LOGINInside, Blair sat on the sofa, her hand resting on her slight belly, while Roman stood nearby deep in conversation with Luca. Two-year-old Olivia was showing off her drawings to anyone who would look."Aunt Keira!" Olivia shouted, abandoning her colouring-in to run across the room. Keira bent down,
Olivia, growing restless, wiggled off Blair’s lap. “Can I go play with my blocks?”“Yes, but stay in the playroom,” Roman told her. “I’ll be there in a minute.”As Olivia skipped off, Roman pulled Blair to her feet and into his arms. “You look tired. You should have let me bring someone in to handle
“Mama! Look!”Blair looked up from her laptop to see her two-year-old daughter, Olivia, proudly showing off a crayon drawing that was mostly colorful scribbles.“That’s beautiful, sweetheart,” Blair said, genuinely impressed with the artwork of her toddler. “Is that our family?”Olivia nodded madly,
"Is that what you think?" Niko's voice was dangerously quiet. "That your only value is as a... what? A royal broodmare?""It's the reality of our position," she insisted. "The Wystovian crown needs an heir. You need an heir. And I can't—" Her voice broke.Niko crossed the distance between them in th
"I'm trying to protect him—""From what? From having a choice?" Keira's voice grew stronger. "You're deciding what's best for Niko without asking him what he wants. That's not protection, that's control."Amelia stared at her, startled by the blunt assessment."Look, I get it. The pressure is overwh
Amelia shook her head, the weight of her failure pressing down on her. "The doctors say there's nothing wrong with Niko, which means the problem lies with me. I'm considering stepping aside, letting him divorce me so he can marry someone who can actually give him an heir." She glanced at Keira, sudd
Roman found Blair at her desk, her fingers moving rapidly over her keyboard, eyes focused on the screen. She barely looked up as he leaned against the edge of her desk, watching her. She was so beautiful and so graceful. “Are you ready to leave?” His voice was calm, but there was an underlying auth
Roman sat at his desk. It was getting late, but he stared at his phone, knowing he needed to make a few more calls before he could take Blair home and make love to her. The first call was the one he worried about the most. He had made plenty of difficult calls in his life, high-stakes business nego
Before she could respond, he kissed her. It wasn’t gentle. It was deep, consuming, filled with all the things he couldn’t say. Blair gasped into his mouth, her fingers gripping his wrist as he tilted her head back, deepening the kiss. Heat curled low in her stomach, chasing away the chill that had
Blair stared at Roman, her heart pounding so hard she was sure he could hear it. Marry him? The words echoed in her head, loud and disorienting. It was insane. Reckless. Completely out of control. And yet, a small, undeniable part of her wanted to say yes. She had just ended her engagement with Da







