Storm Moretti didn't even look at me when he said those words. He stood holding a glass of bourbon while his attorney slid a contract across the desk toward me.

The next morning, the penthouse at One Dalton felt less like a cage and more like a war room.

While Leo was happily distracted in the media room with a private screening of his favorite animated movies and a mountain of gourmet ice cream, Storm and I sat across from each other at the massive glass conference table in the penthouse’s upper level.

Spread out before us were intelligence reports, financial audits, and security dossiers detailing every vulnerability in Richard Vance’s corporate empire.

“Vance thinks he holds all the cards because he knows about Leo,” Storm said, his voice ice-cold as he tapped a finger against a confidential dossier. “He thinks he can use my family to force me to hand over the shipping ports contract at the upcoming Vanguard board meeting.”

“And what does the board know?” I asked, leaning over the table to examine the documents. My interior design background had taught me how to spot structural flaws, and right now, I was scanning Vance’s corporate structure for the exact same thing.

“As far as the board is concerned, my personal life is none of their business,” Storm replied smoothly. “However, Vance has called an emergency shareholders' meeting for tomorrow morning. He plans to table a motion of no confidence, claiming my recent personal distractions—meaning you and Leo—make me unfit to lead Vanguard Holdings.”

I looked up, my eyes narrowing. “He’s trying a corporate coup.”

“He is,” Storm agreed, a dark, dangerous smile playing on his lips. “He thinks I’m vulnerable. He thinks a man with a family is a man with a weakness he can exploit.”

“He’s wrong,” I said quietly.

Storm blinked, looking up in surprise. “Oh?”

“Vance sees a family as a weakness because he’s a cold, lonely bastard who only understands power through fear,” I said, standing up and walking over to the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the Manhattan skyline. “But a family isn't a weakness, Storm. It’s an anchor. And an anchor doesn't slow a ship down—it keeps it from capsizing in a storm.”

Storm stood up slowly, walking up behind me. He didn't touch me, but I could feel the intense heat radiating from his body.

“So, what’s your strategy, Juliet?” he asked softly, a note of genuine respect in his voice. “You used to design spaces. Now help me design a trap.”

I turned around, facing him with a cool, confident smile that mirrored his own.

“Vance wants to make my existence a scandal at the board meeting, right?” I said. “He wants to drag me and Leo into the spotlight to prove you’re distracted.”

“Yes.”

“Then we don't hide,” I said firmly. “We walk into that boardroom together. Not as a hidden secret, not as a scandal, but as the core of Vanguard Holdings. We show the board that your strength doesn't come from standing alone—it comes from what you’re building for the future.”

Storm stared at me, completely captivated. For the first time in six years, the dynamic between us wasn't built on power struggles or contracts. It was a true partnership.

“And what about Vance?” Storm asked, his eyes dark with anticipation.

“We don't just defeat him at the board meeting,” I said, tapping the financial audit report. “We use his own insider trading records—the ones your intelligence team just uncovered—to hand him over to federal authorities right in the middle of his own coup.”