Quiet Empire : Inheritance

Chapter 6

Noah didn’t answer right away. He’d spent years teaching himself to hold a neutral line in the face of a provocation, but his brother had always been the exception. Jasper could get under his skin in ways no one else managed. And tonight, he’d done more than that.

“Say it,” Noah said finally, his tone even but his jaw tight.

Jasper’s smile sharpened. “You’ve bonded. On my yacht. At my party. Tell me, brother, was it worth it?”

The word landed like a stone. Bonded. Noah’s fingers curled once at his sides before he forced them to still.

“Shut it down, Jasper.”

“What? The party?” Jasper gestured toward the deck outside, the thump of bass and chatter still rolling through the closed door. “Or the girl? Because you look a little—” He sniffed again, slow, deliberate. “—attached.”

Noah’s patience frayed another inch. The original plan, end the party, drag Jasper into the office on Monday, make him face the board, felt suddenly irrelevant. There were bigger problems now.

He had no idea where Isla was. No idea what state she was in after bolting. And no clear plan for what to do once he found her, beyond the fact that not finding her wasn’t an option.

He stepped past Jasper without warning, forcing him to sidestep or get shoved.

“You’re not walking away from this conversation,” Jasper called after him, amusement lacing his voice.

Noah didn’t stop. “Then keep up.”

Jasper did, falling into step beside him like they were heading into some joint venture instead of the wreckage of his own making. “You know, I’ve been chasing her for months,” he said, sounding far too pleased with himself. “You waltz in, and five minutes later, bonded. Almost insulting.”

“Almost?” Noah’s voice was flat.

“Definitely.” Jasper’s grin widened. “You’re going to thank me one day.”

Noah’s eyes cut toward him, the look enough to silence even his brother for a few strides. He scanned the crowd beyond the VIP deck as they stepped into the main corridor, the swell of music and perfume washing over him. No sign of her.

Jasper leaned in slightly, voice pitched low. “You do realize this changes everything. Dad will—”

“I don’t care what Dad thinks.” Noah’s gaze kept moving, sweeping over clusters of models, investors, and hangers-on. “But if you so much as say her name to him, I’ll end this party and your next ten before you can blink.”

That seemed to catch Jasper’s attention. “Protective already. Interesting.”

Noah didn’t answer. His pulse had picked up again, every instinct straining toward the one thing he couldn’t see. Somewhere out there, Isla was trying to disappear and every second she stayed gone, the tether between them pulled tighter.

Two priorities. Find her. And figure out what the hell came next.

—

She had made a wide arc around the VIP deck, slipping into the edges of the crowd where no one was paying her much attention. The thrum of bass carried through the floor, the lights casting everyone in sharp, shifting colors that made faces blur together.

Her heart hadn’t slowed since she left that room. Even with the suppressant in her system, the bond was still too fresh, her scent curling in the air despite her effort to rein it in. Not a full broadcast , thank God. But enough to remind her every time she inhaled that it was there, that he was there.

She found a quieter stretch near the lower bar and pulled her phone from her clutch. It took two tries to hit the right contact. Her hands weren’t steady.

“Isla?” Marla’s voice was alert, the faintest rustle of papers in the background.

“Can you—” Her voice caught. She tried again, softer. “Can you have a car waiting when we dock?”

There was a pause long enough to tell her she hadn’t hidden her tone. “You sound shaken. Did something happen?”

“No.” Too quick, too defensive. She turned toward the railing, watching the churn of black water against the hull. “I just… don’t want to stay. Can you arrange it?”

“Of course. But, Isla—”

“Please.”

Another pause. “Alright. I’ll text you the driver’s name.”

She ended the call before her manager could press further, shoving the phone back into her clutch. Her pulse was still in her throat, an unsteady beat that made thinking in straight lines impossible.

She didn’t even really know him. Jasper’s brother, that was all she’d learned in those first electric seconds before instinct took over. And now there was a bond tying her to a man she’d spoken barely a dozen words to.

The bond itself dulled the sharp edge of her scent, pulling it inward, claiming it. But there was still something left in the air, something warm and unmistakable that didn’t belong to her. She caught it in flashes, mostly when she moved, and it made her chest tighten every time.

Maybe the other guests didn’t notice. Maybe they weren’t close enough to know his scent, to connect it to her. But the thought of anyone guessing made her skin prickle.

She pressed her elbows to the rail, looking out into the night. Somewhere beyond this floating glass palace, the city lights blurred against the horizon. Somewhere out there was the life she’d been holding together, the one she’d built piece by piece to keep her past at bay. And now, with a single mistake, it felt like sand sliding out from under her hands.

How had it come to this?

She stayed there until the music dimmed and the first hints of motion beneath her feet told her the yacht was easing toward its dock. The night air had cooled, sharper now, and she let it wash over her until she could breathe without that frantic edge.

When the engines finally rumbled into idle, she stepped away from the rail, head down, already planning the quickest route to the gangway.

Somewhere above, she thought she caught a trace of him again.

—

From the upper deck, the noise of the party faded into a duller hum. Noah stood near the glass, half in shadow, scanning the movement below. Most of the guests had started drifting toward the exit now that the yacht was docking, laughter spilling into the cool night air.

And then he saw her.

She was moving quickly but without drawing attention, her head down, clutch in hand. The lights from the pier caught in her hair for the briefest second before she disappeared into the crowd pressing toward the gangway.

The bond flared like a fresh bruise, sharp, immediate, impossible to ignore. Every instinct he had screamed to go after her, close the distance, pull her back where she belonged. His fingers curled against the railing until his knuckles ached.

He could almost scent her even from here, faint but distinct against the salt of the air. The rest of the world narrowed to that one thread.

Go.

The urge hit like muscle memory, as natural as breathing. But he stayed where he was, teeth set against the pull. Chasing her now, here, in front of Jasper’s crowd, would only make a bad situation worse.

She vanished down the gangway, swallowed by the press of people and the dark beyond the dock lights. The knot in his chest tightened, every cell screaming at the loss.

Noah straightened, forcing a slow breath. He would find her again. But not like this.

Not tonight.