chapter Five: "The Twin Invasion "

I sat in my chair, nursing a cup of coffee that was far too hot. The previous day, the Carter twins had acquired my company, and I had promptly clocked out early.

Feigning illness had been far easier than remaining on the premises. Had I stayed, I wasn't entirely certain I wouldn't have screamed.

My desk was still cluttered with the unfinished documents I had been forced to abandon. For the next twenty minutes, I obsessively reorganized everything, desperately trying to convince myself that I had hallucinated the events of the previous day.

It was a futile effort. I had spent the entire night fixated on the incident, and on them.

Was I being arrogant, or perhaps simply vain?

It felt unfathomable that they would pay two billion dollars for a company valued at only seven hundred million. It was even harder to believe they would sink that much capital just to trap me. It seemed far more probable that a grander power play was in motion, and I was merely a peripheral project. I certainly hoped that was the case; I had no desire to relive that dinner ever again. The peculiar, unnatural rivalry between the twins was meant to exist far from my workplace.

Once the coffee turned bitter and cold, I drained it, resolute in my determination to put the Carter twins’ rivalry out of my mind. Before I was the woman they treated like an object, I was a Managing Director.

The massive pile of files on my desk began to shrink rapidly, fueled by a deep-seated spite that made my hands move with frantic efficiency.

Then, a knock echoed at my door.

"Come in."

Madeline entered, a slight blush staining her cheeks. "Ms. Perez... the new management isn't waiting for the transition period. They’re in the building. Right now."

My eyes narrowed. The Carters certainly knew how to manipulate a situation. They were supposed to wait, to acclimatize themselves through meetings with the former major shareholders, not dive straight into operations.

"Wonderful," I replied, forcing a polite tone and hoping she would leave hoping beyond hope that they hadn't asked her to summon me. "It’s high time we had competent men here. Thank you for informing me, Madeline."

She remained standing steadfastly at my door. "Um, Ms. Perez, they’ve asked to see the M.D."

I suppressed a sigh. I couldn't avoid them. Or, more accurately, I couldn't avoid Killian. Kade was my savior, the man who held my heart, but Killian was the twin I had foolishly given myself to, and he seemed intent on complicating everything.

"I’ll be there."

"Mr. Killian is in the litigation lobby," she added, finally turning to leave.

*The lobby? Why not the CEO’s office?*

I walked out and paused at the edge of the carpeted common area. My fingers curled into my palms as I saw him. Killian wasn't sitting in the plush designer chairs reserved for high-end clients or incoming CEOs. Instead, he was leaning against the cubicle of a junior associate named Linda, his expensive suit jacket unbuttoned. He radiated a casual, dangerous heat that I felt almost physically.

He was laughing at something she had said which explained the blush Madeline had been sporting earlier. Killian was an incorrigible flirt.

Though he appeared to be giving Linda his full attention, his eyes were roving, searching, until they locked onto mine.

"Mia," he called out.

He ignored my title and discarded any shred of professional tone. He said my name with the lazy, intimate familiarity of a man who had seen me with my hair fanned out across a hotel pillow. My teeth gritted automatically. I loathed nothing more than a lack of respect at work; I preferred to keep my personal life strictly separated.

"You look recovered," he noted. "That 'fever' must have broken quickly."

Heat crawled up my neck, as he clearly knew I had simply been avoiding him. "Mr. Carter," I said, my voice as frigid as the coffee I’d just finished. "If you're looking for a tour, Madeline would be happy to"

"I don't need a tour of the walls, Mia. I'm interested in the culture of this lovely environment." He straightened up, winked at Linda, and walked toward me with a predatory stride.

He stopped just an inch too close. I stepped back, unwilling to let his scent cloud my judgment.

Leaning down, he dropped his voice to a low, suggestive vibrato. "I wanted you at breakfast yesterday. We have so much left to... discuss."

A collective gasp rippled through the nearby cubicles. He was marking his territory in front of my subordinates, stripping me of five years of hard-earned authority with a single sentence. How was I supposed to prove I had reached the position of M.D. through sheer grit if the new CEO alluded to knowing me so intimately?

I opened my mouth to cut him down, to remind him that this was a place of business and not a playground for his vendettas, but the air in the room suddenly shifted.

The automatic glass doors slid open with a hiss.

If Killian was the heat of a fire, Kade was the absolute zero of space. I hadn't realized it at first, but it made sense: my savior was protective, gentle, and slightly cold, while Killian had been passion and flame from the moment we met.

Kade stepped into the lobby, and the charged atmosphere Killian had manufactured instantly evaporated. Dressed in a charcoal suit, his face was an unmoving mask. He didn't look at the staff, nor did he look at his brother. He looked only at me.

Killian," Kade said, his voice a low rasp that made the hair on my arms stand up. "This is hardly a suitable meeting spot."

Killian’s smirk held, though his eyes sharpened, boring into his brother. "I'm just getting to know the staff in their natural environment, brother. They’re exceptionally talented people."

Kade ignored him entirely, stepping into my space and physically crowding Killian out.

"I spent the night reviewing your litigation strategy for the Henderson merger, Ms. Perez," Kade said. His intensity was a physical weight, pulling me in effortlessly.

He wasn't talking about breakfast or hotel rooms; he was talking about my mind. It wasn't hard to discern my favorite Carter.

"Your use of the *force majeure* clause was aggressive. I like it."

I stared at him, momentarily stunned. He had actually read my briefs? While Killian had been plotting to humiliate me for ignoring him, Kade had been studying my work. It was a different kind of violation, and it got under my skin in a very different way.

"I appreciate the feedback, Mr. Carter," I managed to say, struggling to reclaim my professional mask. "Now, if you would both follow me to the executive suite"

"No," Kade interrupted, his eyes tracking the pulse jumping in my throat. "Killian and I have decided to relocate our primary offices to this floor. Directly across from yours."

My heart did a slow, painful somersault. "This is the litigation floor. It's loud, and it's cramped."

"It's perfect," Killian chimed in, interrupting me and stepping back to my other side.

I was flanked. To my right was the man who had stolen my body; to my left was the man who had saved my life and now owned my career.

"Shall we?" Killian asked, gesturing toward the long glass hallway that led to my office.

I swallowed hard. "Shall we.”