The boardroom doors closed behind Zina.
For several seconds, she remained where she was, the weight of what had just happened settling over her.
Thirty-one point four percent.
That was the number that had changed everything.
Luca Venturi hadn’t merely walked into the meeting and supported her.
He had revealed himself as the largest individual shareholder in Eze Holdings, a position nobody on the board seemed to know existed.
Not Victor.
Not Daniel.
Not even Damien.
Zina glanced toward the man standing beside the window at the end of the corridor.
Luca looked completely at ease.
As if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb into the middle of a board meeting.
He caught her staring.
“What?”
“You.”
He smiled.
“That’s usually a good thing.”
“You own thirty-one point four percent of my father’s company.”
“Your father’s company is now yours.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“I know.”
She walked toward him.
“Why?”
Luca slipped his hands into his pockets.
“I liked the company.”
“That’s a terrible answer.”
“It’s an honest one.”
“You expect me to believe you invested that much money because you liked the company?”
“Not just the company.”
Zina waited.
He said nothing else.
She narrowed her eyes.
“You enjoy being difficult.”
“Immensely.”
Before she could continue, Victor’s voice came from behind them.
“Of course he does.”
Victor approached with Daniel beside him.
Neither looked pleased.
Victor stopped in front of Luca.
“How long have you been involved with Eze Holdings?”
“Long enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Luca smiled.
“You seem to be having a difficult day, Victor.”
“My family has been running this company for decades.”
“And yet you nearly lost control of it today.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“You walked into a board meeting and tipped the vote.”
“No.”
Luca looked at him calmly.
“I voted.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“For her.”
“For the person I believed deserved the position.”
Victor looked at Zina.
“You planned this.”
Zina laughed once.
“Yes, Victor. I secretly convinced a man I met days ago to buy thirty-one percent of the company years before our father died. Brilliant plan.”
Victor had no response.
Luca chuckled.
“She’s good.”
“Stay out of family matters,” Daniel snapped.
Luca’s smile disappeared.
“Then keep your family matters away from my investment.”
The temperature in the corridor seemed to drop.
Damien appeared at the far end.
His eyes moved from Victor to Daniel, then to Luca.
“Enough.”
His voice wasn’t loud.
It didn’t need to be.
Victor glanced at him.
“This concerns the company.”
“And it will be handled through the appropriate channels.”
Damien’s gaze hardened.
“Not in a hallway.”
Victor scoffed and walked away.
Daniel followed, but not before giving Zina one final look.
When they were gone, Damien approached.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
He studied her.
“You don’t look fine.”
“I’m processing the fact that a man I barely know owns almost a third of my company.”
Luca raised a finger.
“Technically, I own almost a third of your father’s company.”
Zina turned toward him.
“That distinction doesn’t help.”
“It wasn’t meant to.”
Damien sighed.
“I’d like a word with Luca.”
Luca smiled.
“How romantic.”
Damien gave him a look.
“You have five minutes.”
“How generous.”
Zina shook her head.
“I’m going to my father’s office.”
She started walking.
“Little dove.”
She looked over her shoulder. The source of this chapter is g.com.
“Don’t call me that.”
Luca’s smile widened.
“Have a pleasant afternoon.”
She rolled her eyes and left.
Damien waited until Zina disappeared around the corner.
Then he turned to Luca.
“Thirty-one point four percent.”
Luca nodded.
“Still thirty-one point four.”
“You bought those shares years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell Chike?”
Luca’s expression became thoughtful.
“Would you have told someone if you didn’t need to?”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It is.”
Damien stared at him.
“I knew Chike for years.”
“So did I.”
“I knew almost everything about his business.”
“Almost?”
Luca smiled.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“That little word that bothers you.”
Damien shook his head.
“You’re hiding something.”
“I hide many things.”
“From me?”
“Especially from you.”
That earned a reluctant smile from Damien.
“You haven’t changed.”
“Neither have you.”
Luca straightened his cuffs.
“Besides, today wasn’t about me.”
“No?”
“No.”
His gaze moved toward the corridor where Zina had disappeared.
“It was about giving the right person a chance.”
Damien watched him carefully.
“You seem unusually invested in her.”
Luca’s eyes returned to his.
“She’s interesting.”
“That’s all?”
“For now.”
Damien knew better than to push.
Not because Luca frightened him.
Because Luca was one of the few people alive who could answer a question honestly while telling you almost nothing.
“I’ll find out eventually.”
Luca smiled.
“I’d expect nothing less.”
Zina sat behind her father’s desk.
The office smelled faintly of leather and the cologne Chike had always worn.
