Page 4

LIA

I ’d never gotten to be with anyone I cared about in the dark before.

When Rhaim flipped the light back on relief flooded through my body—but I was the only one who knew why.

“You go back downstairs, first,” he said, after I pulled away, because I needed to prove to myself this had been real—and to breathe.

I didn’t want to leave him ever again. The past two months had been sheer torture, and only the knowledge that he wanted—no, required —me to be strong had kept me sane.

After he’d left my apartment I’d put books in front of the cameras he’d installed inside it—since apparently I was going to have to be Business Lia all the goddamned time—but it was good, because otherwise he would’ve realized that something in me had died when he pushed me away, with his choice that wasn’t a choice at all.

And then the entire time we’d worked together, anytime I’d wanted to seek him out for solace, for some whit of connection still threaded between us—all I’d gotten was a cold wall.

He debriefed me before important meetings, he shared all his knowledge, he checked my work, critiqued it, occasionally even told me what to wear depending on our clientele—he was as omnipresent around me as the air, but emotionally, just as ephemeral.

Until right now, tonight, here.

My pussy was going to be sore tomorrow from how hard he’d fucked it and it didn’t matter, I’d let him do it again in an instant, I’d let him strip this stupid silly dress and long-sleeved jacket—to hide my scars from all the time I’d spent without him —off and let him fuck me till I was loud enough for people on other floors to hear.

He took my chin in his hand and cleaned up some lipstick that’d gotten smeared with a thumb, and pushed a lock of loose hair back behind my ear, and I relaxed beneath his attention.

I liked him inspecting me.

Making sure I was perfect.

Which of course I was—I was his.

“Don’t look guilty when you go downstairs.

You’ve had a good night. You’re high on money—it happens to the best of us,” he said, before stepping back to look at the rest of me.

“You’re young, you’re beautiful—make some apologies, and you’ll be fine,” he went on, before kneeling unexpectedly to adjust the strap of my heel, and I’d never felt like Cinderella so much in my entire short life.

“And then what?” I breathed.

“Then, you trust me,” he said, rising. “We can figure everything else out later. We just have to make it through tonight without letting anything on.”

“We figure it out together?” I said, as the familiar knot in my chest tightened. I needed to know it wouldn’t just be him, making decisions for me again.

“Together,” he swore, with a solemn nod, before taking my face in his hands and kissing my forehead.

I had no idea how I could look at him from across the room tonight and pretend I didn’t feel his hands on me—but I knew all the reasons why I had to. My father would notice if I slipped, and Freddie Jr had surely made an entrance by now—and God, he would love to catch me faltering.

Which meant that every smile, every word, from here on out, had to be utterly calculated, until we’d had time to come up with a plan.

My father wanted me to be happy, didn’t he?

And why would the same people who were already so eager to invest money in Corvo care?

Okay, that last one, I could see—for what little government financial oversight there was anymore, we wouldn’t want to attract any additional attention to the IPO, or create any opposition to me joining the board.

But Rhaim and I could go back to pretending until it was over—until we’d made my father even more unfathomably wealthy, and all our shareholders happy—and then we would be free.

Together.

I schooled myself quickly, wearing the same face I’d worn on my first day at innumerable different boarding schools, showing no weakness, like someone about to shiv the biggest guy in the prison yard.

“There’s my girl,” Rhaim murmured, watching me with something like pride.

Then, almost imperceptibly, he shifted. He put his own mask back on, the one that made him look cold and unfeeling, the one that slid a wall between us, no matter that some of his cum was leaking between my thighs.

“Just a few more hours,” he said, his voice as distant as it was firm. “Get back out there.”

I nodded and left the bathroom, the click of my heels against the wooden floor sounding like the seconds ticking away to my future.

I managed to make it to a different wing of my father’s apartment unseen, before dropping down to the floor where my father was hosting his party.

By then the glass of wine I’d pounded really was hitting me, but it was okay, it was late, and I wasn’t the only one.

Success was like a drug, and everyone here was taking bumps.

“There you are,” Rio said quietly, coming up to me from behind, like he was sneaking in along with me, his expression sharp. I let loose a tiny yelp, while he glowered. “Your father’s looking for you.”

“Well, here I am,” I said, flashing him a forced grin.

