28. Gideon
GIDEON
The boardroom smells like expensive coffee and panic.
Good.
I’m at the head of the conference table while half the executive floor avoids eye contact with me. The other half look terrified I’ll fire them next.
They should be.
“Effective immediately,” I say coldly, sliding signed documents across the polished table, “the hospitality division will operate independently under new leadership. Every executive connected to Azure Cay’s financial approvals is being audited.”
Silence.
Then Delilah leans back in her chair, grinning like a menace. “God, this is better than reality television.”
Bianca pinches the bridge of her nose. “Please try behaving professionally for ten consecutive seconds.”
“No.”
A few nervous laughs break out around the room.
I barely react. “Human Resources will receive updated restructuring details within the hour. If anyone here still believes loyalty to corruption protects them, resign now.”
Nobody moves.
Exactly.
The meeting dissolves shortly after, executives practically tripping over themselves to escape me. Delilah blows me a kiss before leaving. “Proud of you, scary man.”
The doors shut behind her.
Then Cassie walks in.
Everything inside me shifts instantly.
Dark curls spill over one shoulder, hazel eyes sharp and steady as she closes the door quietly behind her. No fear. No hesitation.
Mine.
The thought hits hard enough to almost piss me off.
Cassie crosses her arms. “You reorganized three departments before noon?”
“You sound surprised.”
“I sound concerned for your blood pressure.”
Despite myself, my mouth twitches.
God. She still does this to me. Still dismantles entire moods without trying.
She steps closer, setting a folder on the table. “I reviewed the Azure Cay leadership proposal.”
“And?”
“And I’m not accepting ceremonial authority so you can secretly make every decision yourself.”
Jesus Christ.
I can’t pull my gaze. “Cassie?—”
“No.” She points at me sharply. “Partnership, Gideon. Actual partnership. Equal authority. Equal say. If I disagree with you, I expect you to handle it like an adult instead of a tyrannical billionaire having a control relapse.”
A laugh nearly escapes me before I kill it.
Nearly.
“You enjoy threatening me,” I mutter.
“I enjoy surviving you.”
I move around the table slowly until she’s directly inches away. Close enough to smell her perfume. Close enough to ruin my concentration completely.
“You already have equal authority,” I say quietly.
Her expression softens slightly. “Then stop looking terrified every time you give up control.”
That lands deeper than she realizes.
Before I can gather my thoughts, the office door opens again.
Everett stands there looking older than I remember.
His gaze shifts between Cassie and me. “I came to apologize.”
The room goes still.
And for the first time in my life, I realize power means absolutely nothing compared to this.
Everett leaves twenty minutes later looking wrung out and strangely human.
I still don’t know what the hell to do with that.
The office settles into silence after the door clicks shut. Manhattan glows beyond the windows, cold silver against the dark, but Cassie keeps watching me instead of the skyline.
Always me.
“You okay?” she asks quietly.
No.
“Yes,” I lie automatically.
Her brows lift. “That was convincing.”
I exhale through my nose and loosen my tie. “My father apologizing feels medically concerning.”
That finally earns a laugh out of her. Warm. Soft. Dangerous to my concentration.
Christ, I love that sound.
Cassie walks toward the bar near the windows and steals my bourbon without asking permission. “I still can’t believe the terrifying Gideon Carrington is emotionally overwhelmed.”
“I can fire you, Valeen.”
“You’re sleeping with me. HR would have concerns.”
My mouth twitches hard enough this time that I give up fighting it.
She notices immediately too, looking entirely too pleased with herself as she sips my drink. Gold jewelry glints against her skin under the office lights, and for a second I forget every unfinished problem waiting outside this room.
Then she opens the Azure Cay proposal folder again.
Business. Right.
Cassie sets the papers across my desk. “If I’m taking over hospitality operations, I want final approval authority on staffing, branding, and resort partnerships.”
“You have it.”
“And independent reporting structures.”
I narrow my eyes. “You’re negotiating like you’re preparing for war.”
