The Billionaire's Forbidden Claim

Chapter Four

POV: Kai Russo

I closed the door behind me and leaned against the cool wood, eyes shut.

The scent of cedar, the lingering warmth of her, it all pressed against my chest like an oxygen aid.

My temperature increased, the evidence of my body’s betrayal was undeniable.

I wasn’t used to this. Desire, raw and ungoverned, wasn’t a weakness I tolerated…not anymore.

And yet, Saraphina had done what no woman had ever managed to do in a long time: she had unsettled me.

I drew a deep breath, sliding my hand over my hair to push it from my damp forehead, but the movement did little to steady me.

My body had responded before my mind could assert control.

Damn her, I muttered under my breath, a soft growl that would have sounded foreign in any other room, to any other witness.

My private study, my place of sanctuary, but tonight, even this place couldn’t shield me from the storm Saraphina had awakened.

The study door clicked shut behind me, sealing me in a room lined with mahogany shelves, books and ledgers, and the glittering lights of the city through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

I paced a few steps, letting the cold glass of the window press against my palm. I needed to focus.

And then, despite my attempts at calm, my gaze drifted to the faint burn of her image behind my closed eyes.

I remembered her from years ago, when she had saved me.

She had appeared like an unexpected angel, determined, and she had saved me without asking for anything in return.

I hadn’t seen her since. The empire had been built in blood and sweat, but the imprint of her bravery, of her sharp, fierce loyalty, had lingered.

And now, seeing her across the ballroom in silk and lace, I realized she didn’t remember me.

Not the boy she had rescued. Not the chaotic, desperate young man who had been nothing to her beyond the immediate need for protection.

She had no reason to know, no reason to recognize the faint bond that once tied our fates.

And here I am, ready to protect her from the claws of her enemies as a means to repay her.

I closed my eyes and let the memory settle.

She was mine now, if not by choice, then by contract. And contracts were a language I understood.

I wasn’t the man to be undone by sentiment, not anymore.

Yet even as I tried to settle my thoughts, my body reminded me of her touch.

The way she had wielded the knife. The heat in her eyes, even as her body betrayed her.

I exhaled sharply, letting my fingers trace the edge of the desk. Control, I told myself. Control above all else.

I sank into the chair behind the desk, the leather cold and firm beneath me, and reached for the files I had left open earlier, Lorenzo Enterprises.

I had promised myself I would handle this night with business first. And business was the only thing that mattered.

The accounts sprawled across my screen, debts and ledgers highlighted in red, contracts, loan agreements, supplier invoices.

I leaned back because something wasn't adding up.

Lorenzo Enterprises... Still in debt. Even after I had personally sanctioned the loans that should have covered operational costs.

Even after I had cleared what should have been insurmountable liabilities.

I tapped a finger against the glass desk, irritation pricking at my temples.

My own money had gone into saving this company.

Lorenzo had borrowed from me directly, insisting the funds were for salaries, for stabilizing the business, for covering debts that could cripple the company. And yet, here I was, staring at balances that were laughably insufficient. How was it still owing?

A low hum of frustration rolled through me. Lorenzo thought he could play me. Or perhaps, more likely, he had been desperate.

Either way, his daughter would inherit nothing but a mountain of liability and that mountain would be mine to mold.

The irony wasn’t lost on me. She saved me once. She has no memory of it now.

And yet, here she was, curled in a web that she didn’t even understand, a web I had constructed before she could even step into her own power.

I leaned forward, fingers brushing across spreadsheets, contracts, and ledger notes, tracing the flow of money, the gaps in accounting, the subtle oversights that screamed mismanagement.

And then it hit me. The Lorenzo empire had been bleeding silently for years.

The debts were more than structural; they were systemic. Loans had been siphoned, investments mismanaged, revenues misallocated.

I let my head fall back against the chair, eyes closing, dark thoughts swirling.

She doesn’t know. She thinks she’s inheriting a giant. She thinks she has control. I smiled, a slow, calculating curl of lips.

I poured myself a glass of whiskey. It burnt a small comfort as I traced the numbers on the spreadsheets again.

Salaries were accounted for, debts highlighted, suppliers notified. Yet still, the company owed money it should not have owed.

Someone had taken advantage of Lorenzo’s trust or perhaps Lorenzo had lied, he had misrepresented the state of affairs.

Either way, the truth lay before me now, and I would untangle it methodically, piece by piece.

My gaze fell on a photograph on the corner of the desk, nearly forgotten beneath invoices and tax statements.

It was old, a relic from before the empire, before the name Russo was created and had carried weights beyond the city limits.

A younger me, sleeves rolled, hair messy, standing beside a girl with a determined smile and eyes too bright for her own safety.

The girl who saved me. The girl who had meant nothing to me then, but whose bravery had burned into memory.

I stared at her face, and a strange ache settled in my chest. She doesn’t remember.

And yet, she was here now. All I could see in her eyes was hatred standing against me in ways I hadn't anticipated, but then, her eyes were filled with love and she was brave.

I drained the whiskey, setting the glass down with deliberate precision, letting the burn steady my pulse.

Returning to the ledgers, I dug deeper, tracing every transaction, every allocation of resources, every discrepancy.

Salaries had been covered, yes but only by my intervention. Suppliers had been paid, operations maintained, but margins were still razor-thin.

My money had been a bandage over an infection, and the infection had spread further than Lorenzo’s limited foresight had allowed.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. The girl thinks she has inherited a kingdom. I allowed myself a slow, deliberate chuckle, low and amused.

She thought she was capable. She thought she understood what she was stepping into. And that… that would make her compliant eventually.

Not broken. Not defeated. But compliant in a way that made her respect the architecture of power.

I closed the laptop with a soft snap, letting the silence settle around me. It was late or perhaps early, but the world outside was still moving, and I would have to move faster.

I needed to understand the full depth of the Lorenzo finances, the missing pieces of their empire, and how best to mold them to my will without leaving her in the dust or entirely in the dark.

My thoughts drifted again to the ballroom again, and for the first time, I thought of her boobs and perky butt, her plum lips and her neck.

I had faced enemies, rivals, assassins, betrayals…men and women who sought to destroy me. But Saraphina… she was different.

She was a challenge, yes, but she was also a variable I had not anticipated, a flame I could neither ignore nor extinguish without consequence.

I rose, pacing up and down my study, running a hand through my hair, mind calculating, plotting, strategizing.

I would see every ledger of the empire, every weak link, every debt owed and every opportunity to tighten control.

And when she was ready or perhaps when I deemed her ready, I would bring her into the fold. Not as a pawn, not entirely. But as an ally. Perhaps even… as a partner.

The thought made my chest tighten, and I cursed under my breath. Do not confuse necessity with desire. Control first. Everything else second.

I paused at the window, looking out at the city sprawled beneath me, glittering and indifferent.

The night had been long, but the empire waited for no one, not even a defiant bride or a memory-laden past.

I would untangle the debts, uncover the truth, and make the empire hers to inherit or to fight against.

But first… I needed to calm the restlessness coiling inside me.

The body, the memory, the fire she ignited. One deep breath. Two. I forced control back into my limbs, into my chest, into the steady cadence of a man who had survived worse than a storm in silk and lace.

Control, Kai Russo. Always control.

And tomorrow… tomorrow, the games will truly begin.

But something else clicked inside me…not dangerous. What if Lorenzo didn't take the loan for his company?

He wasn't arrested before his death…and the reason for his arrest wasn't disclosed.

Lorenzo…what are you up to? Even after your death?