로그인AidenI had negotiated billion-dollar mergers with less stress than planning a wedding.That realization alone should have concerned me.Instead, I stood in front of the mirror inside my dressing room while Martin adjusted his cufflinks with the seriousness of someone preparing for war.“You look nervous,” he said flatly.“I’m not nervous.”“You’ve checked your watch eleven times in six minutes.”“That’s observation. Not nerves.”Martin looked unimpressed.Behind him, Q lounged carelessly on the couch scrolling through his phone.“Honestly,” he said lazily, “this is beautiful for me personally.”I ignored him.Q continued anyway.“The great Aiden Smith. Feared businessman. Destroyer of criminal organizations. Emotional over a woman in white fabric.”Martin almost smiled.I narrowed my eyes.“You both can leave.”“No,” Q replied immediately. “I suffered through your personality for years. I deserve to witness this.”I adjusted the sleeve of my suit calmly before looking at my reflectio
AriannaOne Week Before GraduationSometimes I still woke up expecting chaos.It happened less now, but every once in a while, my eyes would open in the middle of the night and for a few seconds I would expect screaming phones, encrypted alerts, another emergency meeting, another attack.Instead, I would find warm arms around my waist.Aiden.Sleeping beside me like the world had finally stopped demanding pieces of us.It always took me a moment to adjust to the silence.Not because silence was unfamiliar anymore.Because peace still felt unreal.The morning sunlight slipped through the curtains slowly, warming the room in soft gold. I blinked awake carefully before turning slightly.Aiden was still asleep.Which was rare.Very rare.For someone who practically operated like a machine, sleep always seemed optional to him. Yet over the past few months, he had started resting more. Not fully. Not normally. But enough for me to notice.His arm tightened slightly around me the moment I sh
AidenFor the first time in years, the screens in front of me were quiet.No emergency alerts.No red warnings flashing across encrypted systems.No incoming reports about missing shipments, financial breaches, assassinations, or attacks waiting to happen.Just silence.I leaned back slightly in my chair, staring at the collection of reports spread across the monitors in my office.Frozen accounts.Seized assets.Arrests across three countries.Destroyed trafficking routes.Confiscated weapons.Companies under federal investigation.Politicians resigning before evidence could publicly bury them.The organization that had spent years hiding beneath governments and corporations was collapsing piece by piece.Not completely gone.Men like that never disappeared entirely.But broken enough that they would never regain the power they once held.And for the first time in a long time, I allowed myself to think the words clearly.The war was over.The realization should have felt victorious.
AriannaI did not sleep well after reading the file.Not because I was afraid.Because I was angry.Real anger.The kind that sat quietly in your chest and refused to cool no matter how calm you tried to appear.For months, I had bled for this organization without even fully understanding what I had inherited. I had adapted to systems older than me, accepted responsibilities I never asked for, and trusted people whose faces I still barely knew.And now they were questioning me.Not openly.Not honestly.Cowards never attacked directly first.They whispered.They observed.They tested how much pressure they could apply before cracks started forming.I stared at the ceiling above our bed while Aiden slept beside me.The room was still dark.My phone rested against my chest, the encrypted file still open on the screen.Emotionally compromised.Overly influenced by Aiden Smith.Leadership acceleration without complete vetting.I reread the lines slowly.Then again.The wording irritated m
Arianna For a few seconds after I touched the ring box, neither of us moved.The house was quiet around us, the kind of quiet that only came after weeks of chaos. No calls. No alarms. No updates flashing across screens. Just the soft light from the living room lamps and Aiden watching me like the next few seconds mattered more than anything else in the world.I looked down at the ring again.Then back at him.“You really planned this?” I asked softly.Aiden leaned back slightly against the couch, his eyes still on me.“Yes.”“For how long?”“A while.”“That’s not an answer.”“It’s the only one you’re getting right now.”That made me laugh quietly despite myself.Trust Aiden to propose and still act annoyingly controlled afterward.My fingers brushed lightly over the edge of the ring box.I had imagined a lot of things these past months.Survival.Escape.Revenge.Power.But never this.Never sitting in our living room with the man who once felt like a dangerous stranger, now looking
AriannaThe house felt different when I walked in that evening.Not because anything had changed physically.But because something had finally stopped chasing us for a moment.Aiden was already inside when I returned from the Merge facility.He let me go by myself today. Which surprises me.He was standing by the window, phone in hand, speaking in low tones.Not rushed.Not tense.Just controlled.I paused near the entrance, watching him for a second before he noticed me.When he did, he ended the call immediately.“Come in,” he said simply.I stepped further inside.“You were expecting me late?”“No,” he replied. “I was expecting updates.”That made me exhale lightly.“Good updates or bad ones?”Aiden looked at me for a moment.Then—“Neutral turning good.”That alone made something in my chest loosen slightly.Not fully.But enough to notice.I removed my shoes slowly, like my body was finally catching up to the fact that I didn’t have to rush anymore.“I’m guessing the world didn’t
I can’t get it out of my head.It had been two days since he left, yet I couldn’t stop replaying it—the steamy kiss we had shared before his departure. The kisses had been getting more frequent, more intense, more deliberate. He was planting dangerous thoughts in my head, and he knew it.“Ahhh!” I
Waltzing down the grand staircase in an unlikely, almost dramatic fashion, Arianna held the banister as though she were descending into a ballroom instead of her own living room. The maid walking a few steps behind her struggled to suppress her laughter, clearly amused by her mistress’s playful ele
The car door could not open fast enough. Arianna stepped out, her eyes shining, her smile wide and unrestrained—like a twelve-year-old on Christmas morning. The grand house before her stood tall and elegant, bathed in the soft glow of the afternoon sun. She was completely captivated. So captiv
Silence followed their departure from the courthouse. Each was clearly engrossed in private thoughts, wondering what this sudden, contractual union truly meant. The late afternoon sun cast their shadows across the pavement, stretching their figures into unfamiliar shapes—two strangers now bound tog







