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The ballroom of The Grand Sterling glistened like an ice palace drowned in amber light, smelling faintly of expensive champagne, high-stakes panic, and illicit money. Anna stood near a towering arrangement of white orchids / Chapter 20 / 20

Chapter 20 - Happily Never Normal

One year later, the penthouse office of the Castiano Group looked largely the same, save for one tiny, chaotic addition: a small wooden playpen tucked away in the corner near the window, filled with colorful blocks and stuffed animals.

Anna sat at her desk, holding a glowing tablet in one hand and a baby bottle in the other, trying to field a conference call with European investors while her one-year-old daughter, Mia, babbled happily on the rug.

The office door swung open, and Berto walked in, his sleeves rolled up, carrying a stack of corporate compliance reports in one hand and a rattle in the other. He stopped, looking at the scene with a fond, amused smile.

Before Anna could stop him, a fresh stack of physical folders slipped from her elbow and cascaded across the marble floor, landing right next to baby Mia’s toys.

Mia clapped her hands happily, immediately grabbing a top-secret logistics report and attempting to chew on the corner.

Berto sighed dramatically, dropping his reports onto the desk, and knelt down to rescue the documents from their toddler daughter. He looked up at Anna, a devastating smirk playing across his lips.

"I'm starting to think clumsiness is a genetic predisposition," Berto teased, handing her the slightly slobbered-on folder.

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Arthur Sterling tapped his leather-wrapped fingers against the steering wheel of his matte-black Bentley, staring at the imposing wrought-iron gates of his own estate. To the world, the Sterling name was synonymous with untouchable wealth, bleeding-edge tech investments, and a picture-perfect modern family. But as the automated gates slid open with a soft, expensive hum, Arthur didn't feel like a master of a universe; he felt like a stranger walking into a trap he had built with his own hands.

Arthur Sterling tapped his leather-wrapped fingers against the steering...

The sound hung in the air, rhythmic and deliberate—tap, tap, tap—reverberating directly through the plaster of the master bedroom's walk-in closet wall.

The sound hung in the air, rhythmic and deliberate—tap, tap, tap—reverbe...

The wind on the balcony was sharp, carrying the bitter, fish-heavy tang of the Boston Harbor. It hit Dileia like a physical blow, cutting right through the thin polyester of her service uniform. She shivered, though she refused to wrap her arms around herself. Doing so would look like weakness, and tonight, weakness was a currency she couldn't afford to spend.

The wind on the balcony was sharp, carrying the bitter, fish-heavy tang...

"Shut up and help me file this," Anna laughed, leaning down to kiss him as he rose.

The door was closed, the city hummed outside, and for the most dangerous man in New York and his fiercely brilliant secretary, life was perfectly, delightfully chaotic.

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