Natasha's brows lifted ever so slightly. She tucked a wild auburn curl behind her ear, eyes narrowing. “Seriously? You’d walk away from that kind of power? From the chance to control an empire that even governments tread lightly around?”
That glint in her icy blue eyes—cold, calculating, hungry—confirmed everything I already knew. She craved power. And she didn’t understand why I didn’t.
"I don’t want any of that."
"Your loss," she responded, shrugging.
“Your father’s brilliant idea is to have me marry you before the initiation begins.”
Her fingers froze mid-reach for the wine glass. Color drained from her face. “E-Excuse me?” Her expression twisted in disbelief—like I’d just dumped a truckload of nonsense at her feet.
“He never said anything like that to me,” she snapped.
She got to her feet, pacing like a storm bottled in heels. Her expression twisted with a bitter edge before she stopped, exhaled, and muttered, “Then again, Julian Kings doesn’t exactly put women on pedestals. But w
