He answered on the first ring.
“Audrey?”
His voice was a low growl, a direct line to the memory of the morning, of his skin against hers.
“He did it,” she whispered, her back pressed against the cold wood of her office door. “He’s trying to ruin me.”
“Slow down. Who did what?”
“Cole. There was an anonymous complaint sent to the museum board. It’s full of lies, specific lies about my exhibit. He’s the only one who knew those details. He’s trapping me, Kian. He’s burning down my life so he can be the only one left to rescue me.” The words tumbled out, a torrent of panic and rage.
There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. Then, silence. Not a passive silence, but a heavy, dangerous one.
“I’ll handle it,” he said. The words were flat. Cold. The voice of a man making a promise he had every intention of keeping.
“How?” she asked, a sliver of desperate hope in her chest. “You don’t even know what—”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll find a way. Just tell me what you need.”
Before she could answer, a text message lit up her phone screen. It was Cole.
Terrible news about your day. I’m so sorry, my love. Let me make it better. Meet me at The Elysian. 8 pm. Don’t be late.
The Elysian. An old-world restaurant dripping with crystal chandeliers and quiet money. It was his favorite place to stage a victory.
“I have to go,” she said to Kian, her voice hollow. “He wants to see me.”
“Don’t go,” Kian said, his voice urgent. “Meet me instead.”
The offer was a lifeline. A beautiful, tempting escape. But she could already picture Cole’s reaction if she didn’t show up. The cold fury. The escalation. He had just fired a missile at her career; she couldn’t imagine what he would do next.
“I can’t,” she breathed. “It will only make it worse.”
She hung up before Kian could argue, before she could change her mind.
An hour later, she walked into The Elysian. The maître d’ smiled, already leading her toward the back.
“Mr. Anderson is waiting for you, Ms. Wells.”
Cole was at the best table in the room, a secluded corner booth upholstered in dark red velvet. A bottle of champagne was already chilling in a silver bucket beside him. He stood as she approached, his face a perfect mask of loving concern. He kissed her cheek, his hand possessive on the small of her back as he guided her into the booth.
“You look exhausted, poor thing,” he said, sliding in beside her, his thigh pressing against hers. “Don’t you worry about a thing. I made a few calls after you told me what happened.”
She froze. “What did you tell me?” She hadn’t spoken to him since this morning.
He waved a dismissive hand. “Your assistant called me, frantic. She was worried about you. It’s a good thing we have people looking out for us.” He poured her a glass of sparkling water without asking. “My contact on the board said not to worry. It’s just professional jealousy. We’ll weather this, Audrey. Together.”
He was spinning it already. Her assistant didn’t call him. He had bugged her office, hacked her email, or simply orchestrated the entire thing and was waiting for the fallout. He was the arsonist and the firefighter, and he expected her to be grateful.
She felt a desperate need to scan the room, a primal instinct to find an escape route. The restaurant was quiet, filled with the low murmur of conversation and the clink of silverware. Her eyes drifted past the couples, the business dinners, and settled on the long, dark-wood bar.
And then she saw him.
It was Kian.
He was sitting alone at the far end of the bar, a glass of dark liquor in his hand. He wasn’t dressed like a dockworker. He wore a dark, well-fitting button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his forearms. He looked powerful, dangerous, and completely out of place, yet simultaneously like he owned the entire building.
His eyes found hers across the room.
There was no warmth in his gaze. No hint of the man who held her that morning. His face was a mask of cold, controlled fury. A stone wall. He was watching her. Watching Cole.
Her heart hammered against her ribs. What was he doing here?
“Audrey?” Cole’s voice snapped her attention back. “You’re a million miles away.”
“I’m sorry. Just… stressed.”
“I know.” He took her hand, his thumb stroking her knuckles. “And that’s why I’m doing this.”
He slid out of the booth. For a horrifying second, she thought he was going to confront Kian. Instead, he took a step into the small clearing beside their table.
And he got down on one knee.
A collective gasp went through the nearby tables. Conversations died. Diners turned in their seats to watch.
“Cole, what are you doing?” she hissed, her voice a strangled whisper.
“What I should have done a long time ago,” he said, his voice pitching just loud enough for everyone to hear. He pulled a small velvet box from his jacket pocket. “Audrey Wells. You are my world. My rock. Especially now, with our baby on the way, our little family starting… I know things have been difficult. You’ve been under so much pressure. But I am here to take all of that away.”
He opened the box.
A diamond the size of a marble glittered under the soft restaurant lights. It was obscene. A cage forged from light and pressure.
“Let me protect you,” he said, his eyes shining with a performer’s emotion. “Let me take care of you. Of our child. Say you’ll be my wife. Say you’ll make our family official.”
The entire room was silent, holding its breath. A woman at the next table had her hand over her heart. The pressure was a physical weight, crushing the air from her lungs.
She couldn’t breathe.
Her eyes darted from Cole’s expectant, smiling face to the blinding diamond. He had engineered this moment perfectly. A public declaration of ownership, wrapped in the language of love. A trap from which there was no polite escape. If she said no, she was the cruel, ungrateful monster. If she said yes, the last lock on her cage door would click shut.
Her gaze flickered past him, past the smiling strangers, back to the bar.
Kian hadn’t moved. He was staring right at her. His hand was clenched so tightly around his glass that his knuckles were white. His jaw was a hard, unforgiving line. His face was pure stone.
He was watching her. Waiting.
And in his eyes, she saw not just anger, but a challenge.
The silence stretched. It became a living thing, thick and suffocating. Cole’s smile began to feel strained at the edges.
“Audrey?” he prompted, his voice tight.
The walls were closing in. The ring. The smiling crowd. The baby. And Kian, at the bar, a silent, furious judge.
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.