“Good. Then you shouldn’t be concerned about it,” Sloane said. “As for your eyes and ears, perhaps they should’ve factchecked for you before you uploaded that post. This is the twenty-first century, Perry. If you can’t handle a twenty-two-year-old and her fans, you might want to switch careers. I hear Fast and Furriness is looking for a new copywriter.”

Perry quaked with indignation. “You won’t get away with this.”

“Please, spare me the cliché villain lines.” Sloane sighed. “I have clients to attend to, and you have advertisers to appease before they all flee your sinking ship.”

The blogger was so furious his voice dropped to near inaudible levels, and I only heard snippets of what he said next.

Bitch…check in with your star client…not talking about the one you’re fucking.

Jillian and the other publicists scattered from the door. A minute later, Perry stormed out in a tornado of pink and cologne. “Hey, man.” I clapped my hand on his shoulder hard enough to make him stumble as he passed. “Sorry to hear about your troubles. Good luck at Fast and Furriness.”

Perry squawked with outrage but was smart enough not to confront me physically. He stomped toward the elevator, looking not unlike a child throwing a temper tantrum, and I couldn’t believe this was the man who’d caused so many powerful people so much distress over the years.

It was like peeking behind the curtain and seeing the real Wizard of Oz. Disappointing.

Jillian giggled and didn’t stop me when I walked into Sloane’s office and closed the door behind me.

With Perry gone, the stiffness eased from her shoulders, but they tightened again when she saw me.

Sloane was obviously exhausted, but even with faint purple smudges beneath her eyes and lines of tension bracketing her mouth, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. It had nothing to do with her looks and everything to do with who she was.

Smart, fierce, and so damn mine.

I should’ve recognized it sooner, and I would wait forever until she did too.

“So, Perry’s really done, huh?” I asked.

It was odd to talk about something as banal as Perry when the devastation from last night’s conversation hadn’t fully settled. The wreckage floated around us, each shard a silent reminder of what was at stake.

However, jumping right into the reason I was here would be a surefire way to make Sloane shut down. I needed to ease into things, and honestly, I’d take any excuse to talk to her again, no matter the topic.

“For now, but people like him always find a way to survive.” Sloane tapped her pen against her desk, her eyes wary. “We don’t have a meeting scheduled for today.”

“No, we don’t.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

The nervous rhythm mirrored the tension dripping in the air. It was so potent I could taste it in the back of my throat, and while I wanted nothing more than to grab her and kiss the hell out of her, I had to be smart about this.

I had one last chance, and I wasn’t going to fuck it up. Sloane’s throat bobbed with a swallow. “Xavier…”

“Don’t worry. I didn’t come to make a scene.” I pushed my hands into my pockets and fisted them to keep myself from reaching for her. “I came to tell you three things. One, I met with Alex this morning about the fire. He said it was sabotage.”

The tapping stopped. I could practically see the wheels in her head spinning as she processed this bit of information. “Sabotage. By who?”

“Still unclear.” I summarized the meeting for her. “It’s Alex, so he’ll figure it out and put in safeguards to ensure something similar doesn’t happen again while I repair the club.”

Sloane stilled, her eyes flaring with surprise and a wary hope that poured fresh fuel into mine. Hope meant she still cared, and if she still cared, that meant an infinitesimally larger chance of winning my upcoming gamble.

“That’s the second thing,” I said more quietly. “I’m going ahead with the Vault. You and Alex were both right, and I don’t care if I pass the deadline and don’t get my inheritance. That’s no longer what the club is about. I just needed a kick in the ass to realize it.” A sardonic smile crossed my mouth. “Or two.”

Sloane’s gaze flickered with another emotion I couldn’t name before she slammed a steel gate over it. “Good. There’s no use wasting the effort you’ve already put into it.”

“Final thing.” I took a step closer, my eyes trained on hers.

“Our trial period doesn’t end until tomorrow, which means we’re not over yet. Not officially.”

Sloane’s grip on her pen tightened. “I already made my decision.”

“It doesn’t count when there’s still time to change your mind.”

Her mouth quivered for a split second before flattening into a straight line. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Pain laced her voice, and that was enough to spur me on. I hated seeing her hurt, but if that meant I was getting through to her, I would bear it.

“I’ll make it as hard as I can,” I said fiercely. “I love you, Sloane, and if you think I’m letting you go that easily, you’re mistaken. I’ve spent half my life running from the hard stuff and taking the easy way out because I’d never wanted anything enough to work for it.” I swallowed. “Then I met you, and I finally understood what people meant when they said love is worth fighting for. I know it sounds like a cliché, and if you heard this in a movie, you’d probably write a scathing review about it”—Sloane choked out a laugh—“but I mean it. I’ve learned to fight for what’s important, and there’s nothing in this world that’s more important to me than you. Not the club, not my inheritance, not my reputation.”

I took another step closer, desperate to touch her but knowing I couldn’t.

“I know you’re afraid,” I said. “Hell, I am too. I’ve never been in love, and I’ve never wanted to be in love. I have no idea what people do in these situations, which is probably why I’m here, making an ass of myself.” A hint of self-deprecation slipped into my voice. “If you truly don’t feel anything for me, then I accept that.” Even if it kills me. “But if you do, even the tiniest bit, then don’t do what I used to do. Don’t run away from what could be because you’re afraid of what might be.”

It was blunt, but Sloane had always responded best to directness. It was one of the many things I loved about her.

“I won’t lie and say I know what our future looks like. No one does. But I do know that whatever happens, we’ll figure it together,” I said softly. “We always do.”

Sloane didn’t move, didn’t speak, but her eyes shone with suspicious brightness.

I took a deep breath and braced myself for what I was about to say. “Tomorrow, top of the Empire State Building. Meet me at midnight.” That was when our trial period officially expired. “If you don’t show…” I swallowed past the glass shards in my throat. “I’ll know what your answer is, and I’ll never mention this again.” Sloane let out another watery-sounding laugh. “Are you Sleepless in Seattle-ing me?”

“Gossip Girl, actually. Doris was a big fan,” I said with a fleeting smile. Then my face sobered, and my voice softened into something more tender. “I know you think happily ever afters are unrealistic, Luna, but they don’t have to be. You just have to believe in them enough for yourself.”

She didn’t respond. I hadn’t expected her to, but when I walked out, my heart knotted in my throat, I couldn’t help but second guess my strategy.

I’d taken a huge gamble by giving Sloane an ultimatum, but we were the same in as many ways as we were different. She needed that push.

I just hoped that in doing so, I hadn’t made the worst mistake of my life.

CHAPTER 42

Sloane

I couldn’t stop checking the time.

It was one in the afternoon; there were eleven hours until my trial period with Xavier expired, but the looming deadline killed my appetite as I pushed my salad around my plate.

If you don’t show up, I’ll know what your answer is, and I’ll never mention this again.