Chapter 10
993 Words
Kylie’s POV
By the time I realized my hands were shaking and sweaty, the pen was already between my fingers.
The room was quiet. Too quiet for something this important. The long glass table reflected my face back at me, composed and unreadable. I barely recognized the woman staring back. She looked powerful. Untouchable. That illusion was the only thing holding me together.
Yamah stood a few steps away, his back turned as he signed something on the side desk. I noticed the check immediately. The amount. The way he folded it carefully. The envelope places beside it.
I wasn’t meant to see it. I knew that obviously.
“Is everything okay?” he asked without turning around.
“Yes,” I replied too quickly.
He finally faced me, eyes dull but observant. Yamah never missed details. That was part of what drew me to him. Part of what scared me now.
“The signing can wait if you’re not ready,” he said calmly. “Nothing here is worth your peace.”
Peace.
The word almost broke me.
Because I had none.
My phone vibrated in my bag. I didn’t need to look to know who it was. Liam had a way of making his presence felt even in silence. Even across rooms. Across lives.
Yamah slid the envelope into his jacket pocket. “This needs to be mailed tonight. International transfer. Quick.”
“Where is it going?” I asked before I could stop myself.
His gaze held mine for a second longer than necessary. “Somewhere far enough. It's business”
That answer stayed with me.
We moved back to the table. The contract waited. My name printed neatly at the bottom. This was the life I fought for. The version of me that survived humiliation, neglect, silence. The woman Liam never believed could exist without him.
I picked up the pen.
And froze.
Images crashed into my mind uninvited. Liam’s voice. His calm threats. The certainty in his words when he said he was done waiting. The invisible weight of something that could ruin me with a single click.
“Kylie,” Yamah said gently. “Look at me.”
I did.
“If something is wrong, you can tell me.”
I wanted to. God, I wanted to. But telling him meant dragging him into a war he didn’t see coming. A war already moving in shadows. And whatever that check was… whatever secret he was mailing across borders… it told me one thing clearly.
Everyone was playing their own game.
I lowered the pen.
“I need time,” I said quietly.
He didn’t look angry. He looked thoughtful.
“Then take it.”
That was worse.
Later, alone in my car, I finally checked my phone.
A message from Liam.
“You’re running out of time to pretend you’re free.”
My stomach twisted. Another message followed.
“You should be careful who you trust. Even enemies keep secrets.”
I stared at the screen, my reflection faint in the glass. Somewhere deep inside me, fear tangled with something else. Not desire. Not weakness.
Recognition.
This wasn’t just about my past anymore.
It was about who would control my future.
And I didn’t know who would strike first.
Liam’s POV
I sat in Klington Yamah’s office and realized too late that power always came with a leash.
The unfamiliar call replayed in my head.
The calm voice. The confidence. Someone bold enough to approach me directly, knowing exactly who I was tied to. That alone made them dangerous.
Klington stood by the window, hands behind his back, staring down at the city like it belonged to him already.
“You look scared,” he said. “That’s unlike you.”
“I was contacted,” I replied carefully.
“Someone offering an alternative.”
He turned slowly. Smiled.
“Of course they did. Opportunists always circle when blood is in the water.”
“They want to move against Yamah,” I said.
Klington laughed. “Everyone wants to move against my brother. The difference is who survives trying.”
I clenched my jaw. “You told me this was controlled.”
“It is,” he said calmly. “As long as you don’t panic.”
My phone buzzed. A message from Kylie.
Short. Distant.
“Stop this Liam,I don't belong to you anymore”
I almost laughed.
She thought this was something that could be stopped.
“I want her back,” I said bluntly. “That was our agreement.”
“And you will have her,” Klington replied.
“But not by chasing her like a desperate man. Control is patience, Liam.”
Control.
That word again.
I thought of her sitting across from me earlier, composed, guarded. She didn’t look like someone who belonged to me anymore. And that terrified me more than losing money, power, or positions.
“What about the check?” I asked.
Klington’s eyes flickered briefly. Just once.
“You noticed,” he said. “Good.”
“Where is it going?”
“Out of reach,” he replied. “For now.”
I understood then. Whatever Yamah was doing, it wasn’t innocent. And whoever contacted me wanted to use that. Wanted to cut Klington out and step into the chaos.
I was standing in the middle of two monsters.
And Kylie was right in the line of fire.
That night, I stared at my phone long after the city went quiet. I could expose her. Force her hand. End this waiting.
But power rushed too early burns itself out.
I typed one last message instead.
“Choose carefully. Everyone around you is against you.”
I didn’t know if she’d believe me.
But I knew one thing for sure.
By the time she made her decision, there would be no clean way out for either of us.
And someone was going to lose everything.
- Writer
