The Francis situation. The board meeting. The acquisition that's hanging by a thread. And underneath all of it—Harper.
I need more time.
Time to think. Time to assess. Time to figure out what the hell I'm going to do about the fact that I'm married to a woman I barely know.
"Gina," I say, not looking up from my phone. "When Harper Beaumont arrives this morning, send her directly to my office. Before orientation. Before anything else."
Gina's eyebrows rise slightly. "She's scheduled for nine, sir. HR has an entire onboarding?—"
"The second she walks through that door, I want to know. Clear?"
"Yes, sir."
She leaves, and I stand there for a moment, staring at the city spread out below me.
I'm not making a decision yet.
That's the decision.
I'm not annulling this marriage until I know what the right move is. Until I understand the full scope of the damage. Until I figure out what Harper Beaumont actually wants—and more importantly, what I can control.
Because the one thing I learned in Vegas—besides the fact that drunk-me has terrible judgment—is that Harper doesn't do anything the way I expect.
Which makes her either the most dangerous person in my life right now.
Or the most valuable.
I'm still trying to decide which when there's a sharp knock on my office door.
Before I can respond, it swings open.
My publicist sweeps in like a storm wrapped in designer labels. Leopard-print coat flaring behind her, sunglasses still on despite the depressingly gray Manhattan morning, Rachel Stone steps inside, heels clicking across the floor before she comes to a stop.
"So," she says, peeling off her sunglasses and tossing them onto my desk, "quick question: would you prefer to ruin your reputation slowly… or go for a dramatic, career-ending implosion before lunch?"
I don't look up immediately, flipping through the acquisition reports. "Good morning to you too, Rach."
She drops into the chair across from me, crossing one leg over the other. "I leave you alone for one weekend—one—and you come back legally married with a viral video and a scandal-adjacent CEO arrest tied to your acquisition target."
"Efficiency is one of my strengths."
"Self-sabotage, apparently, is another."
I close the file, finally meeting her green eyes. "We're not doing this."
"Oh, we are absolutely doing this. Vegas was supposed to be a soft-touch weekend. You charm Francis, keep him out of trouble, sell him the vision. That was the assignment."
"I was there."
"Were you? Because from where I'm sitting, you managed to miss the 'don't marry a stranger in a gaming chapel' portion of the agenda."
I exhale slowly, standing and moving toward the windows. "Let's get to the point, Rach. What do you want?"
"I want to stop you from making another mistake."
"Which would be?"
“Annulling your marriage.”
