21- Becoming My Partner

Stanley’s P.O.VThe violent, suffocating panic that slammed into my chest the moment my phone lit up at the boardroom table with a message about Amy leaving was unlike anything I had ever experienced.I didn't give a damn about the multi-billion-dollar merger contract Hector had just slid across the table. I didn't care about the board members staring daggers at me, or the threat of losing my CEO seat. My entire world narrowed down to the single, terrifying text sent by my estate housekeeper.Amy was gone.My innocent, brilliant, and stubborn ward, the woman whose soft lips I had devoured in a moment of raw desire hours ago, had broken my direct lockdown and run out. Unprotected. Vulnerable. Out on an active criminal bail bond that the courts would revoke the second they realized she had fled my territory.Without a single word of explanation, I violently pushed my leather chair back, stood up, and walked straight out of the boardroom, leaving a stunned, shouting Hector behind.I didn

22 - The Mask We Had To Wear

Amy’s P.O.VWhoosh... Click! The glass conference room door swung open, and I stepped back out into the main penthouse office of Hampton Capital, standing tall beside Stanley. Chris Hampton was leaning against the edge of his mahogany desk, arms crossed, a smug and expectant smirk playing on his handsome face. He was clearly assuming that Stanley’s typical "guardian dominance" had failed to move me. His smile instantly died the moment my eyes locked onto his."Cancel the penthouse lease, Chris," I said, my voice clear, steady, and ringing with certainty.Chris blinked, his posture stiffening. "What?""I am only backing down on the apartment request," I continued smoothly, executing the calculated compromise Stanley and I had just mapped out in the glass room. "I am a woman of my word. Our contract stands. I will officially join your legal acquisition team starting Monday morning at eight. But I am returning to the Pearson estate by my own choice. I will be staying there."Chris comp

23 - My Turn To Play The Game

Stanley’s P.O.VThe doors of my private study clicked shut. Finally, the toxic drama filling the rest of the mansion was locked outside.The moment I was completely alone in the dark room, the detached, unbothered look I wore shattered. Rage exploded through my veins. I violently ripped my tie loose, tearing open the top buttons of my shirt. Walking straight to the liquor cabinet, my hands shook with an unhinged, protective rage. I poured a glass of straight scotch and downed the amber liquid in one burning swallow.Ten million dollars.Quinn’s threat in the foyer echoed through my mind like a death sentence. She had stood there with her over-priced lawyers, thrusting a civil lawsuit straight at Amy. With the power her family yielded, Quinn was capable of ruining Amy's career and her father's appointment.And why? Because Amy; my brilliant, stubborn girl—had dared to step between me and the corporate vultures trying to bleed my empire dry.I needed to come up with a way to save Amy

24 - My Public Execution

Amy’s P.O.VAckThe blinding glare of the LED lights hit my face, making the dull ache from my concussion throb behind my eyes. I sat completely rigid in the front row of the mansion’s grand ballroom. The space had been transformed into a media circus. Dozens of reporters were murmuring into their microphones, and rows of flashing cameras were pointed straight at the main stage.My fingers tightly gripped the crumpled piece of paper in my lap. It was the humiliating apology script Quinn had forced into my chest yesterday in the foyer.“I admit that I attacked her in a fit of unstable rage because I am deeply, pathologically jealous of her beauty...”What The Fuck? It’s either this girl really thinks highly of herself or she thinks I am still that scared girl who cried whenever she bullied her. I may still be on the plus size, but scared? Hell no! Channel sat beside me, fuming. The only reason she had not already thrown out the reporters and their camera was because of her respect

25 - A Break in My Storm

Stanley’s P.O.VThe second Amy stepped back from the press podium and walked toward the side exit, an overwhelming wave of raw, possessive pride crashed through my chest.I sat at the primary executive table, my large hands anchored to the mahogany, forcing my face to remain unreadable while my insides completely melted. I was utterly whipped by her. Her brilliant mind had just thrown a massive, unexploded grenade right into the center of the ballroom. By publicly welcoming an investigation on live national TV, she hadn't broken her bail conditions, and she hadn't refused to cooperate. Instead, she had used the national media to legally invite the government into the affairs at the Pearson mansion.Across the room, Quinn’s lawyers stood frozen in shock, their tablets trembling. Quinn herself was shaking beneath her white lace dress, her jaw tightly clenched in a feral, unspoken rage. She realized she couldn't execute the ten-million-dollar civil lawsuit without triggering a public cou

26 - Giving in to My Passion

Amy’s P.O.VHmmmAs I paced across the rug in the pitch-black room, the walls of the estate felt like a cage. My head still throbbed with a dull, heavy ache from the concussion—a nasty leftover from the crash—but my mind was racing. I was wired on the raw adrenaline of outsmarting Quinn on live television.I was furious. I was confused. Mostly, I was restless. I was literally vibrating out of my skin. My brain was completely fried, but my body refused to shut down.Needing to clear my thoughts, I slowly turned the brass handle. It slid back without any resistance. Ley hadn't actually locked me in from the outside. His whole public act in the lobby had been a total show. It was a deepfake of an angry guardian, meant to trick Quinn and Hector into thinking I was neutralized, crying into my pillow.Clown behavior, honestly, I thought, a smirk tugging at my lips.Slipped into a dark silk robe that felt like water against my skin, I stepped out into the quiet, dimly lit corridor. The mansi