Chapter 99

Richard tightened his arms around her.

"In an environment where staying alive was a daily concern, I still made time to see Victoria. If we got along, great. If we didn't, I wasn't going to lose sleep over it."

Elena listened quietly, her chest tightening.

It was difficult to reconcile the man holding her now—the man who controlled one of the largest business empires in the world—with the younger Richard who had spent years dealing with threats, betrayal, and violence just to survive.

"What's wrong?"

Richard noticed how still she had become. His expression softened, though his voice turned deliberately teasing.

"Weren't you the one trying to give me a criminal past five minutes ago? Scared already?"

"No."

Elena bit her lip and melted against him, wrapping both arms tightly around his shoulders.

"Let me tell you something."

She leaned close to his ear, her warm breath brushing his neck.

"Richard Sterling, you are officially the most handsome and coolest man in the whole universe."

She said every word with complete seriousness.

Richard went still.

It was absurdly simple.

He had spent years navigating corporate battles and dangerous places overseas. Very little could shake him anymore.

Yet somehow, that childish, wholehearted declaration landed harder than it had any right to.

"Ellie."

His voice dropped.

A moment later, he pushed her back onto the soft bedding and followed her down.

The photo album slipped forgotten to one side.

Richard caught both her hands and pinned them above her head against the pillow as his mouth found hers.

Outside, the snow fell harder through the darkness.

Inside the warm bedroom, Elena barely had time to breathe between kisses.

There was nothing restrained about him now.

Whatever Elena had touched in him with those few simple words, Richard seemed determined to answer without explaining it.

—

By Sunday, the weather had changed completely.

The sky was clear, the temperature unexpectedly mild, and most of the snow from the previous days had melted away, leaving the grounds cool and freshly washed.

Richard finished his regular weekend meetings earlier than usual and took Elena to an exclusive private country club outside the city.

The property stretched across hundreds of acres of rolling land. It included a fully enclosed equestrian center and a private golf course built into the surrounding hills.

Despite the season, the fairways remained green and meticulously maintained.

Richard had traded his usual suit for a navy performance jacket and matching trousers. The change made him look less like the chairman of Sterling Consortium and more like a man who might actually be persuaded to spend a Sunday outdoors.

Elena wore a fitted champagne-colored cashmere top with a white pleated skirt over warm tights. Her pale-blonde hair was tied in a high ponytail that swayed behind her as she walked.

She studied Richard from the passenger seat of the golf cart.

"Mr. Sterling, we're not actually here just to have fun, are we?"

Richard drove with one hand resting loosely on the wheel.

"I have an important meeting in a little while."

"On a Sunday?"

"Unfortunately."

Elena laughed.

"That important?"

"Very."

The cart soon stopped near the center of the course, where a heated glass pavilion overlooked the fairways.

A man in his late forties was already waiting inside.

He had a broad, serious face and the unmistakable presence of someone accustomed to being listened to.

Elena already knew who he was.

Vincent Belmont.

He was the head of the Belmont family's shipping and heavy-industry group, one of the largest privately controlled companies in the sector. He was also considerably more senior than Richard in both age and industry experience.

Several of Sterling Consortium's planned overseas port and logistics projects depended on cooperation from the Belmont Group.

Today's meeting wasn't a formal negotiation with full teams on both sides. Richard and Vincent were here to settle the larger commercial points privately—access, shipping capacity, regulatory exposure, and how the two groups would divide the risk. Their legal and strategy teams would deal with the detailed documentation afterward.

What Elena hadn't expected was the little girl sitting beside him.

She looked three or four years old and wore a white down coat. A teddy bear with one crooked ear was clutched tightly against her chest.

Her eyes were slightly red.

She looked deeply unhappy.

Richard climbed the steps first.

"Good afternoon, Vincent."

The older man rose.

"Richard. I just got here myself."

They shook hands.

Then Vincent noticed Elena.

His surprise was subtle but unmistakable.

He had known Richard for years.

He had never seen him bring a woman to a private discussion like this.

Not even Victoria had accompanied him to this kind of meeting.

Elena stepped forward easily.

"Mr. Belmont. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

Vincent returned the greeting, his attention lingering on her for a fraction longer before everyone settled in.

Almost immediately, the atmosphere changed.

Assistants placed project summaries, term sheets, and due-diligence reports across the long conference table before withdrawing to the side.

Vincent's earlier courtesy disappeared behind a much sharper expression.

"On the third port project, your proposed concessions are attractive," he said. "But you're asking us to absorb too much of the political and regulatory exposure."

Richard leaned back in his chair, crossed one leg over the other, and took a sip of tea.

"Then let's talk about what you want in return."

The negotiation began.

Elena listened for several minutes before accepting that she was hopelessly out of her depth.

The books she had been reading helped her understand individual terms. That was very different from following a negotiation involving enormous capital commitments, international shipping networks, regulatory risk, and multiple jurisdictions at once.

She quietly turned her attention elsewhere.

The little girl was still sitting in the corner.

Richard had briefly explained on the way over that Mia Belmont was Vincent's youngest daughter, born late in his life and thoroughly adored.

At the moment, Mia was kicking the edge of the sofa with the toe of one shoe, her eyes still red from crying.

Elena looked at the crooked-eared teddy bear.

Then she stood.

She walked over to the pavilion's refreshment counter, chose a few small pastries, and poured two glasses of orange juice.

"Hi."

Mia looked up suspiciously.

Elena held up one of the glasses.

"Want some?"

Mia's large eyes moved from Elena to the orange juice.

After a moment, she nodded.

"Thank you," she said softly when Elena handed it to her.

"You're welcome."

Elena sat nearby and looked at the teddy bear.

"What happened to his ear?"

Mia blinked.

The pretty lady in front of her had a bright smile and smelled faintly of something fresh and green. More importantly, she didn't sound like the adults from her father's company who always became strangely enthusiastic whenever they spoke to her.

Mia didn't like most of them.

"His name is Puffy," she said, sniffling. "Puffy is broken. He's sick."

She hugged the bear more tightly.

"And Daddy still made me come here."

Elena suspected several adults had already suggested simply buying her another teddy bear.

That clearly wasn't the point.

"Have you been holding Puffy all day?"

Mia nodded.

Elena thought for a moment.

"What if you let him sleep by himself for a while?"

Mia looked at her.

"Sleep?"

"Mhm. Maybe when he wakes up, a fairy will have fixed his ear."

Her eyes widened slightly.

"If he sleeps, he'll get better?"

Elena nodded solemnly.

"When you're tired, you sleep, right? And you feel better when you wake up."

Mia considered this.

"But if you keep holding Puffy all the time, he can't properly rest."

That argument apparently made sense.

After several seconds of serious thought, Mia nodded and began drinking her orange juice in small sips.

The pout gradually disappeared from her face.

When she finished, she looked at Elena again.

"You're really pretty."

Elena smiled.

"You look like someone on TV," Mia continued. "Can you do magic?"

Elena laughed.

"No. But I can dance."

Mia immediately perked up.

Elena smiled.

"Want to see?"