate emotion from necessity. If you were capable of seeing what truly matters.”
“And did I pass?” The question is quiet, but steady.
“With distinction.” His fingers trace the curve of my jaw. “You revealed the fire I suspected all along. The same one I see in myself.”
“Alexander . . .” His name comes out as barely a whisper.
“I know.” His thumb grazes my lower lip, and the world narrows to that single, searing point of contact.
I sway forward, pulled by the heat in his eyes and the unspoken promise of touch. Strong hands lock around me, an anchor holding me in that maddening sliver between restraint and surrender.
“We shouldn’t,” he murmurs, though his gaze drops to my mouth. “You understand why.”
“Because of Vivienne?” The words slip out, edged with an emotion I refuse to name.
He chuckles warmly. “No. Because you work for me and, right now, the Apex Initiative is too important, too delicate. We can’t afford . . . distractions.”
“It wouldn’t have to be one.” I close the distance slightly, breathing him in. “I can keep it separate. Professional.”
“Can you?” His tone dips lower. “When you walk into my lab with fire blazing in your eyes and rebellion carved into every breath you take? When everything about you coils with ambition and defiance? And when all I can think about is how ruinously beautiful you are. Every time you appear, I want things I shouldn’t.”
The admission steals the breath from my lungs. “I didn’t think you saw me that way.”
“How could I not?” He exhales as if the truth costs him. “But we must be patient. The work comes first. You understand that, don’t you? Once the Initiative is secure . . .”
“Yes.” The word is barely air. “The work is everything.”
“My perfect Luna.” His lips brush my temple. Too soft to be a kiss, too lingering to be innocent. “Let me show you something instead. Something that might take your mind off all this . . . tension.”
