I felt a smile tug at the corners of my lips, but it didn’t reach my eyes. Not yet. The message on my phone was still fresh, still hanging over me like a dark cloud. The game isn’t over. Not by a long shot.
I stared at the screen for a moment longer, the words burning into my mind. Catherine’s threats, her promises, everything she had thrown at us, it wasn’t just business anymore. It was personal. And it wasn’t finished. She wouldn’t let us go that easily.
I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to push the anxiety down, to focus on the moment, on the people around me who had gathered to celebrate something far more important than business. Then the games. Than any of the people who had tried to tear us down.
It was our engagement party. A moment for us to step into the light, to publicly claim what was ours. Alexander and I had fought for everything we had, and now it was time to celebrate it. To celebrate us.
I turned to Alexander, the man who had become my world, my strength, my equa
