ey's

took for me to almost forge

mo

osed my eyes. A burn I couldn't name. But I buried it - deep - becaus

s weren't just rivals. W

dustry - media and power - forever trying to o

rdroom lined with both family crests. T

rony

wed him inside. Reporters weren't allowed, but tensi

ood at the head of the table,

- wearing the same smug smirk I'd seen on ma

de him s

n J

n that quiet, self-assured

out his presence that

I thought my p

mposs

n from that nigh

iceless, hidden behind a

sharp lines and p

shape of his jaw, the way he stood, even the faint s

t beside my father, pretending ca

"This partnership isn't personal. It's business. The press will see

Call it what you want, Marcus

cked up. For a heartbeat, our eyes met - dark and

o

e of us pret

sat beside him, watching eve

trust us - or maybe she

do you plan to make this wor

ybe we'll just kill th

nted. "Same

and projected revenue - words that filled the room

phone buzzed under

nore

es more exhausting than his silence. I

s already slipping e

t drew attention. He spoke like someone used to

n ended, our fathers

said. "A symbolic handshake. Our n

fr

he did

d

the room, already

eren't even here. For

and stood, legs barely

ache

ine - firm, warm, elec

cuff

Sleek. P

with tw

.

r the gala. The same ones I'd turned over i

ath caught somewhere bet

uldn'

ould

t to flinch, not to let the rea

ding for the cameras that weren't here - I realized som

r I'd given myself

s Ala

en

wrist, his eyes flicked down - just once

I saw it in the way his jaw tighte

new

of us coul

earsed - as our fathers shook hands like history

usion, my pulse thun

d for half a second lo

rned hotter than an

ent, I knew one

wasn'

only the