The diamond glittered. A perfect, beautiful lie.
Cole knelt on the floor, his face upturned, a portrait of devotion for their captivated audience. He was selling a story, and she was the star character who had forgotten her lines.
Her gaze was locked with Kian’s across the room.
His face was hard, unreadable granite. But his eyes. His eyes were burning. They weren’t judging her. They were daring her. Daring her to break the cage. Daring her to choose.
Something inside her snapped. The fear, the paralysis, the years of walking on eggshells—it all just broke.
She took a breath.
“Cole,” she said, her voice surprisingly steady. “Please get up.”
His smile faltered. A flicker of confusion. “Audrey?”
“This is… it’s too much,” she said, keeping her voice low, but every person in the silent room heard her. “This isn’t the time or the place. We need to talk in private.”
It wasn’t a yes.
A murmur rippled through the restaurant. The woman with her hand over her heart now looked scandalized.
Cole’s face tightened. The charming fiancé evaporated, leaving something cold and hard in his place. He stood up, the movement jerky and angry. He grabbed her wrist, his grip like steel.
“Don’t make a scene,” he hissed, his smile a terrifying, fixed thing for the public.
“You’re hurting me.”
“Let’s go,” he said, pulling her from the booth. He tossed a few hundred-dollar bills on the table and practically dragged her toward the exit, forcing her to stumble along in his wake.
He didn’t look back at Kian. He didn’t have to. He had his prize. He was reasserting his control.
The cold night air hit them like a slap. He hauled her around the corner, out of sight of the restaurant’s windows, and slammed her back against the brick wall of the building.
“What the hell was that?” he snarled, his face inches from hers. The mask was gone. This was the real Cole.
“I told you, it wasn’t the right time—”
“The right time?” He laughed, a harsh, ugly sound. “I orchestrate the perfect moment to save you from your own incompetence, to give our child my name, and you humiliate me in front of fifty people?”
“You didn’t do it for me!” she shot back, the anger finally boiling over. “You did it for you! It was a performance! Just like the letter you sent to the board!”
His eyes went dead. A chilling, absolute cold. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you lie to me, Cole. Not anymore. Who else knew about the astrolabe? Who else knew the exact shipping details?”
“I was trying to help you!” he roared, his fist hitting the brick wall next to her head. She flinched, her heart seizing in her chest. “I have spent months cleaning up your messes! And this is the thanks I get? You need me, Audrey. You’d be nothing without me. Your career would be over. You’d be alone, with a baby you can’t even take care of.”
Every word was a perfectly crafted blow, designed to hit her deepest fears.
But all she could see was Kian’s face. The challenge in his eyes.
“No,” she whispered.
“No, what?” he spat.
“No,” she said again, louder this time. She pushed against his chest. He was so startled by the act of defiance that he stumbled back a step. “I’m done. I’m done with you, I’m done with this prison of a life. I’m done being afraid.”
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl as he lunged for her.
She was already running.
She didn’t think. She just ran. Back around the corner, back toward the warm light of the restaurant. She shoved the door open, the bell above it jingling madly.
Every head turned.
She ignored them. Her eyes found him. He was already on his feet, his chair pushed back. He had been waiting.
She walked straight to the bar. Straight to him.
Cole burst in a second later, his face livid with rage. “Audrey, get back here right now.”
Kian stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body. He was taller than Cole, broader. A solid wall of muscle and quiet menace.
“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Kian said. His voice was calm, but it held a lethal edge.
Cole’s eyes narrowed, taking in the scene. Audrey, hiding behind this stranger. The pieces clicked into place in his mind.
“I see,” Cole said, a slow, poisonous smile spreading across his face. “Found yourself a new project, Audrey? Some dock trash to slum it with? Does he know you’re carrying my baby?”
Kian didn’t even flinch. He just looked at Cole with a look of utter contempt. “Get out.”
“This is between me and my fiancée.”
“She said no,” Kian said, taking a deliberate step forward. “The conversation is over.”
