Chapter 8 - The ProposalDaniel stood up from the armchair, walking slowly toward the bassinet. He reached down, gently brushing his thumb against one sleeping infant's cheek before turning back to look at me.
"When you stood in that alleyway with a knife-edge of danger pressing against your throat and told me to either pull the trigger or lower the gun, you didn't run," Daniel said, his voice deep and steady. "When my brother's men shot through the pantry door, you didn't drop the babies and save yourself. You protected them as if they were your own flesh and blood."
"I know what it's like to be unwanted," I said quietly, looking down at my hands. "I wasn't going to let them experience that."
"Neither were I," Daniel replied. He walked over to the edge of the bed, pulling a heavy leather-bound portfolio from the side table and placing it neatly across my lap. "Which is why I had my corporate legal team draft a few documents while you were unconscious."
With shaking fingers, I opened the leather portfolio. Inside wasn't a paycheck or a gag order, but a formal legal contract.
Co-Guardianship and Estate Trusteeship Agreement.
"What is this?" I breathed, reading the legal phrasing over and over again.
"It means that as of this morning, you are no longer a twenty-two-year-old waitress drowning in rent and scrubbing grease traps at Ali's Diner," Daniel said, leaning slightly against the foot of the bed. "You are legally designated as co-guardian and co-trustee of the Sterling estate and the twins' primary legal guardian alongside me."
I stared at him, completely paralyzed. "Are you out of your mind? You barely know me! I'm just a diner worker from the wrong side of the city!"
"You're survivor, Anna. You're fiercely loyal, unimaginably brave, and you possess a moral compass that money cannot buy," Daniel countered, his gaze softening in a way that made my breath catch. "My empire has plenty of ruthless killers and corporate sharks. What these children—and what I—need is someone real."
May you like
"And if I say no?" I tested, raising an eyebrow.
Daniel offered a slow, faint smile that completely transformed his harsh features. "Then I suppose I'll have to hire you as my personal executive consultant at a starting salary of five million dollars a year until you change your mind. But I prefer the first option."