She opened the shareholder documents again.
Luca’s name stared back at her.
Thirty-one point four percent.
She still couldn’t understand it.
The door opened.
Damien walked in.
“You look like you’re planning a murder.”
She didn’t look up.
“Victor and Daniel make it tempting.”
“Understandable.”
He sat across from her.
Zina closed the file.
“Did you know about Luca?”
“No.”
She looked up.
“Really?”
“Really.”
“You don’t know everything?”
“Apparently not.”
A smile tugged at her mouth.
“That must hurt.”
“Deeply.”
She laughed.
The sound softened something in the room.
Damien watched her for a moment.
Then his gaze shifted to the clock.
“You have twenty-nine days.”
Her smile faded.
“I know.”
“The marriage.”
“I know.”
“You don’t have to remind me every hour.”
“I wasn’t.”
“You were thinking about it.”
“I was checking the time.”
“You’re terrible at lying.”
“So I’ve been told.”
She leaned back in the chair.
“Damien.”
“Hm?”
“Are you actually prepared to go through with this?”
He looked at her.
“I gave your father my word.”
“I’m asking about you.”
His expression became more serious.
“I wouldn’t have agreed to marry you if I wasn’t prepared to honor it.”
Zina studied him.
“You make it sound very formal.”
“It is a marriage contract.”
“And if I decide I don’t want it?”
“I’ll still protect you.”
“Even if I refuse?”
“Yes.”
She looked away.
That answer bothered her.
Not because it was wrong.
Because she believed him.
“You really cared about my father.”
“Very much.”
“Enough to marry his daughter?”
Damien smiled faintly.
“Your father didn’t ask me to marry you because he thought I would make a good husband.”
“Then why?”
“He believed I was the one person capable of keeping you alive.”
Zina looked at him.
“And you agreed.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
Damien’s eyes held hers.
“Because he asked.”
There was something in the way he said it that made her believe the answer was more complicated.
But she didn’t push.
Not yet.
When he returned, Zina found him in the private lounge with his sleeves rolled up and his collar open.
There was a faint trace of red at the corner of his mouth.
She stopped.
“You fed.”
Damien looked at her.
“Yes.”
“Here?”
“No.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere private.”
She stepped closer.
“Human?”
“Yes.”
Zina’s brows drew together.
“You feed from humans?”
Damien gave her a look.
“Zina, we’ve established that I’m a vampire.”
“I know that.”
“Then yes.”
“And you didn’t kill the person?”
“No.”
“Why aren’t you feeding from a blood bank?”
For the first time that evening, Damien looked genuinely offended.
“Because I’m a royal vampire.”
Zina stared.
“So?”
“So I take directly from the source.”
She blinked.
“You’re saying that like it makes perfect sense.”
“To me, it does.”
“What if she dies?”
Damien rolled his eyes.
“I have done this a thousand times.
I know what I’m doing.”
“That’s supposed to reassure me?”
“It was intended to.”
She looked at the faint mark on his collar.
“How do you know when to stop?”
“Experience.”
“And the human?”
“Alive.”
“Completely?”
“She’ll have a headache tomorrow. Perhaps a little weakness. Nothing more.”
Zina folded her arms.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this.”
Damien looked at her for a long moment.
“You don’t have to.”
She frowned.
“What?”
“You don’t have to get used to every part of me.”
He stepped closer.
“You only have to decide whether you can live with it.”
Their eyes met.
Zina’s heart gave an irritating little flutter.
She hated that it did that around him.
Damien noticed.
Of course he did.
His mouth curved.
“You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Looking at me like you’re trying to decide whether you regret the marriage contract.”
“I am.”
“How unfortunate.”
“For you?”
“For both of us.”
She smiled despite herself.
Then she walked past him.
“Goodnight, vampire.”
“Goodnight, Little wife.”
She stopped.
“I told you not to call me that.”
“I know.”
She shook her head and continued walking.
Damien watched her leave.
His smile remained for several seconds.
Then it faded.
Across the city, Luca stood on a balcony overlooking the lights below.
His phone rested against his palm.
A message appeared.
Are you coming?
Luca smiled.
He typed back.
Soon, beloved.
Another message arrived almost immediately.
You always say that.
Luca laughed quietly.
This time, I mean it.
He slipped the phone into his pocket.
For a man who had lived long enough to watch kingdoms rise and disappear, there were remarkably few things he considered precious.
There were some delicate flowers he’d burn the world for.
His beloved.
And Zina.
No one knew about the second.
Not yet.
Luca looked toward the distant city.
His expression softened.
“Sleep well, little dove.”
Then he disappeared into the night.