Page 169 of Money Reigns
“War… it’s beautiful. But it feels lonely, like you’ve been waiting for something that never came.”
I almost laugh, except my chest is too tight.
Because she’s right.
Then she says the thing that guts me.
“I can understand it though. I’ve been in survival mode for so long, I don’t know what to do with myself now that I can breathe.”
The words sink into me like a blade.
Because it’s my truth too.
I’ve spent my whole life clawing through shadows, fighting my name, chasing redemption, drowning in ghosts. And here she is. The first clear breath I’ve ever taken.
I pull her in, kiss her slow, reverent. She tastes like everything I’ll never deserve but will never stop keeping.
And in that kiss, my mind steadies—finally letting me see everything I’ve never dared to want.
Her in white, walking toward me.
A ring on her hand, my name tied to hers forever.
Her belly rounded with our child, those wide brown eyes passed down, paired with my sharp grin.
Little footsteps echoing in these halls that have only ever known silence.
Her laughter would burn itself into the walls, softening every sharp edge this place was built on.
I want it.
All of it.
Sooner than she could ever guess.
When I finally pull back, her smile wrecks me. She doesn’t even know. Doesn’t know she’s already burned herself into every wall, every room, every part of me.
This estate isn’t mine anymore.
It’s hers.
And one day soon… I’ll make sure the world knows it.
I cup her face, my thumbs brushing her cheeks, and watch her eyes melt.
“What’s one thing you’ve always wanted, Olivia?” I murmur. “If money wasn’t an issue… what would you choose?”
Chapter thirty-three
Olivia
The question lands like a pebble in a still lake, small, then ripples everywhere.
What wouldIwant?
Financial freedom is a dream I’ve never really thought possible, definitely not in the form of a man.
But that’s not what this is.
