nel

ilding I couldn't shake off th

a global stage. Chin up, heels clicking across marbl

ned out fast. No, she was the slow, dangerous kind

m the corner of my eye. She didn't ask questions, didn't compliment

n language. No romantic fluff-just cold, calculated terms. Six months. No physical in

it. "It's all the

clutching the end of her veil like it ancho

up in advance?" sh

Ye

face me. "S

uspec

s was the perfect opp

ersonal. It wasn't. It was weakness. You were a threat to his image. I, on th

inally sat. Crossed her le

tes p

pping pages with a lawyer's precis

t her monthly allowance-triple h

to buy me

r services. You're offering va

to strip romance fro

that the

d. "What i

the wreckage, and we both p

ct down slowly. "Yo

r claime

ity lights reflected off her gown. She looked like a fallen

protection. We both get a

orr

's the thi

ed, her g

Not in public. You don't get to rewrit

thing. Let

he continued. "But

n from her clutch, and-without asking-edit

ions outside the terms listed. And you will not interfere in

row. "Anything el

h clause isn't enough. I want a five-month exit option

act from her, sca

am

laying. She w

in control now?" I asked, a smil

g. "No. I think neither of us is.

at her signatur

I sign

al was

with

ambi

d f

I sign

al was

with

ambi

d f

he paper like it had chaine

r belongings will be handled. Appearances begin

. Just took a brea

he room, her voice drifte

ight, L

u.' Not 'see y

enough to tell me thi

t behind, the weight of her sig

t we'd agreed on. Five m

neither of us would c

lauses. But what she didn't know was that this arran

resisted, the more I

r the c

or the

or