Cole looked from Kian’s imposing frame to the room full of staring witnesses. He was smart enough to know when he’d lost the advantage. He smoothed his suit jacket, his mask of civility slipping back into place.
He looked at Audrey. “You’ll regret this,” he promised softly. Then he turned and walked out.
The silence he left behind was deafening.
Kian put his hand on her back. “Come on.” He dropped a bill on the bar—she didn’t see the amount—and guided her out a side door she hadn’t noticed before, into a clean, private alley.
His truck was parked right there. He helped her in, his touch firm and steady.
The drive to his apartment was silent. The city lights blurred past the window. She was shaking, the adrenaline from the confrontation warring with the terror of what she had just done. She had detonated her life.
He led her up the familiar wooden stairs. Inside his apartment, he locked the door. The sound echoed in the quiet room.
She stood in the middle of the floor, arms wrapped around herself, trembling.
He came to her, stopping just in front of her. He gently took her by the shoulders.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice rough with concern.
She shook her head, a single tear tracing a hot path down her cold cheek.
He wiped it away with his thumb. His gaze was intense, searching. “He’s never going to touch you again.”
It wasn’t a platitude. It was a vow.
And that broke her.
A sob tore from her throat, and she collapsed against him, burying her face in his chest. His arms came around her instantly, holding her tight, holding her together. He just stood there, letting her cry, his hand stroking her hair, murmuring quiet, soothing things against her temple.
When the tears finally subsided, she was left exhausted, hollowed out. She leaned back, looking up at him through tear-damp lashes.
The air shifted. The comfort became something else. Something charged.
The space between them crackled with everything that had happened. The public humiliation, the fight, her running to him. Her choice.
“Why were you there?” she whispered.
“I followed you,” he admitted without shame. “I wasn’t going to let you face him alone.”
His honesty was a gut punch. He had come for her.
She reached up, her hand cupping his rough jaw. He was real. This was real.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
His eyes darkened, his gaze dropping to her mouth. “Don’t thank me yet.”
The desperation that had been simmering all night boiled over. This time it wasn’t her running from something. It was her running to him.
She surged up, her mouth finding his.
The kiss was raw, hungry. It was a seal on the choice she had made. It was a declaration of war. He met her force with his own, his hands tangling in her hair, tilting her head back.
His tongue swept her mouth, a possessive, claiming motion that sent fire straight to her core.
He broke the kiss only to lift her, her legs wrapping around his waist as he carried her to the bed. Clothes were torn away with frantic urgency. Buttons, zippers, fabric. Obstacles.
He laid her on the sheets, his eyes devouring her. He didn’t just look at her body. He looked at her, at the woman who had just walked through fire. He saw her strength, her fear, her fight.
He came down on top of her, his mouth a hot brand on her neck, her collarbone, the curve of her breast. She arched into him, a wordless plea. She needed this. Needed him. Needed to feel this connection, to burn away Cole’s memory with a touch that was honest and real.
When he entered her, it was with a deep, powerful thrust that stole her breath. It was not gentle. It was not slow. It was a frantic, desperate joining. A claiming. Mine.
He moved with a relentless, driving rhythm, and she met him thrust for thrust. Her nails dug into his back, her hips rising to meet his. The quiet, careful woman from the restaurant was gone. In her place was someone wild and free, taking what she wanted, screaming his name into the dark.
The climax hit them both at the same time. A violent, shattering wave that ripped through her, making her cry out as he groaned her name, his body emptying into hers.
He collapsed beside her, pulling her into his arms, their bodies slick with sweat, their hearts pounding in the wreckage of the storm. He held her, his chin resting on the top of her head.
The adrenaline slowly drained away, leaving a quiet, terrifying clarity in its wake.
She had made her choice. She had run from Cole. She had run to Kian.
She had just declared war on a very powerful, very vengeful man.
And as she lay there, safe in Kian’s arms, her hand drifted down to her stomach. She wasn’t just protecting herself anymore.