CHAPTER 3: THE DECISION

CHAPTER 3 — THE DECISION

POV: Amelia Hart

By the time I reached my apartment, I had come up with so many reasons not to marry Damon Blackwood.

He was Raven’s brother. He was a billionaire. He had proposed after one dinner, and he spoke about marriage as casually as other men discussed ordering coffee.

Worst of all, I couldn’t figure out what he wanted from me.

I dropped my handbag on the sofa and pulled his business card from my purse.

Damon Blackwood.

His name looked expensive even on a piece of paper. “One year,” I muttered. “Separate bedrooms. No falling in love.”

I looked at the card again.

“Who proposes something like that?” Apparently, Damon Blackwood did.

I tossed the card onto the table and headed for the kitchen. I needed water, a clear head, and preferably a new life in which my ex-boyfriend wasn’t engaged to a woman whose family could buy half the city.

My phone rang before I reached the fridge. Gavi.

I considered letting it ring. Then I answered because some foolish part of me still wanted to hear him say something that would make the last three years mean less of a waste.

“Amelia,” he said. “Finally.” Not How are you? Not Can we talk about what I did? Finally.

“What do you want, Gavi?”

“We need to settle something.”

I leaned against the kitchen counter. “You announced your engagement. I think you settled quite enough yesterday.”

“Don't start with that attitude.”

I closed my eyes briefly.

There it was. The same tone he used whenever I refused to make things easy for him.

“What do you want?”

“I need you to stop making this situation difficult.”

I haven't spoken to you since yesterday. “And I appreciate that. Let's keep it that way.”

I made it clear. .

“Excuse me?”

“Raven's family is already asking questions. People noticed you at the engagement party. I don't want unnecessary stories circulating.”

I looked at the empty space on my kitchen table where I had once spread out our business plans, helping him turn a struggling idea into something investors would take seriously.

Three years of my work, reduced to an unnecessary story.

“So what do you suggest?” I asked.

“I'm willing to give you some money. Enough to get settled somewhere else for a while. You could visit a friend, take a break, whatever you want. New York is becoming uncomfortable for you anyway.”

He was dumped founded. He was offering me money to disappear. The same man who had called our business our dream now wanted to pay me to leave the city where I had helped build it.

“How generous,” I finally said.

“Don't make this harder than it has to be, Amelia. We both know you can't compete with the life I'm building now.”

Something inside me went still.

Not because his words hurt less than they should have, but because I suddenly understood him perfectly.

He still believed he had the right to decide how much I was worth.

“You know what, Gavi?”

“What?”

“Keep your money. Don't be childish. And stop calling me as if I'm still someone you can give instructions to.”

You have no idea how much I'm trying to help you. “No. You're trying to make sure I don't inconvenience you.”

“Amelia—”

“Goodbye, Gavi.”

I ended the call.

My hand trembled slightly as I lowered the phone, but I didn't call him back. I didn't send a long message explaining everything he had done to me, and I did not feel the need to convince him that I deserved better.

He knew what he had done. He simply didn't believe it should have consequences for him.

I walked to the table and picked up Damon's card.

Perhaps Damon was right about one thing. I didn't owe Gavi my silence. I didn't owe him a quiet exit, a convenient disappearance, or the rest of my life arranged around his ambitions.

But that didn't mean I could trust Damon.

I could still refuse him. I could rebuild my career without marrying into the family that had celebrated my humiliation. And if I accepted his proposal, I would need to make sure I wasn't exchanging one man's control for another's.

I took out my phone and dialed the number on the card.

He answered after two rings.

“Amelia.”

“You answer quickly.”

“I was hoping you'd call.”

“That's a dangerous habit for a man who doesn't know what I'm going to say.”

“I'm willing to take the risk.” Despite myself, I smiled. It disappeared almost immediately. I had not called him to flirt.

“Your proposal,” I said. “My answer is yes.”

For the first time since I'd met him, Damon Blackwood seemed to have no immediate response.

Then he said, “May I ask what changed your mind?”

“Gavi called.” “What happened?” “He offered me money to leave New York. Apparently, my existence has become inconvenient.”

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't be. His opinion no longer gets to decide what I do.”

“And the marriage?”

“I'll consider it on one condition.”

“Only one?”

“Don't sound so pleased. I'm just getting started.”

I heard a quiet laugh on the other end.

“Go on, Miss Hart.”

“If we're doing this, I will not become another person who has to ask permission to live her own life. I keep control of my money, my work, and my decisions. You don't get to dictate my friendships, my career, or where I go. And when the year ends, I walk away if that's what I choose. “I wouldn't expect anything less.

“You haven't heard all my conditions.”

Then I'll bring a notebook.

This time, my smile stayed.

“You're enjoying this.”

“I'm enjoying the fact that you're negotiating instead of agreeing to everything I say.”

“Get used to it.”

“I hope I do.”

I looked down at the card, suddenly conscious that I was alone in my apartment, smiling at a man I barely knew about a marriage that didn't exist yet.

I cleared my throat.

“We still need to discuss the details. I haven't agreed to sign anything tonight.”

“Of course. We'll go through every term together. Nothing gets signed until you're satisfied with the agreement.” “And Damon?” “Yes?”

“If I discover that you're using me to settle a score with Gavi or your family, this ends before it begins.”

“You have my word.”

I wanted to believe him.

“Tomorrow,” I said. “We discuss the contract properly.” Tomorrow, then. I was about to end the call when his voice stopped me.

“Amelia?”

Yes?

“I'm glad you called.” The simple honesty of it caught me off.

“Don't make me regret it, Damon.” “I'll do my best, Mrs. Blackwood.”

Please don't call were that.

“Noted.”

“And don't sound so pleased with yourself.”

“I wouldn't dream of it.”

I ended the call before he could hear me laugh.

Then I stood in the quiet of my apartment, staring at his card, knowing I had just agreed to consider a marriage that could change everything.

I hadn't signed the contract. I hadn't promised him my heart.

This wasthe first time in my life, I made a decision without wondering what Gavi would think.

Tomorrow, Damon and I would negotiate the terms. And this time, I intended to make sure my name was written into the agreement as an equal, not as someone's possession.