CHAPTER 2: THE ACQUISITION

Ethan Blackwood rubbed the bridge of his nose as the private sedan glided through the heavy city traffic. His phone had been buzzing continuously since they left the airport, but for the first time in his career, he ignored the flashing screen.

Instead, he looked to his right. In her car seat, two-year-old Lily was fast asleep, clutching a stray pink crayon she had somehow acquired.

In the boardroom, Ethan could dismantle a competitor's strategy with three precise questions. But in the back of this car, facing a toddler's meltdown over a dropped cracker and his own total helplessness with his daughter, he felt entirely out of his depth.

He could handle hostile takeovers, demanding investors, and entire rooms of executives waiting for him to make the wrong decision. Lily was different. She didn't care about his title or his reputation. She simply wanted her father, and lately, Ethan wasn't sure he was giving her enough of him.

He was returning from an exhausting business trip, and the pressure from his executives had been waiting for him the moment he landed.

"Sir?" his chief of staff, Marcus, asked from the front passenger seat, turning around with a tablet in hand. "The executive board is pushing for an immediate update. The company is moving forward with the plans to acquire several regional properties—including Willow Springs."

“The board considers it the ideal location for expanding the Blackwood wellness brand,” Marcus continued. “The lakefront property gives us access to a market we haven't been able to penetrate.”

Ethan hadn't met the resort's owner yet, but Marcus's words immediately brought the woman from the lounge back to mind. The stubborn woman with the sharp eyes and brown curls who had somehow calmed Lily within seconds. He still couldn't understand how she'd managed it when he'd been struggling for nearly half an hour.

Right on cue, Lily stirred in her car seat, her eyes blinking open. She looked around the leather interior of the sedan and mumbled, "Where pretty lady, Daddy? Want pretty lady."

Ethan glanced at the crayon in her hand. “You met her for five minutes.”

Lily frowned as though he'd said something ridiculous.

“Pretty lady.”

He almost smiled.

Apparently, five minutes had been enough.

Ethan glanced at his daughter. “The pretty lady is at the hotel, Lily. Now focus on your crayon.”

He had more important things to worry about than a stranger at a resort. He forced his attention back to business.

An hour later, Ethan was seated behind the massive mahogany desk in his penthouse office at Blackwood Enterprises. The exhaustion of parenting was temporarily pushed aside as he carefully reviewed the formal acquisition proposal.

His executives stood around the perimeter of the desk, eager to explain why Willow Springs was so valuable to their portfolio. “The location is unparalleled, Ethan,” one vice president said. “Hundreds of acres of lakefront property, a loyal existing clientele, and significant expansion potential for the Blackwood wellness brand.”

Ethan studied the figures in silence.

“The land is valuable,” he said finally, tapping the proposal with one finger. “But the existing clientele is what makes this acquisition worth the investment. If we destroy what already works, we lose the advantage.”

The vice president nodded.

Ethan signed the directive.

“Begin formal negotiations immediately.”

Before the executives could leave the room, his executive assistant hurried through the double doors, looking slightly panicked. "Mr. Blackwood, we have a problem. The resort's owner has completely rejected our first approach. She refused to even look at the financial terms."

Ethan’s eyes narrowed as he leaned back in his leather chair. "Who owns it?"

"Amelia Carter,” the assistant replied, glancing down at the deed profile.

Ethan's pen stopped.

Amelia Carter.

The name immediately clicked.

Brown curls. Sharp eyes. That stubborn expression she'd worn when she'd told him he didn't have Lily under control.

The woman from the lounge.

The woman who had somehow managed to calm his daughter when he couldn't.

Of all the properties Blackwood Enterprises wanted to acquire, this one belonged to her.

Ethan leaned back slowly.

The acquisition had been straightforward until now.

Now it had a face.