Chapter 60 War
Chapter sixty
War
“This is ridiculous,” Olivia snaps the moment she steps in, eyes fixed on the second desk opposite mine.
“Do you not like your new office?” I ask, pretending to be offended.
She crosses her arms. “I already have my own office, War.”
“And now you have another one. Here. With me.” I grin, because the little crease between her brows is ridiculous and adorable all at once.
She exhales, all stubbornness and lipstick. “I told you I wouldn’t run away again.”
“Mhm.” I push my chair back, stand, and with exaggerated gentlemanly flourish I grab the visitor chair and pull it out for her. “Sit.”
I curl a hand around the back of her chair and lean down, close enough she can feel my breath on her neck.
“See? Isn’t this better? Now I won’t have to watch you from a screen. You’ll be right here.” My voice drops playful, soft. “And I get to make sure you don’t actually run.”
She opens her mouth, looking for a retort, but it dies when my lips press against her pulse point. She huffs, but the edge is gone. “You’re impossible,” she says.
I ease back into my chair, stretching out, content to just watch her. She opens her laptop, the glow of the screen lighting her face, and for a second I swear she was made for this; made to sit across from me, part of my empire, my life.
God, she looks good sitting there.
Like she was always meant to be here—mine, in every possible way.
The second desk was weird when Amato did it. Now I get it. Olivia Baker is a flight risk and a fucking force of nature, and I’m not letting either out of my sight.
My gaze lingers.
I should turn back to work. But I can’t stop watching her.
Her hair falls forward as she types, her lips pursed in concentration. and I feel it—how lucky I am to have her here, in this office, in my life. How easy it would’ve been to lose her. Never thought I’d deserve this kind of love.
She catches me staring.
Without even looking up, she says flatly, “Stop eye-fucking me and go back to pretending you work.”
I grin. “Can’t help it. You’re my favorite view.”
She rolls her eyes, muttering something about ridiculous men and their God complexes, but I catch the corner of her mouth twitching, like she’s trying not to smile.
And that? That’s how I know she loves it here.
My phone buzzes on the desk.
Olivia’s head pops up at the same time I reach for it, her eyes curious. I glance at the message, and a grin spreads across my face before I even realize it.
“Guess what, baby?” I say, turning the phone so she can see the notification. “Time to furnish the Parker Building.”
Her eyes go wide, lips parting. “It’s finished?!”
Relief slams into me, heavy and sweet, loosening something in my chest I didn’t even know was still wound tight. A smile breaks across my face, bigger than I’ve let myself have in a long time.
“It’s finished.”
I watch her light up, that spark in her eyes turning molten. She shoots up from the chair like she can’t help herself.
The office door creaks open.
“I waited months,” Wesley says, stepping inside like he owns the damn floor. He raises a brow at Olivia, arms crossed over his chest. “And yet not one apology.”
Olivia freezes.
I stiffen.
Wesley closes the door behind him, slow and theatrical, and levels a stare so sharp it could slice glass.
“Let’s see. Unauthorized login. Accessing a terminated WesTech account.
Tracing financial paper trails through archived Bratva holdings.
And—my personal favorite, hacking into Maksim Korsakov’s juvenile psych records. ”
“Wesley—” she starts, eyes wide.
“I thought you were better than that,” he deadpans. “You left a trail.”
I’m already rising from my chair. “If you’ve got a problem with her, you bring it to me.”
Wes throws me a lazy glance. “Relax. She didn’t break my company.
Just bent it. Impressively.” He turns back to Olivia, and his voice softens, not much, but enough.
“I should be mad. But I’m mostly just…” He exhales.
“In awe, honestly. That was damn near beautiful work. And terrifying, you’ve grown since you were sixteen. ”
She blinks. “You’re not mad?”
“Mad?” Wesley grins. “I nearly stole you back from War with a promotion. You breached six layers of encryption, rerouted through a dormant honeytrap I personally coded after your first little breach, and did it all from a Beaumont Realty laptop that I technically had blocked.”
I sit back down, tension easing. “So you’re saying my woman’s a genius.”
“She’s a menace,” Wesley corrects. “But yeah. A genius.”
Olivia tries to hide her smile. Fails. “You should really patch that backdoor access.”
“I already did,” Wesley mutters, then eyes me. “Keep her out of my servers, or I swear to God, War—”
I raise both hands. “No promises.”
Wesley turns to go, tossing one last look over his shoulder. “Oh, and for the record? I like the second desk. Makes it harder for her to disappear.”
Then he’s gone.
Olivia slumps back into her chair, cheeks flushed.
I smirk across the desk at her. “So. You got praised, threatened, and almost rehired all in one visit. Impressive.”
She grins back, a little breathless. “What can I say? I multitask.”
“And apparently commit multiple felonies before lunch.”
Her smile softens. “I just wanted to help. To give something back to Noah. To you.”
My throat tightens.
She has no idea what it does to me, to be seen like this. Chosen like this.
I stand again, walking around the desk until I’m in front of her. She looks up, blinking.
“Come here,” I murmur.
She rises. I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her close. She fits against me like she was always meant to be here.
“I’m proud of you,” I say softly, brushing my lips to her forehead. “Grateful you got the building back. Even if you did scare the hell out of me.”
She smiles, that wide, teasing smile I crave. “If I’m being honest, getting scolded by Wesley I think means I need another punishment,” she muses. “Just to be effective, you know?”
I bark out a laugh, that full-bodied kind that only she can pull out of me.
And right there, with her in my arms and a future in our hands, I know I’ve never been more certain.
I’m tying this woman to my name.