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The compliment hit differently than Carter's possessive praise. It felt genuine, uncomplicated by ulterior motives."That's a dangerous thing to say to your cousin's fiancée," Maeve said lightly, but her heart rate picked up."I know. I'm sorry." Cameron looked away. "I shouldn't, I just hate watching him treat you like property when you're clearly extraordinary.""Cameron...""Forget I said anything. I'm tired and probably overstepping." He stood, started gathering papers. "We should probably call it a night. It's late, and Carter's likely wondering where you are."Maeve checked her phone. No messages from Carter. Not even a "where are you" or "come home."The absence hurt more than she wanted to admit."Let me drive you back to the penthouse," Cameron offered. "Your car's still there, right?""I took a rideshare." Maeve stood, helped him organize the drafted press materials. "But I can get another one.""Don't be ridiculous. Come on."In Cameron's car, the intimacy of the enclosed s

"That's easy to say when it's not your company on the line!" Carter slammed his glass down hard enough to crack it. "My family built this business over three generations. My grandfather started in a garage. My father expanded it into an empire. And now I'm supposed to demolish it all because you've decided to play engineer?""I'm not playing anything. I'm doing the job you supposedly hired me to do.""I hired you to be my partner. To support me. Not to undermine every difficult decision I make." He crossed to her, gripped her shoulders. "I need you on my side, Maeve. The board already questions your qualifications. If you go rogue, start making demands, it makes both of us look weak.""Then maybe we are weak. Maybe we should be." She met his eyes. "Your mother died because your father valued control over her wellbeing. Don't make the same mistake with customer safety."It was the wrong thing to say. She saw it immediately in how Carter's face went completely blank."Don't," he said qu

"I'm building something with you. A partnership. A future." His voice dropped dangerously low. "But partnerships require both people to actually participate, Maeve. Not just go through the motions while secretly resenting every moment.""Then let me actually participate. Let me look at the Model X designs. If there's a safety flaw, I can help fix it.""You're not an engineer anymore. You're VP of Product Development. That means strategy, not technical work.""I have a master's degree in mechanical engineering. I think I can handle some schematics."Carter studied her in the dim car light, calculating something. "Fine. Monday, you can review the designs with the engineering team. But right now, tonight, can you just be with me? Not fighting. Not analyzing. Just present."The vulnerability in his voice was probably manufactured. But Maeve was so tired of fighting, so worn down by weeks of performance, that she let herself lean into him."Okay," she whispered. "I'm here."His arms came a

The kiss in the Malibu basement had been a mistake.Maeve realized this three weeks later as she stood in Carter's penthouse closet, surrounded by gowns she hadn't chosen, staring at her reflection in a full-length mirror. The woman looking back was polished, expensive, unrecognizable. Hair professionally styled. Makeup applied by Carter's personal aesthetician. A midnight blue Valentino gown that cost more than her mother's monthly treatment bills.She looked like Elizabeth Langston. Carter's dead mother.The realization made her skin crawl."The car is waiting," Carter called from the bedroom. "We need to leave in five minutes."Another gala. Another performance. Another night of smiling while Carter's hand rested possessively on her lower back, steering her through conversations like she was a chess piece he was moving across a board.Since that night in Malibu, since she'd stupidly suggested they "make something real," Carter had become something worse than the calculating busines

Inside were files. Medical records, therapy notes, hospital admissions. Maeve pulled the first one, Miranda Welch's psychiatric history. Diagnoses, medications, hospitalizations dating back years before she'd met Carter.The second file, Sophia Reeves. Similar pattern. Mental illness, suicide attempts, years of treatment.The third, Annika Patel. Also mentally ill, with a restraining order against her own father for abuse."They were all sick before they met me," Carter said, voice rough. "I didn't break them. They were already broken. I just... couldn't fix them. No matter how hard I tried."Maeve flipped through the files, looking for something, anything that suggested Carter had caused their conditions. But there was nothing. Just documentation of troubled women who'd happened into Carter's life."Why keep these?" she asked."Because people like Miranda don't just give up. They keep coming back, making accusations, threatening lawsuits. These files protect me. Prove I was the victi

Maeve's pulse spiked. But Carter reached over, took her hand in his, the touch warm, steady, betraying none of the tension between them."It's both," he said simply. "We met when Maeve consulted on a product redesign. I was... difficult. Demanding. I pushed her harder than anyone I'd worked with. And instead of breaking, she pushed back. Made me think differently about everything I'd taken for granted." His thumb traced circles on her palm, an intimate gesture that felt both calculated and strangely genuine. "I fell for her intelligence first. Her integrity second. The fact that she's beautiful was just fortunate coincidence."Maeve's breath caught. The words were pretty, practiced. But his eyes, when they met hers, held something raw underneath."And you, Miss Wells?" Hiroshi prompted. "Why marry Carter Langston?"The truthful answer, because he's blackmailing me with my family's welfare, would destroy everything.The diplomatic answer, because I love him, would feel like choking on