CHAPTER FIVE
NATHAN
I’D SPENT THE weekend trying to ignore the weight of my father’s words.
It hadn’t worked.
Dalton sat across from me in my home office on Sunday, legs stretched out like he owned the place, watching me in that quiet way he always did. Patient. Expectant. Like he knew I’d eventually speak the thing I’d been choking on since the letter hit my desk.
I exhaled slowly, the paper burning in my mind again and my father’s neat handwriting spelling out her name as if it were inevitable.
Elise Alexandre. Not just an assistant. Not just the woman who had managed my life with stubborn efficiency for three years. She was the condition. The cost of keeping Edge Records in my hands.
I leaned back in my chair, letting the leather cradle me as I studied Dalton across the desk. The room was quiet but I didn’t mind. Silence suited me when my mind was at work.
“Tell me you’ve found something,” I said finally. “Some clause, some technicality. Anything.”
Dalton shook his head slowly, his expression giving me the answer before his words did. “If there was any way around it, I’d tell you. The stipulation is ironclad.”
The words landed like a fist to the gut, even though I’d expected them.
I clenched my jaw, forcing myself to stay still, to keep my reaction buried.
“So that’s it,” I muttered. “My father writes her name on a piece of paper, and suddenly my future, my company, everything I’ve built, hinges on a marriage I don’t want. ”
Dalton’s gaze sharpened. “You knew your father. If he put this in writing, it wasn’t a mistake.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face, frustration boiling low in my chest. I looked for every possible way out.
Spent hours combing through the language of the letter, running through every possible interpretation, hoping there was some overlooked loophole.
There wasn’t. And the fact that my father, of all people, had tied my life to Elise Alexandre’s in this way made me want to put my fist through a wall.
Marriage. The word itself tasted bitter. I hadn’t wanted this, not with Elise, not with anyone.
Dalton leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees, eyes locked on me. “Tell me you have a plan, Nathan.”
A humorless laugh slipped out before I could stop it. “What kind of plan is there, Dalton? I have to marry her, or I’ll lose everything.”
“You’ve never been the type to roll over,” he countered, calm but firm. “So don’t start now. You’ve got thirty days before she walks out that door for good. What are you going to do during that time?”
Thirty days. The reminder hit me harder than I liked. Elise’s resignation letter was still fresh in my mind, her steady voice echoing as she told me she was done. That she wanted a life that didn’t revolve around my schedule and my demands. I’d told myself she was being dramatic, but I knew better.
I’d pushed her, piled work on her shoulders, called at all hours, expected perfection, and she’d delivered, every time. Until the trip. Until I asked her to choose the company over her friends one more time. And she finally chose herself.
For three years, she’d seen nothing but the coldest parts of me. The tyrant. The demanding CEO. If I walked up to her tomorrow and asked her to marry me, she’d laugh in my face.
I dragged in a breath, forcing my thoughts into order. “I can’t give her a demand,” I said finally. “I have to give her a reason. A choice she wants to make.”
Dalton studied me, his silence saying more than words could.
I leaned forward, my voice low. “She has to see something else in me. Something real. Otherwise, this doesn’t work.”
Dalton’s mouth quirked, not quite a smile. “So, what? You’re going to show her how romantic you can be?”
“Not romantic,” I corrected, though the word scraped against my throat.
“Proof. That I’m more than the bastard boss she’s known.
If I can do that, if I can change her mind about me, then when the time comes to ask,” I let the rest hang in the air between us.
Once we were married, I’d let her in on the truth that the only reason she’d have my ring on her finger was to secure the company.
I’d make it clear to her that this was a loveless marriage.
She’d be hurt, angry, maybe even fight for a divorce, but she’d quickly learn that I didn’t play fair.
I couldn’t give her what she truly wanted, but at least she’d be taken care of—designer clothes, a mansion, first-class trips anywhere in the world. To me, that sounded like a fair trade.
She had spent three years seeing me only as the man who didn’t blink at being demanding or dismissive.
But that wouldn’t cut it for Elise. She was smart, she was fiercely independent, and God help me, she was stubborn as hell.
She needed romance. The charm. The side of me she’d never seen. And I had exactly one shot to show it.
“I need her to fall for me,” I said finally, the words low and deliberate.
Dalton raised an eyebrow, but I continued before he could comment.
“Not just infatuation. Not just a passing crush. I need her to feel something real, something deeper than what she’s allowed herself to feel with me before.
She has to see me as someone worth trusting, worth loving. ”
Dalton leaned forward, fingers steepled. “And you think you can manufacture that?”
I smirked, a cold edge hiding behind a practiced smile.
“Elise doesn’t know me. Not really. She thinks she does but she hasn’t seen what’s behind the walls I keep in place.
She’s going to see it now. I’ll show her another side of me.
A side that's more human. More vulnerable. But carefully. Calculated. Enough to make her curious. Enough to make her question everything she thought she knew about me. When she gets back, she’ll join me for a late dinner in my office.
It will be just the two of us, so there won’t be any distractions.
That’s the first step.” I paused, letting the words hang in the room like smoke.
This wasn’t about playing games. This was about winning.
“Where is she now?” Dalton asked.
I forced myself to lean back in my chair, to school my face into something calm and controlled. “St. Martin” I said, my voice even. “Birthday trip.”
I could see Elise stretched out in the sun on a beach somewhere, golden and radiant, that easy smile on her lips, hair catching the light.
Probably in some bikini that showed off every curve I’d spent years pretending I didn’t notice.
And the thought of strangers noticing? Of some faceless guy letting his eyes linger too long?
A surge of jealousy shot through me so fast it almost startled me
Dalton hummed, like he was waiting for more, but my mind was already elsewhere. Elise had told me she was quitting.
One month’s notice. Thirty days before she was gone, out of my office, out of my life.
Thirty days to undo three years of being the boss she rolled her eyes at, to show her I wasn’t just the man behind the desk barking orders.
Thirty days to make her see more.
Dalton studied me, his silence stretching long enough to make me shift in my chair. “You’re talking about a month-long charm offensive. You think you’ve got the patience?”
I thought of Elise again. “I don’t have a choice,” I said, voice low.
Because thirty days wasn’t long. But it was all I had.