Chapter 14 - THE VOW HE NEVER MEANT TO BREAK
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know.”
“You barely knew me.”
“I knew enough.”
He told me the truth slowly.
After the hospital fundraiser, he had asked Brian about me.
Then again months later.
Not because of territory.
Because he remembered me.
When my father first proposed the marriage alliance, Ethan refused.
Twice.
He knew what arranged marriages in our world became.
Cold.
Strategic.
Possessive.
He did not want that for me.
Then Derek began pushing unusually hard.
Victor’s movements increased.
My father warned Ethan that I might become a target whether I married him or not.
So Ethan agreed.
But by then, he already cared.
“That’s why you said those things in the study?”
“Yes.”
“You wanted Derek to believe you didn’t.”
“Yes.”
“And Brian?”
“He knew I was lying.”
I covered my face.
“Brian knew?”
Ethan almost smiled.
“He knows most things.”
I thought back to every time Brian delivered a message.
The boss noticed you’ve been walking alone.
The boss wants to know if you’ll attend the gala.
The boss says you can redecorate.
All those absurdly formal messages had been coming from a man too proud or frightened to walk across the hallway himself.
I lowered my hands.
“You’re an idiot.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
“The heir comment?”
His face hardened.
“Derek said that.”
“You said I should give you one.”
“That was part of the performance.”
“So our wedding night…”
He looked away.
“I was trying to keep distance.”
“You slept with me and then moved across the house.”
“I know.”
“That was cruel.”
“Yes.”
He did not defend himself.
That mattered.
“I thought if I gave myself one night, then stopped, I could control it.”
My voice softened.
“Control what?”
His eyes met mine.
“You.”
I inhaled sharply.
Then he corrected himself.
“No.”
He shook his head.
“My feelings for you.”
Silence stretched between us.
For the first time, Ethan Carter looked uncertain.
The feared man.
The powerful husband.
The man who could command a room with one word.
He looked afraid of my answer.
I could have punished him.
Part of me wanted to.
Instead, I said:
“You don’t get to decide what protects me anymore.”
“I know.”
“You don’t lie to me because you think the truth is dangerous.”
“I know.”
“You don’t send Brian to tell me what you could walk twenty feet to say yourself.”
That made him smile.
“I know.”
“And no more separate wings.”
His smile disappeared.
“Are you sure?”
I stood.
“No.”
He looked confused.
“I’m not sure about anything.”
I held out my hand.
“But I want to find out.”
Ethan stared at my hand.
Then took it.
Three months earlier, his touch at the altar had felt like signing a contract.
This time, his fingers closed around mine like a promise.
Then Brian appeared in the doorway.
We both looked at him.
He raised one eyebrow.
“I can come back.”
“No,” Ethan said.
Brian handed him a file.
“What now?” I asked.
Brian looked almost amused.
“Something good.”
Inside was confirmation from federal counsel.
The trust had been cleared from Victor’s claims.
The legitimate assets now belonged under joint control.
Ethan and me.
But one clause gave us another choice.
We could dissolve the structure entirely.
Sell the holdings.
Leave the old empire behind.
Ethan looked at me.
May you like
For the first time, power was not deciding our future.
We were.
