Chapter 4 The Rules Were Never Meant For Us

Morning arrived with a sharp bite.

Amelia awoke tangled in sheets that smelled like lavender and memory. She hadn't slept-couldn't, not after Leo. Not after what they shared in the dark. It hadn't gone further than a kiss, but it had unraveled her carefully tied restraint. And worse, it had felt right.

Dangerously, achingly right.

Now, the guilt clawed at her. Because no matter how alive Leo made her feel, there was still Julian-watching, calculating, waiting for her next move. Every moment in this house was a test. And she was starting to fail them all.

By the time she entered the dining room, the atmosphere had already turned electric.

Victoria sat at the head of the table, a porcelain cup in her hand, her posture razor-sharp. Julian was to her right, reading through his phone, immaculate in a charcoal suit. Leo leaned back in his chair with that signature disdain, eyes darkened with secrets only he seemed to carry.

Amelia's entrance drew three pairs of eyes.

"Good morning," she said, trying to sound unshaken.

Victoria didn't reply. Julian glanced up, offering a tight, unreadable smile. Only Leo met her gaze, his look a silent conversation. Don't break.

"Come sit," Julian finally said. "We have business to discuss."

She sat beside him, keeping her hands folded. The tension in the room was so thick it could have choked someone less used to surviving in it.

"We're heading into a delicate negotiation with Arcadia Holdings this week," Julian began. "They're old money, volatile, and easily swayed by pretty things who can talk in boardrooms. That's where you come in."

Amelia blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You'll attend the meetings with me," he said smoothly. "We've already built your profile-Hawthorne's new sustainability advisor. You'll speak when I cue you, smile when needed, and keep their CEO distracted enough to agree to our terms."

She stiffened. "So I'm bait again."

"You're more than bait," Julian said softly, his voice low so only she could hear. "You're the difference between closing a deal and watching our enemies get stronger."

"Wouldn't be the first time you used someone," Leo muttered from across the table.

Julian's eyes flashed. "If you'd paid more attention to the business, Leo, maybe you'd have a seat at this table instead of playing the rebel in the corner."

Amelia stood, pushing her chair back. "If I'm being paraded like a pawn, I'd at least like to know what I'm fighting for."

"You're fighting to belong," Victoria said finally, her voice cutting through the room. "To be more than a girl plucked from nothing."

The words stung more than they should have.

"You think this is belonging?" Amelia asked. "This isn't a family. It's a battlefield."

Victoria smiled. "Then learn to be the one who walks away with blood on her hands and her crown intact."

Amelia left the room without another word.

Outside, the wind bit into her skin like punishment. She walked through the garden until she found herself again by the stone railing where Leo had stood the night before.

She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to make sense of it all.

She was spiraling-into Julian's cold fire, Leo's bruised tenderness, and Victoria's pit of cruelty. But the worst part wasn't them.

It was that she was beginning to like it.

"I warned you," came Leo's voice.

She didn't flinch. "About what?"

"Julian. My mother. This place. The way it sinks its teeth in you until you start to bleed ambition."

She turned. "And what about you? You're no better."

He laughed, bitter and beautiful. "No, I'm worse. Because I'll burn this place down just to watch them choke on the ashes."

Their eyes locked again.

"You kissed me," she said.

"I shouldn't have."

"Do you regret it?"

"No," he said. "Do you?"

Amelia didn't answer. She didn't know how to. Her silence was louder than any yes or no.

He stepped forward, the air between them turning tight.

"I want to trust you," she whispered. "But I don't know what's real here."

"Trust this," he said, reaching for her hand. "I'd never lie to you."

But even as he said it, something in his eyes flickered-like he was lying to himself.

That night, Julian knocked on her door.

Amelia opened it, wary, unsurprised.

"I know," he said simply.

"Know what?"

"That Leo kissed you."

She stiffened. "So what?"

"So now I have to decide if I want to win you back... or break you both."

His words were venomous and intimate. Not a threat. A promise.

"You don't own me."

Julian leaned against the doorframe. "No. But you want to belong to someone. And part of you hoped it would be me."

Amelia stepped back, heart hammering. "You're insane."

"No," he said. "I'm obsessed."

Then he turned and walked away, leaving her shaking.

She slammed the door behind him and pressed her back against it.

They were both devouring her in different ways. One with fire, the other with ice. And she was drowning somewhere in the middle, too drawn to pull herself out.

The next day at the Arcadia Holdings meeting, Amelia wore confidence like armor.

She walked into the sleek glass tower beside Julian, his hand at her lower back, his smile perfectly timed.

The CEO of Arcadia-a man named Dean Carlisle-was all charm and greed. He greeted Julian warmly, but his eyes lingered too long on Amelia.

"Ms. Hart, is it?" he asked, shaking her hand.

"Yes," she said coolly. "I'll be advising on the partnership's green initiatives."

Julian smiled approvingly. "She's one of our brightest assets."

Dean Carlisle's grin said he heard a different word than "asset."

The meeting began, and Amelia held her own. She countered questions, built rapport, and diffused tension when Julian and Dean's interests clashed.

She could feel Julian's eyes on her the entire time-not just watching her performance, but watching how much Carlisle was watching her.

By the end of the hour, the deal was softened, not closed-but progress had been made.

"Well done," Julian murmured as they stepped into the elevator.

"You're not going to lecture me on being too charming?"

He glanced at her. "No. I like seeing you in control."

Amelia turned to him, voice sharp. "Even if I'm not under yours?"

Julian smiled darkly. "Especially then."

Later that night, Amelia found herself unable to sleep.

She went to the rooftop of the estate-the highest point, the furthest she could get from all of them.

But Leo was already there.

Of course he was.

"You're running," he said.

"No. I'm trying to breathe."

He nodded like he understood that more than he should.

"They're playing you," he said. "Using you to distract Carlisle, to hurt me, to claw at each other."

"And you're not?"

Leo's silence was answer enough.

"Why do you hate Julian so much?" she asked.

Leo stared into the dark horizon. "Because he took everything that was mine and smiled while doing it. My father's name. This company. My life."

"And me?"

Leo turned to her, jaw tight. "You were never his to begin with."

"But you want me to be yours."

"I want you to be free."

Amelia looked at him, heart tangled in truths she didn't know how to trust.

"Then stop making me choose between you."

"I'm not," he said. "But he will."

And somehow, they both knew Leo was right.