The sound of my own voice echoing in the quiet penthouse felt strange. For my whole life, I had kept my past locked away behind heavy iron gates, never letting a single soul see the cracks in my armor. But sitting across from Sienna at the kitchen island, with the soft city lights glowing outside the glass, I found myself talking about things I had never told anyone.
I told her about my father. I told her how he trusted the wrong people, handed over his empire piece by piece, and watched everything he built crash down around him because of blind emotion.
"He thought love was a shield," I murmured, staring down at my glass of whiskey. "He thought if he cared enough, people wouldn't betray him. But it was his biggest weakness. From that day on, I swore I would never let anyone get close en
