All Chapters of The Terms We Never Signed: Chapter 1 - Chapter 4

Chapter 1The paper crinkled under my thumbs. My chest felt tight, like the elevator doors had closed on my ribs instead of opening.Three years. That was how long it had been since Damian Cross last looked at me like this across a conference table, slate-gray eyes cold and assessing, deciding I was useful. The same eyes that used to watch me fall apart in his hotel suite after we closed a deal. Back then I had still believed the heat between us meant something. I had still believed the late nights, the shared victories, the way his voice dropped when he said my name in the dark meant I was more than a temporary asset. I had been wrong.Damian didn’t look up from his laptop. “Everything they had on you. Every failed pitch. Every time they told you that you weren’t enough.”“That’s private,” I said. My voice came out thinner than I wanted. “They had no right”“Nathaniel doesn’t care about rights when he wants something.” Damian finally raised his eyes. That same slate-gray gaze p

Chapter 3The dark glass wall of the private booth suddenly felt less like exclusive luxury and more like a high-end cage.Three years ago I had sat across from Damian Cross in a place almost exactly like this same low light, same expensive wine, same dangerous promise in the air and believed the heat between us meant I was safe. Tonight I was sitting across from his brother, and every instinct I still possessed told me safety had never been on the table.“You came,” Nathaniel said, the tension in his shoulders visibly dropping as he rose to pull out my chair. He had ditched the suit jacket, sleeves rolled up his forearms in a way that felt entirely calculated and entirely effective. The sight of those strong, tanned arms made something low in my stomach tighten the same way it had the nights I let myself look too long when Damian wasn’t watching.“I have questions,” I said, staying on my feet a second longer than necessary just to keep my ground… and to give myself one last chance to