He wasn’t amused. “Come on,” he muttered, already steering me back the way I’d come.

I was worried if we retraced my steps far enough we’d find Rhaim, but instead we detoured to the back of the kitchen, where my father was standing with the help of a cane that he never used in public.

“You rang?” I asked him lightly, hoping my moment with Rhaim wasn’t written on my face.

He looked displeased, and for a second I thought he’d somehow read my mind, but then his expression softened in a way that was rare for him. “You’re stunning, Lia,” he said quietly. His voice lacked the sharpness I’d expected, which somehow made me feel more wary.

“Thank…you?” I wondered with a concerned laugh. “You didn’t pull me out of the party just to tell me that, did you?”

He chuckled, sounding tired. “No, I didn’t. But it’s true.” He gestured toward a chair, but I didn’t dare sit down. If I did, Lord only knew what’d stain my pretty dress when I next stood.

My reluctance to obey made him sigh. “I’ve been thinking a lot about your future.”

“Mine?” I asked cautiously, crossing my arms. “Or Corvo’s?”

“Both,” he admitted. “You’ve done so well. You’ve stepped into this world effortlessly—better than I ever imagined.”

A cold pit formed in my stomach, and I sobered up at once. “What’s this about?”

He stepped up to me and set his cane’s head into the crook of his arm, while he pulled the edges of my green silk bolero jacket closer, as though it were the lapels of a suit.

Like I wasn’t just his daughter.

Like I was a made man.

“I’ve got some surprises coming for you tonight, is all.”

A younger Lia might have believed her indulgent father was giving her a gift. But the Lia of the now knew it was a test.

“I’ll need for you to take them in stride,” my father went on, his tone calm but commanding. “Remember, family does what family’s told.”

A spark of defiance rose in my chest—the instinct to push back, to fight him. It’s what I’d always done—and it’s exactly why he still saw me as a child.

Whatever he had planned, I wouldn’t fight him this time.

I’d outsmart him.

“Of course,” I agreed.

His eyes narrowed warily, but then his lips quirked into a teasing grin. “Except when it comes to sitting down on offered chairs?”

I gave him a pained smile. “In these heels, if I sit down, I’ll never want to get back up.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” he said, setting his cane aside, and offering me a gallant elbow.

I took it, and let him slowly lead me into the next room.

The party had overtaken my father’s formal dining room entirely, spilling into the rest of the penthouse’s sprawling open floor plan. Voices echoed off marble and glass, a symphony of laughter and clinking glasses underscored by a low hum of wealth.

People parted as they saw us coming, their eyes flicking between me and my father, reading the power dynamics as if we were pieces on a chessboard. Rio stood stationed near the stairwell, alert and unobtrusive, while I spotted Rhaim on the other side of the room, half-hidden in a knot of suits.

Freddie Jr. was harder to miss.

He was planted near a column, leaning casually with a drink in his hand, his smirk sharp enough to cut glass.

I supposed I should be glad that he wasn’t his father—who I hadn’t gotten any more horrible texts from in months—but I knew Uncle Freddie would be coming into town soon, with my father’s seventy-eth birthday party looming in two weeks.

Freddie Jr had avoided me ever since our fight outside his bar, and while I knew I should’ve suspected something was up with him, I hadn’t really had a chance to investigate further.

I’d just trusted in Rhaim.

Which, now that my father was ‘surprising’ me, and Rhaim had taken me like a man possessed, felt…unwise.

But I didn’t give anything away—I just smiled like a queen surveying her court, gracious and untouchable, as my father took a champagne glass from a passing server and tapped on it loudly with our family ring.

“Thank you all for being here tonight,” he announced the second people quieted.

The warmth in his tone felt genuine, which only made me more nervous as he set a hand against my lower back.

“This evening isn’t just a celebration of Corvo’s upcoming success—it’s a celebration of everyone in this room who is making it possible. ”

Polite applause rippled through the crowd, and I fought not to shift under the weight of his hand—or Freddie Jr.’s calculating stare from across the room.

“I’ve been fortunate to have some of the finest minds in the financial world by my side,” my father continued, his attention sweeping the crowd. It lingered on a few key figures before turning squarely to me. “But none have made me prouder than my daughter, Lia.”

It felt like a spotlight had pinned me in place.