The next morning, Mira woke to sunlight and Theo’s arm heavy across her waist.
For a moment, she forgot Ethan. Forgot Mrs. Reyes. Forgot the PDF and the threats and the event.
Then reality slid back in.
She lay still, listening to Theo breathe behind her, feeling the steady warmth of him and the dangerous comfort that had become routine too fast.
On the bedside table, Mira’s phone lit up with a calendar notification she’d created the day she signed:
**Agreement review: 60 days remaining.**
Her stomach dropped.
Sixty days wasn’t “a while.”
It was a deadline.
Theo shifted behind her, pressing his mouth to her shoulder—half-asleep affection that made her chest ache.
“Mmm,” he murmured. “Morning.”
Mira forced her voice steady. “Morning.”
Theo’s hand slid over her abdomen in a slow, absent stroke. “You’re tense.”
Mira swallowed. “I’m thinking.”
Theo’s breath warmed her skin. “Stop.”
Mira let out a small, humorless laugh. “That’s not helpful.”
Theo tightened his arm, pulling her closer. “Tell me.”
Mira hesitated.
If she said it, it would become real.
Theo’s voice went lower, more awake. “Mira.”
She turned in his arms and met his gaze.
“Sixty days,” she said quietly.
Theo’s expression changed—subtle, but there. A flicker of something tight.
He didn’t ask what she meant.
He knew.
Theo’s jaw flexed. “We’re not there yet.”
Mira’s throat tightened. “But it’s coming.”
Theo held her gaze for a long moment, then exhaled slowly. “Yes.”
Mira’s chest hurt. “What happens after?”
Theo’s eyes went dark, not with lust—something heavier. “We follow the exit plan.”
Mira’s stomach twisted. “Like it’s a business deal.”
Theo’s mouth tightened. “It is a business deal.”
Mira stared at him.
The words shouldn’t have stung.
But they did.
Theo watched her face, then his expression softened, and his voice went quieter. “And it’s also not.”
Mira’s breath caught. “Theo…”
Theo’s hand cupped her cheek. “If we start talking about after, we’ll stop being able to breathe now.”
Mira’s eyes stung. “I don’t want to be a countdown.”
Theo’s thumb brushed her cheekbone. “You’re not.”
Mira searched his face. “Then what am I?”
Theo’s gaze held hers, steady and raw. “Someone I didn’t expect.”
Mira’s throat tightened.
Theo leaned in and kissed her—slow, grounding, the kind of kiss that didn’t pretend the world wasn’t complicated. It just carved out a moment inside it.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against hers. “Ethan is still the immediate problem.”
Mira nodded, swallowing. “Yes.”
Theo’s voice went colder. “And my mother.”
Mira gave a small, tense laugh. “Yes.”
Theo’s gaze sharpened. “She’ll push harder now that we went public like that. She’ll want control back.”
Mira’s pulse spiked. “How?”
Theo exhaled. “By forcing a choice.”
Mira’s stomach tightened. “An ultimatum.”
Theo didn’t deny it. He just held her closer, as if he could shield her from the shape of what was coming.
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