Chapter 3. Agreement

“Don’t touch that door unless you’re ready to see Hans standing on the other side.”

Lyra froze. Her hand, already resting on the handle of the solid teak door, turned cold. She glanced back at Kenzo, who stood casually near the window, his figure framed by the blinding morning sunlight. The penthouse suddenly felt smaller than usual. Her chest tightened, as if her lungs refused to function.

“He wouldn’t dare step into this hotel,” Lyra replied, though her own voice sounded hollow to her ears.

Kenzo chuckled. The laugh was short, dry, deeply condescending. He turned slowly, letting the sunlight illuminate the sharp lines of his face. There was no empathy there. Only cold, piercing logic.

“He doesn’t need to come in here to destroy you, Lyra. He only needs to wait for you to step outside my protection.” Kenzo walked toward the marble table.

He tossed his phone onto its surface. The screen lit up, displaying a photo of a white sedan Lyra recognized all too well. It was parked directly across from the gates of her family’s home. Hans was there, leaning against the hood while lighting a cigarette. His expression was restless, his eyes scanning the street like a predator on edge.

“He knows you’re a Cullen. He knows your father could erase his name from the face of the earth overnight if he wanted to. But look at him. He’s still there.” Kenzo stopped directly in front of her.

They stood only inches apart. Lyra could smell black coffee and a heavy masculine cologne on him. His gaze locked onto hers, as if dissecting the deepest fear she tried to hide.

“Either he’s incredibly stupid, or he thinks he has something far stronger than your father’s legal threats,” Kenzo added.

The phone in the pocket of Lyra’s dress vibrated. A message notification that felt like an electric shock against her thigh. With trembling hands, she pulled it out and read the line that appeared on the screen.

“Lyra, I know you’re at that hotel. Whose arms are you hiding under? Come home now or your messy photos in my room will land on your father’s desk this morning. You know how much Mr. Cullen cares about the family reputation. Don’t make me reckless.”

Lyra felt her world spin.

“Damn it,” she muttered.

Hans knew exactly where to strike. It was not about the photos themselves. It was about how her father would view the Cullen name if something like that reached his desk. Her father had only two choices, lock her away forever or erase her from the family entirely.

To her father, reputation was everything. If photos of her drunk or dressed provocatively in Hans’s room reached him, she would not merely be confined. She would be removed from the family lineage without mercy.

“He’s threatening you with photos?” Kenzo asked, his voice lower now, almost a whisper.

Lyra did not answer. She clenched her fists until her nails dug into her palms. Shame, anger, and disgust tangled together, clogging her throat until breathing felt difficult. She felt like a loser caught red handed.

“I can make those photos disappear before he ever presses send,” Kenzo said calmly. “But I don’t work for free. You know that.”

Lyra lifted her head, searching for an opening in his dark eyes.

“What do you want? Money? My father has enough to buy you ten times over.”

Kenzo scoffed, that dismissive laugh returning.

“I don’t need your father’s money. I could buy his steel company if I felt like it. Money is the most boring thing in my world.”

He leaned back against the door, blocking her path. “My parents are trying to match me with a display doll who only knows how to smile politely. I need a shield. Someone with the Cullen name and a strong enough reason to hate the world. That’s you.”

Lyra let out a bitter laugh. Her tears had dried, replaced by a creeping cynicism. “So I’m just moving from one transaction to another? Yesterday I was Hans’s ticket to an apartment. Now I’m your shield against an arranged marriage?”

“The difference is, I don’t need to pretend to love you to get what I want,” Kenzo replied evenly. “This is pure business. I protect you from that bastard. You help me avoid family drama. After one year, we’re done. You’re free, and Hans becomes a very humiliating chapter in your history.”

Lyra fell silent. The offer sounded painfully reasonable for someone who had just lost everything.

No sweet promises. No fantasies about the future. Just an honest exchange of benefits.

Kenzo picked up his phone and dialed a number, speaking briefly without taking his eyes off Lyra.

“Erase every file under Hans’s name from all his devices. Now. Make sure he doesn’t have a single pixel of Lyra Cullen left. If even one remains, you’re responsible.”

He ended the call. Silence swallowed the room again. Less than three minutes later, Lyra’s phone vibrated violently. An incoming call from Hans. She stared at the screen with nausea, then answered at a subtle nod from Kenzo.

“Lyra! What did you do?! All my data is gone! My laptop, my phone, everything’s empty! You, what hacker did you use?” Hans shouted frantically from the other end.

“And now you can’t threaten me with that dirty trick anymore, Hans. You lose,” Lyra said before ending the call without hesitation.

“I’ve solved your problem. Now be my shield,” Kenzo said, watching her.

“One year. Fine. I agree,” Lyra replied.

Kenzo smiled faintly. He was impressed by the courage that had begun to surface in the girl before him. The same girl who had sobbed in his car last night now looked resilient, and strikingly captivating.

“Ready?” he asked shortly.

Lyra walked to the vanity filled with expensive perfumes and high end cosmetics. She studied her reflection in the large mirror. “Not just ready. I want him to lose everything until he has nothing left to brag about,” she said, her voice burning with resolve.

Kenzo’s lips curved slightly. “Let the show begin, Miss Cullen.”

Inside the descending elevator, Kenzo handed her a small dark blue box. Lyra opened it. Inside lay a massive emerald cut diamond ring. Its brilliance was blinding.

“Put it on your left ring finger,” Kenzo ordered. “Mark yourself as mine in front of everyone. It will make Hans feel like the lowest kind of trash for ever letting you go.”

Lyra slid the ring onto her finger. The metal felt cold and heavy, a weight that reminded her she had just traded one set of handcuffs for another. The difference was that this pair was encrusted with diamonds.

“Whatever it is,” Lyra murmured, staring at the unfamiliar reflection of herself. “As long as that bastard is destroyed, I don’t care about the rest.”