“I know,” he said. “And I don’t care. I’m done hiding what I want, and I’m done letting other people dictate how I live my life.”
“People are going to talk.”
“Let them,” he said, pulling her closer. “I’ve spent 3 years being invisible and careful and lonely. I found you, and I’m not going back.”
Somewhere down the hall, someone gasped as he kissed her. Quick, possessive, and completely inappropriate for a corporate hallway.
When he pulled back, he was smiling.
“Besides,” he said, “your ex is apparently losing his mind on social media right now, and that alone makes this worthwhile.”
“Marcus?” Sarah asked, surprised.
“He posted something about gold diggers and corporate corruption,” Asher said cheerfully. “My legal team is already drafting the cease and desist.”
Sarah laughed. Real and genuine and completely free.
“You’re going to be so much trouble,” she said.
“The best kind,” he agreed. “Now come on. I promised you lunch, and I have a reputation for keeping promises.”
As they walked out together into the sunlight, past employees and cameras and whatever chaos waited for them, Sarah realized something fundamental had shifted.
She was not invisible anymore. She was not just another employee in another department.
She was someone chosen. Someone protected. Someone worth risking everything for.
And Asher was not hiding anymore. He was not pretending to be anything other than a man completely gone for someone.
They would figure out the rest. They would navigate the complications, the gossip, and the board members who disapproved.
But right then, walking hand in hand with the most powerful man in the building, the man who had publicly claimed her in front of hundreds of people, Sarah felt invincible.
“You know,” she said as they reached his car, “you never did tell me about those quarterly earnings.”
He pulled her against him, grinning.
“Boring corporate stuff,” he said. “I’d rather talk about how you’re moving in with me.”
“I’m what?”
“Too soon?” he asked innocently.
“Way too soon.”
“Then how about dinner tonight?”
“That I can do,” Sarah agreed.
As they drove away from Blackwell Industries, leaving chaos, gossip, and a completely transformed future in their wake, she could not stop smiling.
