All Chapters of Married To The Devil's Heir : Chapter 41 - Chapter 48

The knock came again. Kade kept his body between Ivy and the door. His gun remained low but ready. Marcus checked the security feed on his phone, then looked up. “It’s one of Vincent’s men,” Marcus said. " No unauthorized entry.” Kade’s jaw tightened. “Open it.” Marcus unlocked the door carefully. The man on the other side immediately raised both hands, palms open. “Your father sent me,” he said. “Vincent ordered me to come. He said you relocated Mrs. Cross and might need additional men after the Varela situation.” Kade did not lower the gun. “How did you get inside?” “Your father gave me the access code himself. He said it was still active.” Kade’s expression hardened. Vincent still held an active code to the private elevator. That would end tonight. “My security is sufficient,” Kade said. “Tell my father I don’t need extra men at my private residence.” The messenger nodded once, respectful and without argument. “I’ll inform him.” Kade stepped aside. The man left. Marcus

The coffee maker sputtered through its last cycle, and the toaster popped loudly behind her. The knife made a soft, steady rhythm against the cutting board. Ivy sliced through the last ripe strawberry and slid the pieces into the bowl, humming under her breath, when the floor creaked behind her. She turned. Kade stood in the kitchen doorway, dressed for the day, sleeves already rolled to his forearms, watching her with the kind of stillness that made her wonder how long he'd been there. "You cook this early?" he asked. "Some people actually eat breakfast, you know." she said, turning back to the counter and cracking another egg against the rim of the bowl. "I wasn't aware you had opinions before coffee." "I have opinions about everything. Coffee just makes me polite about them." "Noted. I'll brace myself for the honest version later." "You won't survive it." That earned the faintest curve at the corner of his mouth. He crossed the kitchen and leaned against the counter beside

Kade had read the same paragraph four times and still couldn't tell what it said.The documents were spread across the desk exactly where he'd left them at midnight, the laptop open to a contract that needed his signature before nine, and none of it had moved in the last twenty minutes because his attention kept sliding somewhere else entirely. The green dress. The way she'd stood by the window in it, waiting for his verdict like it mattered more than she wanted it to. The catch in her breath when his fingers grazed her collarbone. The way she'd tried to cover it and hadn't quite managed.He'd sent that message on purpose. Don't change. He'd known exactly what he was doing when he typed it, and that was the part that bothered him now, not the wanting, but the fact that he'd acted on it without a second thought.He was becoming too interested in her reactions. That was the problem. Nothing more complicated than that.A knock interrupted him, sharp and familiar, and he assumed Marcus ha

Ivy came out of her room expecting an empty penthouse, the way it always was by this hour, coffee gone cold in a cup he hadn't finished and a note about being back late if he bothered leaving one at all. Kade was standing in the living room instead, fully dressed, phone in hand, like he'd been waiting there for a while and had run out of things to check on it. He looked up when she stopped in the doorway. "You told me not to run." She hadn't expected him to say it first. "I didn't think you'd listen." "Neither did I." She crossed her arms, mostly to have somewhere to put her hands, aware of exactly how much her pulse had picked up for someone standing perfectly still in her own living room. "So you're proving a point?" "I'm proving I don't scare that easily." "You scare everyone." "Not you." She didn't have a ready answer to that, so she moved past it instead. "Don't you have meetings?" "I moved them." "You canceled your meetings?" "Moved. I said moved." "Why?" "Because y