Page 83 of The Mogul: Leonard

I release her but keep my gaze steady on her. “I can’t promise it’ll be smooth sailing,” I say with a slight grin, feeling a weight lift as I realize how serious we both are about this. “But with you here, I feel like we might actually have a shot.”

She laughs, a genuine, warm sound, and it fills the room with an energy that feels like a new beginning. “I don’t need smooth sailing,” she says. “I need a cause worth fighting for. And I know this is it.”

“Plus, this means I get to see you every day. A perk I can’t resist.” I wink at her.

“Are you telling me you’ll finally bend me over this desk and fuck me silly?” she purrs in my ear.

I let out a low growl as I grab her by her waist and turn to sit her on the desk. She squeals and chuckles at the same time while I slip between her legs. I crush my lips on her and deepen the kiss as her hands tighten around my neck and her body presses against mine.

I don’t know what I did to deserve her, but I’m sure of one thing. I will never let her go.

Epilogue

Roxanne

The sun is setting, casting a golden glow across the city skyline, and I watch it from the window of Leonard’s office, where we’ve stood side by side through some of our hardest days. It’s hard to believe that so much time has passed since those turbulent times, yet here we are, stronger and more in sync than ever. I smile, feeling a sense of peace settle over me, a peace we’ve fought hard for.

Leonard steps up beside me, wrapping an arm around my waist. “What’s on your mind?” he asks, his voice low and warm.

“Just thinking about how far we’ve come,” I say, leaning into him. “Everything we’ve built together.”

He presses a soft kiss to my temple, and I feel the familiar surge of warmth that comes whenever he’s close. We’ve been through hell and back and faced scrutiny from every corner of the world, but we never lost sight of each other—or our shared vision. Even in the worst moments, when the world seemed determined to break us, Leonard was a constant, just as he is now.

Rebuilding his reputation after Oliver’s betrayal wasn’t easy. We lost clients, faced endless media speculation, and sometimes wondered if we’d ever fully recover. But Leonard never faltered. His belief in what we were doing, his commitment to helping people, was unshakable. And with every step, he proved to the world—and to me—that he was exactly the man I’d thought he was.

Now, looking around at his office, filled with the signs of his accomplishments and our shared achievements, I feel a fierce pride in everything we’ve done. Not just in the empire we’ve rebuilt but in the love we’ve nurtured, in the partnership we’ve forged.

“I never thought I’d find this,” I admit, my voice barely more than a whisper.

He pulls back slightly, studying my face. “Find what?”

“This…” I gesture around us. “This life. This love. A place where I belong, where we create something meaningful every day.”

Leonard’s smile softens, and he lifts a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “You belong here, Roxanne. And you’ve made this place what it is, just as much as I have.”

It still feels surreal, sometimes, to hear him say things like that. I never wanted to find love. If anything, I’d been determined to follow my own path. But meeting Leonard, working with him, seeing his passion, his vision—somewhere along the way, I stopped seeing him as just a partner. He became my anchor, my safe harbor, and together, we created something even more powerful than I could have imagined.

“We’re doing it, aren’t we?” I ask, my gaze drifting back to the city lights. “We’re making a real difference.”

“We are,” he says, pride evident in his voice. “And it’s only the beginning. I’ve been thinking about expanding the safety surveillance program we started last year, maybe bringing it to a few more cities.”

I turn to him, excitement sparking. “Really? That could be huge.” I pressed for that—a public surveillance system to make the streets safer, especially for women.

He nods, his eyes bright with the same fire I saw in him from the start. “It could be. And with you by my side, I know it’s possible. I think we’ve shown people that we’re serious about this, that we’re here for more than just profit.”

We’ve spent years proving ourselves, not just to the public, but to each other. The fallout from Oliver’s betrayal had cast a shadow over everything, and there were days when I wondered if it would ever truly clear. But Leonard never gave up, and that unwavering strength gave me the courage to stay focused, even when things seemed bleakest.

“Do you ever wonder,” I ask, my voice soft, “what he would think? About where we are now?”

Leonard’s face darkens slightly, and he lets out a sigh. “Sometimes. But then I remind myself that Oliver made his choices. He lost his way. And in the end, we had to move on.”

I nod, understanding. There are still days when I feel sad, remembering the friend Leonard lost and the dreams they once shared. But we’ve found our peace, and I know that where he is now, he no longer holds power over us. We’ve reclaimed our lives, rebuilt from the ashes, and turned our shared vision into something even more beautiful.

“Hey,” Leonard says, drawing me back to the present. “No more looking back, okay? No more sad faces.”

I smile, nodding. “You’re right. We’ve come too far to waste time sulking.”

He takes my hand, intertwining our fingers, and we stand there in comfortable silence, watching the last light of the day fade. It’s a simple moment, yet it feels like everything. It’s our special ritual, the one we’ve shared every night since we started working together years ago. We stand here, tall and proud of what we overcame and basking in the strength of our relationship that helped us withstand the storm. Without that, we wouldn’t be here right now.

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