Emilia stood in Max's office, her hands trembling, her voice barely a whisper. "I heard her last night, Max. Grace. She was talking to someone. She said once you two are married, she gets half your company. She said she might even kill you or divorce you for it."
Max didn’t speak. He didn’t blink.
Instead, he closed the distance between them, his expression unreadable, eyes flickering with something between fury and anguish.
Then he kissed her.
It wasn’t soft. It wasn’t tentative. It was full of urgency, the kind that melted all logic. The kiss lit a match inside her that she didn’t know had been waiting for a flame. It was everything she had felt and tried to bury.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against hers. "Please," he whispered, "let it go. Just trust me."
Emilia’s bre
