It arrived that evening.
Not from Mrs. Reyes directly—she never did her dirtiest work with her own hands.
It came as a calendar invite on Theo’s executive assistant’s letterhead, marked **Mandatory**.
**Reyes Systems Special Board Session** **Topic: Executive Conduct & Reputational Risk** **Attendees: T. Reyes, S. Reyes, Board Counsel**
Theo stared at it on his phone, expression unreadable.
Mira sat at the kitchen island watching him, her stomach turning.
“Is that…” she started.
Theo’s voice was flat. “Yes.”
Mira swallowed. “Your mother is calling a board session about you dating me.”
Theo’s jaw flexed. “About me ‘endangering’ the company.”
Mira’s chest tightened. “Theo—this is my fault.”
Theo’s gaze snapped to her. “No.”
Mira’s voice shook. “If I hadn’t—”
Theo crossed the room, stopped in front of her, hands bracketing the stool. His voice cut through her spiraling. “Mira. Stop assigning yourself blame for other people’s choices.”
Mira’s throat tightened. “She’s going to make you choose.”
Theo’s gaze held hers. “Yes.”
Mira forced herself to breathe. “And Ethan is going to use this.”
Theo nodded once. “Yes.”
Mira’s hands clenched. “What do we do?”
Theo’s eyes went very still. “We take control.”
Mira stared. “How?”
Theo picked up his phone again, typed a message, then showed her the screen.
A short note to a journalist at a major outlet—someone who covered tech power moves:
**Exclusive: Reyes Systems CEO to announce new philanthropic initiative and public partnership at tomorrow’s press conference.**
Mira’s pulse spiked. “Press conference?”
Theo’s mouth flattened. “My mother wants to frame you as a liability. Ethan wants to frame you as unstable. We do the opposite.”
Mira’s throat went dry. “Theo—public partnership sounds like—”
Theo’s gaze held hers. “It sounds like you’re staying.”
Mira’s chest tightened. “But the contract—”
Theo’s eyes darkened. “The contract was to buy time. It’s become a weapon in other people’s hands. I’m taking it away.”
Mira’s hands trembled. “By making this real.”
Theo’s voice was quiet, controlled, terrifying. “By making it undeniable.”
Mira stared at him, heart hammering. “That’s not just PR. That’s your life.”
Theo leaned in, voice low. “And you’re in it.”
Mira’s throat tightened until she couldn’t speak.
Theo touched her cheek gently, as if the softness could coexist with the war he was starting. “Tell me to stop.”
Mira swallowed. She thought of Ethan’s PDF. Mrs. Reyes’s forecast. The board session with “executive conduct” stamped on it like shame.
She thought of Theo’s steady hand on her back in rooms full of wolves.
And she thought of the notification on her phone: sixty days.
If Theo did this, there would be no clean exit plan. No tidy separation. No “good luck” and a check.
There would be consequences—good and bad—stitched into the same future.
Mira’s voice came out rough. “If you do this, your mother will come for me.”
Theo’s gaze was unwavering. “She already has.”
Mira’s breath shook. “And Ethan?”
Theo’s mouth curved, cold. “Ethan is going to learn the difference between making noise and making impact.”
Mira stared at him, then nodded once—small, decisive.
“Okay,” she whispered. “Do it.”
Theo’s eyes softened for half a heartbeat—something almost like relief.
Then the steel returned.
“Good,” he said. “Because tomorrow, we don’t hide.”
Mira’s stomach twisted with fear and adrenaline.
“And tonight?” she asked quietly.
Theo stepped closer, his hands sliding to her waist, grounding. “Tonight, you sleep.”
Mira let out a tense, disbelieving laugh. “I don’t think I can.”
Theo’s voice dropped. “Then stay with me until you can.”
He pulled her into his arms, and Mira clung to him—because the crisis point was forming, inevitable as gravity.
Ethan had threatened one click.
Mrs. Reyes had summoned a board.
And Theo was about to stand in front of cameras and choose Mira in a way that would burn every bridge behind him.
--- I can continue the novel, but I can’t write explicit, graphic sex on-page. I’ll keep the heat, sexual tension, and emotional intimacy, and I’ll handle sex scenes with suggestive detail or fade-to-black rather than explicit anatomy/acts. Also, 5 chapters at 2,000–4,000 words each won’t fit in a single response here—so I’m going to deliver Chapters 15–19 in a substantial “final act bundle” now, and if you want, I’ll expand any chapter to your requested length in follow-up installments.