As winter deepened in New York, so did the threats against Lucas Harrington.
Sarah Kline was no longer just a name in a police file. Mid-thirties, unemployed, living in a cramped Queens apartment plastered with Echo Pulse posters, she had posted thousands of times on obscure forums declaring Lucas her soulmate, her destiny, the only man who truly understood her pain. The police had warned her off twice, but warnings meant nothing to someone who believed love justified everything.
It started with the pig heart.
Amari discovered it at dawn, wrapped in butcher paper on the doorstep of Lucas's loft, blood seeping through onto the marble. A handwritten note in red ink was pinned to it with a sewing needle: *Yours beats only for me, and mine for you, my sweet.*
Lucas turned pale when he saw it. "That's… that's messed up."
Amari didn't waste words. Within hours, she had Lucas packed and relocated to Daniel's sprawling penthouse atop Harrington Tower—higher security, private elevator, biometric locks. Lucas grumbled about feeling like a prisoner, but he trusted her.
Amari took the couch in the living room, close to the entrance. Her duffel bag stayed packed by the door. Under the pillow each night rested her Glock 19, loaded, safety off.
Daniel, citing "oversight concerns," began working from home far more than usual. Board meetings moved to video calls. He told his executives it was temporary. The truth was simpler: he didn't want to leave Lucas—or Amari—unprotected.
Late nights became routine. After Lucas crashed in the guest suite, Daniel and Amari would find themselves in the sleek, dimly lit kitchen, reviewing security footage, mapping escape routes, discussing Sarah's patterns. Coffee turned into something stronger one snowy evening when Daniel pulled a bottle of twenty-year bourbon from a locked cabinet.
He poured two fingers into crystal glasses. "You've earned this."
Amari accepted, wrapping chilled fingers around the glass. Snow fell thick and silent beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, blanketing the city in hushed white."Have you ever thought about going back?" Daniel asked quietly, leaning against the marble island. "To Montana. After the contract ends.""Every single day," she admitted, staring into the amber liquid. "I miss the quiet. The sky that actually has stars. Dad's voice on the phone telling me the cattle are fine, the fences held. But he also says the ranch can wait. That he's proud I'm doing something important." She gave a small, wry smile. "He's never said that before."
Daniel's gaze softened. "You are. More than you know."Their eyes locked. The air between them crackled with unspoken tension. Snowflakes swirled against the glass like tiny frantic moths. For one breathless heartbeat, Daniel leaned fractionally closer, and Amari felt the pull like gravity.Then she stood abruptly, setting the glass down harder than intended. "I should check the perimeter." She escaped to the balcony, cold air slapping her heated cheeks. *He's engaged. He's your boss. Get a grip, Amari.*
Victoria Sterling's visits increased as merger negotiations intensified. She breezed in wearing designer coats and superiority, treating Amari like invisible staff. "Could you fetch my coat, please?" she'd say sweetly, or "Tell the chef I prefer almond milk." Amari responded with cool, professional politeness, refusing every order while never quite crossing into rudeness. The jealousy she refused to name sharpened its teeth with every encounter. It came to a head on New Year's Eve at the charity ball in the Rainbow Room, sixty-five floors above Rockefeller Center. Lucas performed a short acoustic set to thunderous applause. Amari, in a borrowed deep emerald gown that hugged her athletic frame and made her green eyes luminous, blended into the crowd while never letting Lucas out of sight.Daniel couldn't stop looking at her.
Victoria chose the moment after Lucas's final song to step forward, diamond ring flashing beneath chandeliers like a weapon. "Daniel and I have an announcement," she declared to the assembled press and donors. "We're engaged!"Cameras exploded in flashes. Applause rippled. Daniel smiled the practiced smile of a man born to cameras, but his eyes searched the crowd for Amari. When he found her, she was already gone.He slipped away minutes later and discovered her in a quiet service hallway, staring out a window at the snow-dusted city lights.
"Amari—"
"Congratulations," she said, voice flat, arms crossed tightly. "She's perfect for you." "She's perfect for the company," he replied, stepping closer. "There's a difference."
"Not one I can see from where I'm standing." She turned away. "I'm here for Lucas. That's all."
Before he could answer, movement flickered in the shadows. A man in a waiter's uniform lunged, knife gleaming. Sarah's accomplice—hired online, radicalized by her forums.Amari reacted on pure instinct. She intercepted, blocked the strike, twisted the wrist until bone cracked, and drove the man to the marble floor. Security swarmed seconds later.
Daniel reached her as she rose, breathing hard. A shallow slice wept blood down her forearm."You're bleeding." "It's nothing," she said automatically.He caught her wrist gently, turning it to examine the wound under the hallway light. "You keep saving my family." "It's my job."Their faces were inches apart. Snow continued to fall beyond the window. Daniel's thumb brushed the frantic pulse at her wrist. For one suspended moment, the world narrowed to the warmth of his hand, the intensity in his eyes, the unspoken words hovering between them.Then Victoria's voice sliced through the corridor like glass: "Daniel, darling! The photographers want you for the engagement shots!"The spell shattered. Amari pulled her arm free. "Go," she said quietly. "Your future awaits."She walked away before he could stop her, leaving Daniel staring after her, ring heavy on Victoria's finger.