Chapter 690: (END)

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“And then,” he said, his gaze unwavering, “he told me who the bride was.”

Her heart skipped a beat.

“Sloane, I have been interested in you for years. I’ve watched you build your company from nothing. I’ve read every interview, followed every acquisition. I admired your intelligence, your ruthlessness… your fire.”

The confession hung in the cold night air between them.

“I only agreed to the merger because the other half of the deal was you,” he said, his voice raw with a sincerity she had never heard from him before. “It was a convenient, bulletproof excuse to get close to you. It was the only way I could imagine breaking through the walls you’ve built around yourself.”

He took a step closer, his hands coming up to gently cup her face.

“There was no merger for me, Sloane,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “You were always the entire deal.”

The revelation hit her like a physical blow. Her carefully constructed reality, the business deal, the strategic alliance, the loveless contract, shattered into a million pieces. Every action he had taken, the ring, the frantic flight to Chicago, the daily itineraries, the possessive kisses, was suddenly reframed. It wasn’t about corporate control. It was a pursuit.

𝘋o𝗻’𝘁 𝘮i𝗌s 𝗇𝖾𝘄 𝗿еl𝖾a𝘴𝖾𝘀 о𝘯 𝘨𝗮𝘭nо𝘷elѕ.𝗰о𝗺

Tears, hot and unexpected, welled in her eyes, blurring the sight of his face. Her defenses, so carefully maintained for so long, completely dissolved.

“Why didn’t you just… ask me out on a date?” she asked, her voice choked.

A sad, gentle smile touched his lips. “And what would you have said, Sloane?”

She knew the answer. She would have said no. She would have seen it as a weakness, a distraction, another man trying to conquer her.

He gently wiped a tear from her cheek with his thumb.

“Tomorrow is not a transaction,” he said softly, his voice a vow more powerful than any they would speak in the tent below. “Tomorrow is the beginning. The beginning of me trying to earn what I used a merger to steal: your heart.”

She looked at him then, really looked at him, for the first time without the filter of suspicion or strategy. She saw not a corporate raider, but a man who had taken the biggest, most illogical risk of his life, all for her. The hollow feeling was gone, replaced by a new, terrifying, and absolutely wonderful hope.

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The End.

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Message from Noa: Have a beautiful day lovely readers. God loves you and Noa wishes you all the best. (ɔO‿=)ɔ ♥

Did you know that the life you’re living today is the result of whether or not you’ve guarded your heart?

God gives us this counsel in His Word: Above all else, guard your heart, for it sets the course of your life. (Proverbs 4:23)

Why should I guard my heart? And what would I need to guard it from? God has given us a heart worth taking care of—a heart that has to be guarded from the things that pull us away from Him and from His truth. If the heart is what sets the course of my life, am I going to let it steer me while it’s clouded with anger and resentment? With guilt and fear? With envy and comparison? With deception and false hope?

Guard your heart. Keep it in Jesus Christ, and He will keep your life.