“Your home, you mean,” I say.
“Our home.” He glances at me. “For now.”
A deep sigh heaves my chest. I don’t respond. Just stare into the darkness.
I’m married. To a stranger. To a Molloy.
In approximately thirty minutes, we’ll be alone. In his apartment. As husband and wife.
My grandmother’s ring digs into my finger. I twist it. Once. Twice. Until the skin underneath burns.
“Hey.”
I look up at him.
“Whatever you’re thinking right now, it’s going to be okay.” His voice is low and steady, and it calms me the slightest bit. “I meant what I said last night. I’m not here to take over your life. We’ll figure this out together.”
“Together,” I repeat. The word feels strange in my mouth.
“Yeah.” He keeps his eyes on the road. “That’s how allies work.”
Allies. That’s what we agreed to be. Last night, in my office, when he showed up out of nowhere and somehow made me feel less alone.
I don’t trust him. Not completely. Maybe not at all.
But I’m starting to believe he’s not the enemy.
And right now, that’s going to have to be enough.
The car pulls up to a building in Back Bay. It’s sleek and modern, the kind of building that screams money without saying a word.
He pulls into an underground garage and kills the engine.
“Ready?” he asks.
“No.”
“Yeah.” He almost smiles. “Me neither.”
We get out of the car and walk to the elevator, standing side by side in silence as it climbs to the penthouse.
I watch the numbers tick upward and memories of all that’s happened this week explode between my temples like bullets. The gala, my dad, the contract.
And now this. A new home. A new name. A new life I never asked for.
The elevator dings. The doors open. He gestures for me to go first.
I take a breath, square my shoulders, and step into whatever comes next.
For better or worse.
CHAPTER 10
LOCHLAN
She'squiet in the elevator as it creeps up to the penthouse.
But it’s not the angry silence from earlier. This is different. It’s the kind of silence that tells me she’s exhausted. Shell-shocked. Like the weight of becoming my wife finally landed on her shoulders and she's still figuring out how to carry it.
