I arrived determined to settle the accounts and walk away from the debt that had shadowed my family for years. Felix Grayson waited in the velvet-shadowed counting room, his commanding gaze making the ledgers feel like a trap I had willingly entered. The brothers held the power to collect at any moment, yet he chose restraint that only pulled me closer.

Every brush of his arm against mine raised the temperature in the narrow space. When his fingers stopped short above the page and Robert's footsteps faded, the air grew thick with the brothers' unspoken claim and my own warring need to stay independent.

I feared the moment I would stop pretending I did not crave the protection they offered along with their possession, even as my freedom slipped further away.