“I worked for you for two years. Obviously I am.”
Fair.
She braces both palms against my desk, leaning slightly forward. “I’m serious, Gideon. I’m not coming back to Carrington International so people can whisper I only got promoted because I’m in your bed.”
My expression goes sour instantly.
“They’ll whisper anyway,” I say coldly.
“Then let them whisper while I outperform everyone in the building.”
God.
The sheer confidence in her voice nearly ruins me.
I stand slowly, watching her track every movement. “You already outperform everyone in this building.”
Her expression flickers softer around the edges. “That sounded suspiciously supportive.”
“Don’t make it weird.”
“Too late. We’re emotionally communicating now.”
I move around the desk and pull her against me before she can keep talking. Cassie laughs under her breath as my hand settles against her waist.
“You’re impossible,” I murmur.
“And yet deeply employable.”
I kiss her before she can say something else ridiculous.
Slow this time.
Not desperate. Not frantic.
Just real.
Her fingers slide into my hair as she melts against me, and something tight inside my chest loosens in a way I’m still learning not to fear.
A violent cackle suddenly explodes from the hallway.
Cassie jumps.
I close my eyes. “Delilah.”
The office door bursts open dramatically.
Delilah stands there holding her phone like she’s delivering breaking international news. “Bianca just escorted Nolan’s loyalists out of the building personally, and one of them cried in the lobby.”
Cassie immediately starts laughing against my chest.
Delilah points at us accusingly. “Also, if you two are kissing during business hours while I’m cleaning corporate rot out of this company, I deserve a raise.”
“You already got one,” I deadpan.
“I want another.”
Delilah finally leaves after threatening to frame Nolan’s termination letter.
I don’t ask questions.
The office quiets again, though Cassie’s still laughing softly beside me, warm against my chest. I look down at her and feel that dangerous shift inside me again—that terrifying softness she keeps dragging out of places I buried years ago.
“You’re staring,” she murmurs.
“You’re distracting.”
“That sounds like a you problem.”
Probably.
Her fingers smooth slowly over my tie, fixing what she ruined earlier. The intimacy of it hits harder than it should. Small things always do with her.
Not the fights.
Not the sex.
This.
The quiet.
The ease.
Cassie glances toward the scattered Azure Cay documents across my desk. “You know we’re going to disagree constantly now, right?”
“We already do.”
“Yes, but now I have official authority to annoy you professionally.”
I hum despite myself. “You’ve had that for years.”
She smiles, but it fades slightly around the edges. “Gideon… if this is going to work, you can’t shut me out every time things get hard.”
The words land clean and sharp.
Because she’s right.
I move away from the desk and loosen my cuffs slowly, buying myself a second before answering. Old instincts claw immediately toward control—toward fixing, directing, managing.
Toward silence.
“I know,” I admit quietly.
Cassie studies me carefully, like she’s waiting to see if I’ll retreat behind the version of myself that existed before her.
Before honesty.
“I spent so long thinking control was the only thing keeping everything from collapsing,” I say. “The company. My life. Me.”
Her expression softens.
I continue before I lose the nerve. “And every time I got scared, I tried controlling you too.”
“You were terrified,” she says gently.
“That doesn’t make it acceptable.”
“No,” she agrees. “But admitting it matters.”
Christ.
Nobody has ever looked at my worst instincts and asked me to become better instead of simply fearing me for them.
I step closer until my forehead rests lightly against hers. Her hands settle against my chest immediately, steady and familiar.
“I don’t want to lose myself again,” she whispers.
“You won’t.”
“And I don’t want you loving me only when you’re in control.”
That one nearly wrecks me.
Because somewhere along the way, I finally understand something humiliatingly simple:
Control never protected me.
It isolated me.
Cassie exhales softly when I slide my hand against her jaw. “What?”
I look directly into those impossible hazel eyes and tell her the truth without hiding behind power for once.
“If loving you costs me control,” I murmur, “then control was never worth keeping in the first place.”