The contract meeting lasted six hours.
Lawyers on both sides.
Clause after clause.
Property division.
Public obligations.
Media appearances.
Inheritance acceleration.
Then—
Her clause.
No physical intimacy without consent.
Personal autonomy in private life.
The room went silent.
Leonid looked amused.
Zaid looked indifferent.
"Add it," Zaid said without hesitation.
One lawyer hesitated. "Sir, that could complicate—"
"Add it."
His voice cut the discussion.
Aansi didn't thank him.
She didn't look at him.
This wasn't protection.
This was documentation.
After the lawyers left, they were alone in the conference room.
"You're building walls," he said calmly.
"I'm building survival."
"You won't survive here if you treat this like a moral battlefield."
"And you won't control me like a possession."
His eyes sharpened.
He stepped closer — not touching.
"You are part of my image now."
"And you are part of my prison."
Silence.
Equal hostility.
Equal pride.
He leaned slightly closer — not breaking the clause, but close enough that she felt the heat of him.
"Don't confuse tolerance with weakness," he murmured.
Then he stepped away.
