They think I don’t know how to love. And I can’t blame them for thinking that.

I’m used to making decisions without emotion. In my world, weakness is tantamount to death and feelings are a vice I never allowed to take root in my heart or mind.

But sometimes, no matter how strict you are with yourself, someone comes along and shatters everything you believe.

For me, that someone was Ysabel Dela Peña.

It was three years ago.

One rainy night I had a dinner meeting at a secret restaurant. I was bored. I had no appetite. While the board talked, I looked out the window.

That’s where I saw her. Soaked, wearing a thin blouse, head bowed as she talked on her cellphone.

And then she cried — really cried.

As if she didn’t care about the world watching her.

She was raw.

She was real.

That woman was full of feeling.

My gaze got stuck on her.

It was only minutes, but it was enough for a question to take root in me.

Who was she?

I felt an unfamiliar heat in my chest.

Marco — my nephew, raised by the family like a trophy boy. Every woman wanted him. The family forgave all his sins. A woman’s feelings were just toys to him.

And now, the woman I saw crying in the rain was his girlfriend?

I didn’t know what I was supposed to feel in those moments.

Anger?

Jealousy?

Regret?

I didn’t know. All I knew was that he had no right to touch Ysabel.

I watched quietly. I didn’t approach. I didn’t interfere in whatever was happening between them then.

But I monitored her.

Where she went. What she did. Whether she ate. Whether she slept well.

I don’t know if it was obsession.

But I didn’t care.

That’s when I realized this was no longer just a game in my head.

She applied to Verano Holdings — unaware that I would be the one to interview her. Unaware that the man who wanted to hire her as an employee was the man who had long wanted… to claim her.

When the door opened and she stepped into my office, I could hardly paint my feelings.

She was more beautiful than my memory of her.

Her face’s aura was braver.

She was more whole, even though her heart had been broken then.

For the first time, I felt fear.

Because I knew that if I let her go, she would be gone again. From my sight.

This was not part of the plan. Not a negotiation. Not a calculation.

It was my desire.

From a man used to controlling everything — except himself when it came to Ysabel.

I knew it was dangerous. I knew it was wrong.

She was not a toy. Not a house I treat like an investment.

But I wanted her to be mine.

Not only as a woman. But as… my wife.

Not immediately. But she agreed. When I read her text, I was elated — though of course I kept it to myself.

Yes, she had conditions. Lines she wanted to draw. But honestly… I didn’t care about any of those conditions.

As long as, in the end, she would be Mrs. Verano in my life. That was enough for me.

And no man — including my idiot nephew — would be allowed near her.

Especially Marco.

I immediately summoned my lawyer. I had a prenuptial agreement drawn up, not to protect my wealth, but to make sure that no matter what happens, she won’t be hurt by anyone.

I sent her to an expensive boutique to be fitted for the best gown.

But this was not a church wedding.

I don’t need an altar to declare my claim on her.

I only need her by my side.

And when she’s ready…

She will bear not only my last name.

She will have my heart as well.

Yet even as she becomes mine, I am afraid.

Afraid that one day she will wake up.

Afraid that in her eyes I might only be the price of her security and never the man she could love.

But for now?

For now… she is mine.

And nothing will stop me from making it so.