All Chapters of MY WAY TO THE BILLIONAIRE'S HEART : Chapter 21 - Chapter 27

Maeve's pulse spiked. But Carter reached over, took her hand in his, the touch warm, steady, betraying none of the tension between them."It's both," he said simply. "We met when Maeve consulted on a product redesign. I was... difficult. Demanding. I pushed her harder than anyone I'd worked with. And instead of breaking, she pushed back. Made me think differently about everything I'd taken for granted." His thumb traced circles on her palm, an intimate gesture that felt both calculated and strangely genuine. "I fell for her intelligence first. Her integrity second. The fact that she's beautiful was just fortunate coincidence."Maeve's breath caught. The words were pretty, practiced. But his eyes, when they met hers, held something raw underneath."And you, Miss Wells?" Hiroshi prompted. "Why marry Carter Langston?"The truthful answer, because he's blackmailing me with my family's welfare, would destroy everything.The diplomatic answer, because I love him, would feel like choking on

The kiss in the Malibu basement had been a mistake.Maeve realized this three weeks later as she stood in Carter's penthouse closet, surrounded by gowns she hadn't chosen, staring at her reflection in a full-length mirror. The woman looking back was polished, expensive, unrecognizable. Hair professionally styled. Makeup applied by Carter's personal aesthetician. A midnight blue Valentino gown that cost more than her mother's monthly treatment bills.She looked like Elizabeth Langston. Carter's dead mother.The realization made her skin crawl."The car is waiting," Carter called from the bedroom. "We need to leave in five minutes."Another gala. Another performance. Another night of smiling while Carter's hand rested possessively on her lower back, steering her through conversations like she was a chess piece he was moving across a board.Since that night in Malibu, since she'd stupidly suggested they "make something real," Carter had become something worse than the calculating busines

"That's easy to say when it's not your company on the line!" Carter slammed his glass down hard enough to crack it. "My family built this business over three generations. My grandfather started in a garage. My father expanded it into an empire. And now I'm supposed to demolish it all because you've decided to play engineer?""I'm not playing anything. I'm doing the job you supposedly hired me to do.""I hired you to be my partner. To support me. Not to undermine every difficult decision I make." He crossed to her, gripped her shoulders. "I need you on my side, Maeve. The board already questions your qualifications. If you go rogue, start making demands, it makes both of us look weak.""Then maybe we are weak. Maybe we should be." She met his eyes. "Your mother died because your father valued control over her wellbeing. Don't make the same mistake with customer safety."It was the wrong thing to say. She saw it immediately in how Carter's face went completely blank."Don't," he said qu