Chapter 20 - The Choice
The folder fluttered down into the abyss, papers scattering like white birds in the morning wind.
Adrian turned his head sharply, staring at me in total shock. “What the hell did you just do?”
“I threw away your exit strategy,” I said calmly, taking a step toward him.
“Maya, you don't know what you're doing,” he said, his voice rising, a tremor of disbelief in his tone. “My life is blood, violence, and war. Every day is a target on my back. I am a monster.”
“You’re *my* monster,” I countered, stepping directly into his space, grabbing the lapels of his suit jacket and pulling him down to my level. “Did you really think I did all of this just for a paycheck? Just for an apartment in Lincoln Park?”
Adrian’s breath hitched, his hands instinctively settling on my waist, pulling me flush against his hard frame. “Maya—”
“I didn't choose the mob, Voss,” I whispered, looking straight into the dark depths of his eyes. “I chose you. I chose the man who checked my hands for glass after an assassin broke into his house. The man who stood in front of an execution squad for me. The man who kisses me like I’m the only living thing in a dead world.”
Adrian’s chest heaved. The ice in his posture melted, replaced by a fierce, overwhelming hunger.
“If you stay,” he rasped, his forehead resting against mine, “there is no turning back. You won't be a cleaner. You won't be an assistant. You will be by my side. Every meeting. Every war. Every victory. You will be the queen of this city.”
“Good,” I said, a dangerous, confident smile spreading across my lips. “Because I looked terrible in that maid uniform anyway.”
Adrian let out a low, ragged laugh—the first real laugh I had ever heard from him—and crushed his mouth against mine.
The kiss was wild, possessive, and sealed with fire. His arms locked around my waist, lifting me off my feet, claiming me against the backdrop of the rising sun and the sprawling empire below.
When he finally set me down, his eyes were glowing with absolute devotion.
“Come inside, Maya,” he murmured, offering me his hand with a courtly bow. “We have an empire to run.”
I took his hand, our fingers intertwining, solid and unbreakable.
Behind us, the double doors of the penthouse opened. Julian stood there, flanked by four lieutenants from the High Syndicate Council, waiting for their orders.
They looked at Adrian.
Then they looked at me.
And for the first time, every single one of them bowed their heads in respect.
I smiled, tightening my grip on Adrian’s hand as we walked into the boardroom together.
The pipe may have burst.
May you like
The floor may have been wet.
But I was never cleaning another floor again.