(Aurora's POV)
The question landed quietly. I sat with it for a moment longer than I meant to.
Then I glanced at my phone.
7:54.
"I have to be at the lab by nine," I said, and stood up.
Phineas smiled. It was patient and entirely unbothered. "Take your time thinking it over."
I grabbed my bag and walked out of his apartment at a pace that was not quite running, but was also not what I would call composed.
In the elevator, I pressed the button for my floor and stared at the doors.
The thing was - and I was not going to examine this too closely - for exactly one moment, somewhere between the prenuptial agreement and *what's the point of building an empire*, I had actually wavered. Which was ridiculous. The man everyone in Los Angeles described as cold, ruthless, and unknowable was ap
