The neon lights of the "Star-Chaser" ride whirled behind them, blurring into a dizzying streak of magenta and gold, but the atmosphere between Roman and Tish was as cold as a mountain tomb. Roman stood with his feet planted shoulder-width apart, his posture as immovable as the stone pillars of his estate. He watched Skye and Adam disappear into the crowd near the petting zoo, and the moment they were out of earshot, the small flicker of "polite father" died in his eyes, replaced by the shark-like coldness of a man who dealt in hostile takeovers.
"Five minutes, Tish," Roman said, his voice a low, dangerous vibration. "Start talking."
Tish didn't flinch. Instead, she took a half-step closer, the scent of her perfume- something heavy, floral, and expensive, drifting up to him. It was a scent designed to trigger memories, to pull him back to a time before he was a titan, back when he was a younger man capable of being manipulated.
"Roman, please," she whispered, her brown eyes welling with a shimmer of moisture that looked perfectly practiced. "Don't look at me like I'm one of your corporate rivals. I'm the woman who gave you the most precious thing in your life. Doesn't that count for anything anymore?"
"It counts for the fact that I haven't had my security team escort you to the county line yet," Roman countered. He didn't move an inch toward her. "You left when Adam was newborn because the 'domestic life' didn't suit your social calendar, you didn'twant him. You took a settlement and signed away your rights. Why are you here?"
Tish reached out, her fingers ghosting toward his bicep. She moved with a fluid, feline grace, her voice dropping into a sultry, remorseful coo. "I was young, Roman. I was scared of the responsibility, and you... you were so intense, even then. I felt like I was drowning in your shadow. But I've changed. I've grown up. Seeing you today, seeing how strong you've become... it reminded me of what we had. What we could have had if I hadn't been so foolish."
She let her hand rest on his arm for a heartbeat, her gaze traveling up the line of his throat to his jaw. "You still have that fire in your eyes. It's even more intoxicating now that you're a man who knows his power."
Roman looked down at her hand as if it were a poisonous spider. He didn't pull away; he simply stared until she felt the weight of his disgust and withdrew her fingers.
"The fire you see isn't for you, Tish. It's the warning light for anyone who tries to disrupt the peace I've finally built for my son."
Tish let out a soft, shaky breath, her lower lip trembling. She leaned in closer, her voice a desperate, seductive plea. "I'm not trying to disrupt it. I want to be a part of it. Adam needs his mother, Roman. That girl you're with... she's lovely, I'm sure. A pretty little singer with a tragic backstory. But she isn't his blood. She doesn't know him the way I could. And you... you need someone who understands the weight of your world. Someone who has known you since the beginning."
Roman felt a surge of pure, icy bile. He saw right through the mask. He saw the way her eyes flickered to the expensive watch on his wrist and the way she evaluated the security detail hovering in the distance. She didn't want the "weight" of his world; she wanted the gilded luxury of it. She wanted the Thorne name back on her credit cards and the Thorne power back in her corner.
"Skye has done more for Adam in two months than you did in five years," Roman said, his voice dropping into a lethal register. "She protected him while a Prince was hunting her. She loves him with a heart that doesn't have a price tag. You? You're just a ghost looking for a paycheck."
Tish's face hardened for a split second, the mask slipping, before she forced herself back into a state of mournful grace. She realized the flirting was hitting a brick wall. Roman wasn't the man she had left; he was something far more formidable. He was a fortress that had already been occupied by a new Queen.
"You're being cruel," she hissed, her eyes flashing with a half-truth of genuine frustration. "Fine. You don't want me in your bed. I can live with that. But you cannot deny me my son. I saw him today, Roman. I saw his smile. It broke me. I've spent every night for the last four years wondering what his first words were, what his favorite toy was. I am his mother. I have a right to know him."
She stepped back, wiping a stray tear from her cheek with the back of her hand. "I made a mistake. A massive, unforgivable mistake. I took the money because I thought it would make the guilt go away, but it didn't. It just made the silence louder. I'm not asking to move back in, Roman. I'm asking for a chance to be in his life. To be the mother I should have been."
Roman stood silent, the cacophony of the fair fading into a dull hum in his ears. This was the trap. She knew that despite his hatred for her, his moral compass was dictated by what was best for Adam. He had grown up without a mother's soft touch, and as much as he adored the bond Skye and Adam shared, a primal part of him felt the weight of biological truth. Could he really look Adam in the eye ten years from now and tell him he had banished his mother from the world?
"You think you can just walk back in?" Roman asked, his voice low.
"I'm willing to work for it," Tish said, her voice sounding uncharacteristically steady. "Supervised visits. Short meetings. Anything you want. Just let me see him. Let me show him I didn't just vanish into thin air."
Roman looked toward the petting zoo. He could see Skye's blonde head bent over a wooden fence, Adam sitting on the top rail, laughing as a goat nibbled at his sleeve. The sight of them- the pure, uncomplicated love they shared, made his heart ache with a protective fury.
He didn't trust Tish. He knew she was a scavenger, a woman who saw Adam as her ticket back into the Thorne treasury. But he also knew that if he denied her, he would be the villain in Adam's story later on.
"You will stay away from the estate," Roman commanded, his voice cold and final. "You will not contact him. You will not show up at his school. You will communicate only through my lawyers. If- and it is a very big if- I decide to allow a meeting, it will be on my terms, in my location, with my security present."
Tish's eyes lit up with a triumphant spark she couldn't quite hide, though she quickly lowered her gaze. "Thank you, Roman. That's all I ask. Truly."
"And Tish?" Roman stepped forward, his massive frame towering over her, his eyes pinning her to the spot. "If you try to use him to get to me, or if you say one word to Skye that isn't purely professional, I will ensure that the settlement you signed becomes a legal noose. I will bury you so deep in litigation you'll forget what sunlight looks like. Do you understand?"
Tish swallowed hard, the sheer, lethal gravity of his threat finally sinking in. "I understand, Roman."
"Get out of here," he said, turning his back on her before she could say another word.
He didn't look back to see her walk away. He didn't care about her remorse or her half-truths. He began to stride toward the petting zoo, his heart hammering with a different kind of fear. He had to tell Skye. He had to explain why he was letting the wolf near the sheep.
As he saw Skye look up and catch his eye, her expression a mix of worry and lingering jealousy, Roman felt a surge of overwhelming love. He realized that the battle for his family hadn't ended in that courtroom. It was just entering a new, more treacherous phase- one where the enemies didn't wear crowns, but the faces of a past he had thought he'd outrun.