accepted.
On my first day, I entered the twenty-eighth floor with my own authorized key card.
Luca was waiting near the windows, but he did not approach until I did.
“I heard you changed every lock,” I said.
“Twice.”
“And the private elevator?”
“Removed.”
“Good.”
A smile touched his mouth.
He held up two dinner reservations.
“This is a question, Elena.
Not an order.”
I remembered the darkness, his arm around my waist, and the terrifying certainty in his voice when he believed I had entered his room to kill him.
Then I remembered how he had stepped back when I needed space, how he had refused to trade me, and how he had spent six months proving that restraint mattered more than power.
“One dinner,” I said.
“Public restaurant.
My transportation.
No guards at the table.”
“Agreed.”
“And if you ever say I am exactly where I am supposed to be, I leave.”
Luca nodded solemnly.
“Then I will ask where you want to be.”
For the first time since Sarah handed me that black key card, the decision belonged entirely to me.
I took the reservation from his hand.
“Tonight,” I said, “I choose dinner.”
