KANE'S POV

The room buzzed with low laughter and conversations, but none of it reached me fully. I stood there, half-listening to some minor shareholder ramble about growth charts and quarterly figures, but my eyes followed her.

Aria.

I hadn’t meant to say that much about how we "met." I planned to keep the fake story short, crisp, strategic—like everything else I do.

But the moment the ladies turned to me with that amused sparkle in their eyes, expecting charm, warmth, love... ...