That gets her to lean back slightly, just enough to look up at me. Her face is unreadable, but a flicker crosses her eyes for a second. Then she smiles, a small, measured thing. “I love you, Levi.” Her voice is so soft, even honest with the way it wavers just slightly.
But still, it’s alwaysafter. Always a response. Always returned. Never offered. And I don’t know why that gnaws at me like it does.
Maybe it’s the way she can make a risk profile in her sleep, or remember my schedule like it’s ingrained in her, but never volunteers those three words unless Isay them first.
Maybe it’s the way she clings to me like I’m a tether, and yet when I look too closely, it’s like I’m staring at a mirror that might crack.
Maybe it’s because I’ve wondered—more than once—if she’s only here because someone asked her to be. Because her parents told her it was time to‘secure the alliance,’to use her mother’s crass phrasing. The Astors and Wentworths, joining forces like a goddamn archaic pact.
But I think I’m fooling myself. Thinking we’ve gone beyond a stupid pact. That the late-night dinners and bookshop weekends actually mean something. That she has actually chosen me back.
And now, holding her, all I can feel is the question wedging itself deeper into my ribs. Does she actually… love me? She never says it first. Or is she just fulfilling a duty? Like I’m supposed to be grateful for.
My arms stay around her. I kiss her temple and breathe her in. But something in me goes quiet.
Still, I can’t help it. I feel the smallest edge of something bitter take root. And that’s when I make the first mistake.
The next night when I get home, I tuck the ring I got custom-made for her in the bottom drawer of the second nightstand instead of the primary one. The nightstand where cables and old chargers go, only to be forgotten.
And that’s exactly what happened.
THREE
Levi
“Two? Why two?” I ask, my eyes narrowing at my phone’s screen distractedly. I still haven’t gotten confirmation from Cece about her attendance at the fundraiser this weekend.
“Uh—yes. Apparently they had two representatives fly to Vancouver for something else and… they requested an audience with you,” Taewon says, his figure moving in my periphery, his voice slightly strained.
I’m guessing he knows what an impromptu meeting does to my schedule. But if people from Miller-Moore want to see me—they will.
I can’t afford to ignore and delay this merger. The gnawing feeling where I suspect something is wrong will eventually go away. Either by materializing or by being a non-issue.
The fact that I’m always looking over my shoulderwith this presidency at Astor Holdings, can’t be healthy.
“Fine,” I sigh. “We’ll get this done quickly. I want the meeting done before seven this evening.”
“Uh… Levi?”
That grabs my attention away from my phone. Taewon rarely calls me by my first name while at work. It’s usuallyMr. Astorwhen we’re in the building. Even though I hate it because my father maintains that title even decades later. It’s almost as ifheis the president.
“What?”
“The two Miller-Moore reps are Grace Miller and her senior consultant… Iris Desmond.”
My eyes narrow at Taewon, his penetrating gaze studying my face with curiosity. My brain stutters, so does my voice. “I-Iris? Iris Desmond?” I repeat the name like it’s in another language.
Taewon doesn’t answer right away. Still watching, but then he nods. “Yes. Iris Desmond.”
I stand up slowly from behind my desk, a strange pressure behind my ribs. “Are you sure? LikeactuallyIris…myIris?”
There’s a pause, and then a loud exhale makes me snap my head back up to him.
“YourIris?” He deadpans. “Really, Levi?”
I wince. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Right,” he drawls, almost glaring.
