Page 38 of The Chains that Bind

"Not happening," I respond without hesitation. "You live here now. With me. Where I can ensure your safety and our child's." Before she can protest, I continue. "But you'll have freedom within that framework, Seraphina. Your own office. Your own schedule. Your career intact and supported. Security rather than surveillance."

"A gilded cage is still a cage," she argues, but without real conviction.

"A protected sanctuary is not a prison," I counter. "You'll see the difference in time."

She sighs, running her hand along the edge of the desk—her desk now. "And our sleeping arrangements?"

"Our bed is waiting," I respond, emphasizing the "our" deliberately. "But if you need time to adjust, there are guest rooms. I won't force that aspect of our relationship, Seraphina. I don't need to. Your body remembers even when your mind resists."

A flush rises to her cheeks, confirmation of the truth in my words. The past three days have proven beyond doubt that physically, at least, we're as compatible as ever. More so, perhaps, with the added intensity of her pregnancy heightening every sensation.

"This is really happening, isn't it?" she says softly, more to herself than to me. "Living together. Having a baby. Building some kind of... life."

"Yes," I confirm, allowing myself to touch her now, a hand at the small of her back. "Not the life you planned, perhaps. But the one that's right for both of us. For our child."

She doesn't pull away from my touch, doesn't argue further. Simply absorbs the reality of our situation with the pragmatism that's always been part of her nature beneath the fiery independence.

"I'm not promising forever," she warns, meeting my eyes directly. "I'm agreeing to try this. To see if we can build something healthy, something sustainable. For the baby's sake."

I smile, knowing that "for the baby's sake" is a shield, a way for her to justify surrendering to what she's wanted all along but has been too proud to admit. "That's enough for now."

Because time is on my side. With every day that passes, with every moment she spends in my world, with every inch our child grows inside her, the bonds between us strengthen. The inevitability of our connection becomes harder to deny.

Seraphina Vale may not be ready to promise forever yet. But she will be.

And when she is, I'll be waiting with my grandmother's diamonds and the future we were always meant to share.