Chapter 10
Her eyes glistened.
Nikolai stepped closer.
“Love isn’t what remains after you build a trap and see who survives it.”
Wren said nothing.
“It’s what happens when you stop building traps.”
That was when she kissed him.
Nikolai nearly dropped the ring.
When she pulled away, he looked genuinely stunned.
“You haven’t answered.”
Wren laughed.
“Yes.”
His expression changed.
For once, Nikolai Cross had absolutely nothing clever to say.
Wren held out her hand.
“Yes, Nikolai.”
He slid the ring onto her finger.
It fit.
Downstairs, traffic moved through the city.
Ships entered the harbor.
Millions changed hands.
Contracts were signed.
Power shifted from one room to another.
The empire Nikolai had pretended to lose remained exactly where it had always been.
But the man who had created that test no longer existed.
Months later, when people asked Wren when she knew she loved Nikolai Cross, they expected a glamorous answer.
They expected the rooftop.
The expensive dinners.
The penthouse.
The proposal.
She always gave them the truth.
“The night he told everyone he was broke.”
People usually laughed.
Nikolai never did.
Because he remembered exactly what happened that night.
The woman wearing his diamond had immediately begun calculating what she could steal before the empire collapsed.
The woman cleaning his floors had found evidence that could have made her rich if she sold it.
Instead, she walked straight to him and handed him the phone.
No bargain.
No demand.
No price.
Nikolai had pretended to lose everything because he wanted to discover who would stay when there was nothing left to take.
He discovered something better.
Elise had loved the empire.
Victor had loved access to it.
Half the people around him had loved what his name could purchase.
But Wren had seen a man sitting alone in a penthouse, surrounded by expensive things he no longer believed mattered.
And she had stayed.
Not because Nikolai Cross was rich.
Not because he was feared.
Not because he owned half the skyline.
She stayed because she thought he was lonely.
And for a man who had spent his entire life believing loyalty had to be bought, threatened, tested, or earned—
that was the one thing he had never been rich enough to purchase.
Someone who chose him freely.
**THE END**