Chapter 6
Chapter 6:
The view from the fiftieth floor of Koch Tower was spectacular. The entire city lay spread out like a circuit board, cars moving like data packets through the veins of the streets below.
Dallas Koch stood at the window, his back to the room.
Behind him, the Board of Directors was arguing about the acquisition of a tech startup in Silicon Valley. Numbers were being thrown around — millions, billions — but Dallas wasn’t listening. He was staring at a small red dot on his tablet screen.
The dot was moving. It had left the jewelry store and was now stationary at a café on 5th Avenue.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. A security report.
Subject: Anson Hyde. Incident at store. Neutralized. Banned from premises.
Dallas’s jaw tightened. “Neutralized” wasn’t enough. He wanted Anson Hyde erased. He wanted him to feel the fear Eliza had lived with for years.
𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘯
He turned around. The movement was sudden, and the room went silent.
“Gentlemen, we’re done,” Dallas said.
The CFO blinked. “But sir, the merger details p>
“Email them to me. Get out p>
The tone was final. The board members scrambled to gather their papers, sensing the storm gathering behind the CEO’s eyes, and filed out without another word. Only two men remained.
Zane Sterling and Vance Foster. His inner circle.
Zane spun a pen idly across the mahogany table. “You’re distracted. Is it the market or a woman p>
Dallas ignored him. He walked to the head of the table and sat, loosening his tie. It felt like a noose today.
Vance slid a manila folder across the table. “Marriage license filed. Sealed by the judge this morning. It’s buried deep, Dallas. No one finds this without clearance from the DOJ p>
Zane choked on his water, coughing violently. “Marriage? You? The Monk p>
Dallas fixed him with a flat stare. “It was necessary p>
“Who is the lucky victim?” Zane asked, grinning like a shark.
“Eliza Solomon.” The name felt heavy on his tongue. Foreign, yet right.
Vance nodded, ever the pragmatist. “The Hyde ward. Smart. If she has a claim to the Solomon estate, you gain leverage over Hyde’s sectors p>
Dallas didn’t correct him. He let them think it was business. It was safer that way. If they knew the truth — that he had been watching her, waiting for her, for three years — they would think he had lost his mind.
“She’s terrified of me,” Dallas admitted. The words slipped out, a rare moment of candor that settled over the room like a held breath.
Zane laughed, though it was softer than usual. “You are terrifying, man. You look like you eat puppies for breakfast. You need to woo her p>
“I don’t woo,” Dallas said stiffly. “I acquire p>
“Not with a wife,” Zane advised. “You need soft power. Flowers. Dates. Talking p>
“Talking is inefficient,” Dallas muttered.
Vance glanced up from his laptop. “Anson Hyde is running a background check on the license number. He’s hitting walls p>
“Let him hit them,” Dallas said, his voice dropping to absolute zero. “I want him to know she is untouchable. I want him to know she belongs to me p>
He picked up his phone, unlocked it, and stared at the background photo for a single, unguarded moment — a candid shot of Eliza laughing in a park, taken from a distance two years ago — before locking the screen again.
“Azalea is with her,” Dallas said. “They’re shopping p>
“Good. Azalea is your buffer,” Vance noted. “She humanizes you p>
Dallas stood, reached for his jacket, and shrugged it on.
“I’m leaving early,” he said.
Zane let out a low whistle. “The King leaves the castle before eight PM. It must be love p>
Dallas shot him a look that could have peeled paint off the walls. But he didn’t deny it.
He walked to the private elevator. He needed to see her. He needed to know that Anson hadn’t left a mark on her soul today — not just on her skin.