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"Me either, but I need her help. She’s already automated most of his filing system and linked it to the company’s servers. A few more weeks and she might be..."

"Dead," I finish for him. "She might be dead."

"Don't be dramatic."

"I'm not. That's not even the most dramatic of my worries, Kyrin."

"Do you want the company turned over to the board? Because if they remove him, I'll be next, and then you."

"Hey, maybe it would be a good thing for us to have some separation. Maybe it would give us more freedom. Maybe we could move the fuck on from all the bullshit and finally live."

"Or maybe it'll be the thing that does Lucien in."

His words make me sigh and drop my eyes to the coffee shop floor. “She's not safe there with him. You know that."

"I know."

"You need to keep a closer eye on them."

"Closer like..."

"Move in."

"No. Fuck that. I only just escaped that fucking estate. You move in."

"You know I hated that goddamned house."

We both look at one another, and I can sense him wavering in the way he looks at me with pleading eyes. "You like her," I accuse.

"Fuck off, so do you."

I shrug. "The last girl we all liked ended up in a little rubber room."

“That wasn't our fault."

"Exactly," I bat back. "Hence the need for our presence at the estate."

I think I've driven my point home.

He grins. "OUR presence."

I sigh. "You know the deal, Kyrin."

His gaze looks far off as he watches a woman walk into the shop, shaking water off her umbrella. "Soon, that rain will turn to snow."

"It will."

"And you know how intense it can be to get snowed in at the estate. Fuck, even Sophie leaves for winter, and I swear she's one of the estate's appendages at this point."

"I digress. You know the deal we made with him."

"All or nothing," he breathes.

Stupidest thing we've ever promised Lucien, but in light of everything that happened, it made sense at the time.

I nod. "We share her, or we give her up. Period."

"So, we're moving in?”