로그인Renata"Is he always that dramatic?"Drent didn't look up from the documents spread across the desk. "Yes. Because that's who Marcus is.""He was flirting with me." I crossed my arms. "Right in front of you.""I know." He set the papers down and looked at me then, and there was something flat and certain in his eyes. "That's exactly what he was doing. Stay away from him, Renata.""I wasn't the one who walked up to him.""I'm not saying you did. I'm saying don't engage. Don't give him anything to work with." He leaned back in his chair. "Marcus isn't doing any of this because he finds you interesting. He's doing it because he wants the empire and he wants to use every angle he can find to get under my skin. You're an angle."I didn't say anything, but something about hearing it put that plainly stung more than I expected."Which is why," he continued, "we need to be more careful. He's watching us now. If our arrangement starts to look like what it actually is, he will use it. We need t
MarcusI couldn't hold my smile seeing Drent this way, seeing how he crumbled knowing I was here for the same thing he had fought so hard to get. Seeing him flinch when he saw me with the woman he loved and quickly pulling her away from me, because he knew I could take her if I wanted.Drent bitterly left the party after that and before he left, he shot a last warning glance at me.I knew that look. This was far from over and he was ready to take me out.I stayed for the entire party, making sure I was beside my father, trying to prove I was the good son who remained when Drent was not interested in staying.And after the whole event I was so tired. My bones cracked, my body ached and I needed a massage from a spa expert in my bedroom.In thirty minutes, Dakota came and attended to me, massaging my bones and soothing my skin in the way that relaxed my body completely.Dakota had been my personal assistant since I had pitched her my plan of taking over my father's empire.She had encou
DrentI sat in my father's office and kept my face even, which was becoming an increasingly practiced exercise every time Marcus was in the room.He had made himself comfortable already. That was the thing about Marcus. He moved into spaces quickly and completely, like a natural occupation, and by the time you noticed he was already settled. He sat across the desk from me with his legs crossed and his expression open and pleasant, and I kept my eyes forward.My father ran through the matter on the table, a business decision that needed input, and he looked between us the way he used to when we were younger and he was testing to see who had the sharper instinct that day.I gave my answer. It was sound. It was strategic. I had thought through it the way I thought through everything, methodically and with full information.Then Marcus spoke.He didn't raise his voice or make a show of it. He just laid out his perspective in that calm, considered way of his, and the answer he gave was bet
RenataFive months.I stood in front of the calendar on my wall and stared at the date I had circled in red pen what felt like a lifetime ago. Five months since I had shaken Drent Ardent's hand and agreed to something I had told myself was simple. Straightforward. A deal with a clear beginning and a clear end.Nothing about it had been simple.I turned away from the calendar and reached for my bag, stacking my books on top of each other and sliding them in. Five months of battles I hadn't signed up for. Five months of Theodore, and Finn, and tied ropes in dark buildings, and Drent dragging me from one high-stakes situation to the next like I was a permanent fixture in a war that had started long before I arrived.Five months of him.I stopped for a second, holding the strap of my bag. That was the part I didn't like sitting with. The part where I tried to be honest with myself about what these five months had actually done to me. Because somewhere in between all of it, somewhere betwe
DrentI stood up before I had even made the conscious decision to stand.Marcus. Here. In this room, in this building, in this city, standing in that doorway like he had simply stepped out for a while and was now returning to collect what he had left behind. Like no time had passed. Like I hadn't spent years making sure I was so far ahead of him that the gap between us couldn't be closed.My father rose from his seat on the other side of the table, and the smile that crossed his face was one I hadn't seen directed at me in longer than I cared to remember."Marcus," he said, warm, open, the kind of welcome that filled a room. He crossed to him with his arms out and embraced him like a man greeting the son he had been waiting for.I stood there and watched it and said nothing.Marcus returned the embrace and then looked over my father's shoulder directly at me. That smile was still there. Comfortable. Unbothered. The smile of someone who had spent a great deal of time preparing for this
DrentWhere was Javier when you needed him? He should have noticed my ear chip was out long ago. He should have known something was wrong and sent backup by now.But I was still sitting there, still tied up, still hoping for Javier to burst through the door and rescue me and Renata's sick mother.I hadn't expected it to go this way. I had expected an easy extraction, but I guess Javier was right. Maybe I should have involved the police.My hands struggled against the ropes but they didn't come loose. Until finally Theodore walked in with a sick smile on his face. The kind of smile that showed satisfaction, like he had just caught his greatest enemy.I looked up. My expression didn't show fear or panic. The same dominant, fearless look stayed etched on my face, because I wasn't scared of him."You," I gritted.He walked in slowly."I can't believe I have the great and popular Drent Ardent in my home. What a dream come true." The sarcasm dripped from his voice."Your home. I should have
Renata"Oh my God, it's Drent Ardent!" one of the girls in the hall screamed, and the whole corridor literally erupted in gasps and admiration.I still stood there wondering what he had come to do, and so did Theodore, Finn, and the twenty soccer players who had been about to launch at me.Drent wi
DrentI caught up with her outside before she could put any real distance between us."Peach."She kept walking."Renata."She stopped but didn't turn around, and I could see the tension sitting across her shoulders from where I stood. I moved to her side and lowered my voice."I am sorry about wha
RenataHe meant it. I watched him walk away after threatening to get me expelled, and with the kind of power his father had, it was not anything difficult for him to pull off.Fear sat on my chest. I needed to watch my back since Mr. Theodore had unleashed his son to hunt me down here in school.I
RenataI was just glad it was over. Drent had been out through most of the day, which gave me more time to pack my things.I was leaving back home today. The one week I had agreed to stay and meet his dad had elapsed, and now it was time to go back to my own world, back to high school, where I was







