ELEVEN

The Castell mansion no longer belonged to silence.

By dawn, journalists had flooded the gates, cameras flashing through the iron bars, hungry for a glimpse of the woman who had become the headline of the year,

“HAZEL CASTELL ENGAGED TO DIMITRI MORETTI.”

Hazel’s assistant stood near the window, phone pressed to her ear, voice low.

“Yes… No statement yet. Miss Castell will not be speaking to the press today.”

Hazel herself sat at her desk, unbothered, the morning sun gleaming against her pearl earrings. The calmness she wore was deliberate, armor woven from control.

Her assistant lowered the phone. “It’s everywhere, Miss Castell. Every outlet has picked it up.”

Hazel nodded once, eyes fixed on the open file in front of her. “Good. Then it’s working.”

The assistant hesitated. “Should I draft a response? Mr. Castell”

“Edwin knows,” Hazel interrupted softly. “If he wanted to stop it, he already would have.”

The girl swallowed. “Yes, Miss.”

Hazel stood, straightening her suit jacket. “Have the press removed from the east gate by noon. Tell security to be polite, not merciful.”

“Yes, Miss Castell.”

When the assistant left, Hazel exhaled slowly, letting her mask loosen just enough to think. She hadn’t meant for the journalist to leak the story this soon, but chaos, she’d learned, could be elegant if managed correctly.

And Dimitri? He would adapt. He always did.

By midmorning, the boardroom was crowded.

Executives murmured among themselves until the doors opened and Dimitri walked in, composed, immaculate, carrying two cups of coffee. One for himself. One for Hazel.

He set it in front of her before sitting down, his movements unhurried.

“Thought you’d need this,” he said with a small, knowing smile.

The gesture was so unexpected that the entire boardroom seemed to pause.

Hazel didn’t react. “How thoughtful,” she murmured.

He leaned back, eyes on her. “Quite the news this morning.”

“Apparently,” she replied, tapping the folder in front of her. “Let’s focus on the quarterly report.”

But Dimitri wasn’t done. “Of course,” he said smoothly, glancing around the table. “Though I suppose congratulations are in order, for both of us.”

A few of the board members smiled politely, uncertain how to respond.

Hazel turned a page. “You’ll have time to celebrate later. Preferably after the investors stop panicking.”

Dimitri chuckled, the sound warm, disarming. “That’s my fiancée, already solving crises before breakfast.”

Laughter rippled across the table. Hazel didn’t join in, but she didn’t stop it either.

Every word out of his mouth was a performance, devotion polished to perfection.

And yet, he did it well. Too well.

Later that day, he found her alone in the study, signing documents under the dim amber light.

He lingered by the door before speaking. “You made me look very good this morning.”

She didn’t look up. “You looked good before that. I just gave the world a reason to notice.”

He smirked. “So this engagement, is it strategy or affection?”

Hazel placed her pen down, meeting his gaze. “Why not both?”

“Because strategy doesn’t make your pulse skip,” he said quietly, walking toward her. “And I’m beginning to think I do.”

She rose from her chair, eyes steady. “You think too much.”

He smiled faintly. “Then tell me what to think.”

“You’re my partner, Dimitri. That’s all you need to remember.”

“Partner,” he repeated, amused. “I’ve been called worse.”

Hazel brushed past him, intending to leave, but his voice followed her, softer now.

“If I’d known all I needed to do was wait, I’d have let you propose years ago.”

She paused at the door. “You wouldn’t have survived the wait.”

That evening, Edwin hosted a private dinner, just the three of them.

He was in rare spirits, lifting his glass toward the two across the table.

“To the future of Castell Industries,” he said. “To stability and loyalty.”

Hazel raised her glass with a faint smile. Dimitri’s hand rested lightly over hers as he echoed, “To loyalty.”

The gesture might have looked tender, but Hazel felt the precision behind it, a public claim disguised as affection. Dimitri didn’t let go until Edwin turned his attention elsewhere.

After the dinner, Edwin dismissed them, satisfied. “The company needs to face the world's trust. Together, you’ll make that image unbreakable.”

Hazel inclined her head. “Of course, Father.”

When they left the dining room, the hallway was quiet except for the echo of Dimitri’s laughter.

“You do realize,” he murmured, “you just made me untouchable.”

She glanced at him. “You’re welcome.”

He smiled again, not cruelly, not charmingly, just quietly. “You’re remarkable, Hazel. You make it so easy to want you.”

Her steps faltered, just slightly. “Flattery doesn’t work here.”

“Not flattery,” he said. “Observation.”

Later that night, she worked in her room again, papers scattered, city lights painting the glass walls silver. She didn’t hear Dimitri come in until he placed something on her desk.

A small box. Simple. Elegant.

Inside, a diamond earrings, engraved with her initials.

“Consider it an apology,” he said. “For using your name as a prop in that meeting.”

She looked up, studying him for a long moment. “I didn’t expect you to feel guilty.”

“I don’t,” he said honestly. “But I do feel… curious. About you.”

Hazel tilted her head. “Curious?”

He nodded. “You fascinate me. You live like every move has already been predicted, as if emotion is a weakness. But I’ve seen it. The way your hand trembles right before you sign something that matters.”

Her throat tightened, just briefly. “You notice too much.”

“I notice you,” he said simply. “And that terrifies me.”

Hazel’s fingers brushed the earring’s surface. “You mistake fascination for feeling.”

“Maybe,” he murmured. “But I still want to know the difference.”

She exhaled quietly, closing the box. “Then start by learning not to lie.”

He smiled, slow, genuine, unreadable. “Fair enough.”

He left without another word.

For the first time in a long time, Hazel didn’t immediately return to her work.

Her hand hovered over the box, her reflection faint in the glass window.

Outside, the city hummed, restless, alive, unaware of the war quietly unfolding inside Castell’s golden walls.

And for a moment, just one, Hazel wondered which part of her heart Dimitri was playing with.

The one who calculated.

Or the one she swore she’d buried years ago.