Chapter 4 - Playing House
The penthouse suite atop the Vale Residence was forty stories above the roaring Chicago wind, an expanse of dark oak, slate-gray furnishings, and floor-to-ceiling glass that framed the snow-covered skyline. The penthouse doors clicked shut behind us, cutting off the deafening noise of the press and the furious murmurs of the city's elite.
I slipped out of my heels with a sigh that felt like it had been trapped inside my chest for five years.
“You enjoyed that,” I accused, tossing my clutch onto the granite kitchen island. “You enjoyed watching Julian Vance turn gray right in front of the mayor.”
Roman had already unbuttoned his collar and pulled off his bow tie, tossing it over the back of a leather armchair. “I enjoyed ending a threat before it had the chance to touch you. There’s a distinct difference.”
“He isn't finished, Roman. A man like Vance doesn't roll over because you put a diamond on my finger.”
“No,” Roman agreed, walking over to the bar cart and pouring two fingers of single-malt Scotch into a heavy crystal glass. “He doesn't. Which is why you’re sleeping here tonight. And every night until the merger is legally finalized.”
I stopped in my tracks. “Excuse me?”
He held the glass out to me. I hesitated, then took it, letting the amber liquid warm my chilled fingers. Roman poured a second glass for himself, took a slow sip, and leaned back against the counter, studying me with an intensity that made the penthouse feel impossibly small.
“The board has eyes on this building,” Roman said quietly. “Vance will hire private investigators to watch every move we make between now and Saturday. If we don't look like two people who have been secretly obsessed with each other for years, the SEC will flag the union as a fraudulent consolidation before the ink is dry.”
“So we play house?”
“We live together,” Roman corrected. “We arrive together. We leave together. And when the cameras are watching, you don't look at me like you want to put a dagger through my trachea.”
“I wouldn't have to look at you like that if you hadn't concealed the fact that you held my entire future in your hands!” I took a swallow of the Scotch, the burn searing my throat. “You treat me like an assignment, Roman. Conrad gave you an order, and you’re executing it like an obedient soldier.”
In two strides, Roman crossed the distance between us.
His hand snatched the glass from my fingers and slammed it onto the counter behind me with a loud clatter. Before I could back away, his hands planted on either side of my hips, trapping me against the marble island. His towering frame blocked out the city lights, casting his face in deep, brooding shadows.
“Do you honestly believe I stayed up until four in the morning every night while you were in Lisbon because of Conrad Mercer?” he snarled, his voice stripped bare of every corporate mask he had ever worn. “Do you think I tracked every bastard who tried to talk to you in that square because of an old man’s order?”
My breath shuddered. “Roman—”
“I let you go because I was twelve years older than you, because you were twenty-one and thought the world was a tragedy waiting to be written,” he said, his face dipping closer, his breath hot against my lips. “I let you go because I knew if I touched you then, I would have ruined you. I would have locked you in this penthouse and never let you see the light of day. But you came back, Abigail. You walked into my office in that damn black dress, provoked me, and demanded to know what happens next.”
My heart hammered wildly against my ribs. “And what does happen next?”
Roman stared at my lips, his jaw clenched so tight the cords in his neck stood out. For a split second, I thought he was going to kiss me—to obliterate the five years of agony and silence between us with one brutal, overdue strike.
May you like
Instead, he stepped back, inhaling sharply through his nose, putting the invisible wall back in place with agonizing discipline.
“What happens next,” Roman said, his voice flat and controlled once more, “is you take the master suite. I take the guest bedroom. And tomorrow morning, we show Chicago how happy we are.”
