Chapter 244: The Transaction
"Liora. Sweetheart. Please say yes."
The plea came out soft enough to melt anyone who heard it.
Elias had tilted his head, lowered his voice, and arranged every part of himself into something shamelessly adorable. The request itself was another matter. He was asking for a private room, a locked door, and the last little step that would take Liora from ninety-nine percent to completion.
The contrast was deliberate.
A sweet boy asking for something that charged could make almost any woman lose her judgment.
Liora did not.
Liora had not missed the careful setup. Elias had waited outside the house with the sealed packet in his palm. He had wrapped his arms around her first, asked whether she missed him, and offered a promise that the packet was only for her. Every part of it had been arranged to make her feel selected.
He wanted something from her.
That fact should have made the sweetness less effective.
