Chapter 48
Chapter 48:
“It’s good business,” he said without looking up. “Details matter p>
Good business. It was a cold explanation, but my heart fluttered traitorously in my chest. He had noticed. Amidst running an empire and fighting a war, he had noticed that I hated onions.
Maybe he wouldn’t see the rings as an insult after all. Maybe he would see them for what they were — an attempt to meet him halfway.
My hand drifted to my pocket, fingers brushing the velvet pouch. It was now or never.
“Dallas,” I said.
He stopped eating, setting his knife and fork down. He didn’t speak — he simply waited, his attention focusing entirely on me.
𝗗𝘪ѕ𝗰ov𝘦r nе𝘸 ѕ𝘵𝗼𝘳іe𝗌 on 𝘨𝘢𝗹ոo𝘷𝖾𝗅ѕ.𝗰о𝗆
I pulled the pouch out. My hands were shaking as I loosened the strings and tipped the rings onto the cold Italian marble table. They spun for a moment before settling — two dark, heavy bands of industrial metal, stark and out of place among the fine china.
“I know they aren’t… they aren’t what you’re used to,” I stammered, the words tumbling out. “I couldn’t access the joint accounts. The Hydes drained them. This was all I could afford p>
Dallas stared at the rings. His expression was unreadable, his body perfectly still.
“They’re tungsten,” I explained, desperate to fill the silence. “It’s durable. Harder than steel. And I had them engraved.” I swallowed hard, my throat dry. “Yours says Fortune. Mine says Prosperity. For the contract p>
I waited for the sneer. I waited for him to sweep the cheap metal off the table and laugh at my audacity.
He didn’t move. He simply sat there, staring at the dark grey bands as if they were the most extraordinary things he had ever seen. The silence stretched, heavy and suffocating, until I could hear the blood rushing in my ears.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, reaching to take them back. “I shouldn’t have p>
“Stop,” he commanded. His voice was low, rougher than before. He lifted his gaze from the rings to my face at last, and the intensity in his eyes made my breath catch.
Dallas
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her hand trembling as she reached out to take the pouch back. “I shouldn’t have p>
“Stop p>
The command tore from my throat, rougher than I intended. Adella froze, her eyes wide and filled with a panic that made my beast snarl in protest. She thought I was angry. She thought I was insulted.
She had no idea.
I looked down at the two dark bands of tungsten carbide resting on the cold marble. They were industrial, heavy, and utterly devoid of the pretension that usually cluttered my world. She had drained her accounts. She had taken the little she had left — scraps, really — and spent it on me.
She bought us, Ragnar growled in the back of my mind, pacing with restless, predatory energy. With what little she has, she claimed us. She is providing for her Mate.