James sighed like a man already exhausted by what was coming. "Ethan. This isn't one of your usual stunts. This is a woman's life."
"And I'm not here to play, James. I'm here to win."
James paused, then gave a tired chuckle. "You sound like your father."
Ethan's jaw tightened. "Don't say that."
"Then don't act like him," James shot back. "This isn't about proving you can get what you want. This is about whether you should."
"I'm not taking anything from her. I'm offering her a way out."
"Oh really? And how do you plan to explain yourself at the gala when you walk in with Mrs. Amelia Vale on your arm?"
Ethan smiled. "I'll introduce her as mine."
James laughed now, a full, incredulous, disbelieving laugh. "You arrogant bastard."
Ethan leaned against the window frame, watching the lights flicker in Amelia's wing across the garden. "Two weeks."
"She doesn't even like you yet."
"She will."
James gave a long groan. "Do you even hear yourself?"
"I've never been more clear," Ethan said, voice calm. "Two weeks. I walk into that gala with her beside me, not as a guest, not as a show, as the woman I choose."
"And if you don't?"
"Then I'll give up. I'll come home alone. I'll let it go."
There was a long pause. "This is madness."
"Then make it a bet."
James snorted. "A bet?"
"You think I can't do it? Fine. Let's wager."
"What's the stake?"
"If I show up with her," Ethan said, "you tell my parents the truth, that you've known where I've been all along. You take the fall."
"And if you don't?"
"I'll come back and take my place beside Father, no questions, no fight. I'll take the seat, the name, the goddamned throne."
James exhaled like a man making a deal with the devil. "You'd give that up for a woman who doesn't even know your full name."
"I'd give up the whole kingdom for a woman who makes me want to stay in one place," Ethan murmured.
There was silence again, longer this time. He could hear the butler's breath on the line, steady, reluctant.
Then finally: "Fine. Two weeks. You show up with her, I take the fall."
"You're on."
"But if you don't…"
"I will."
James sighed. "Goodnight, Mr. Blake."
The line went dead.
Ethan stood there for a long moment, the phone still warm in his palm.
Mr. Blake.
The name fit like a noose.
But when he turned back toward the window and caught the faint glow of a lamp in Amelia's bedroom, he felt something rise in his chest...
Possession.
He would make her his.
And in two weeks, he'd show the world what happens when a man who walks away from empires decides someone is worth staying for.
The next day, the sun was still low in the sky, golden and gentle, casting a warm glow across the dewy garden.
Birds chirped lazily, the kind of peace that always seemed foreign inside the echoing walls of the Vale estate.
Ethan was already in the garden, sleeves rolled up, spade in hand, working a patch of soil near the rose beds he'd trimmed the day before.
He moved with practiced ease now, each motion smooth and precise, though he hadn't always known what he was doing. There was a rhythm to it, like breathing. It was becoming something he craved.
But nothing stole his breath like the sound of soft footsteps behind him.
He turned, half expecting the estate manager or another housemaid.
But it was her.
Amelia.
Hair pulled into a loose braid, pale yellow sundress fluttering at her knees, barefoot in the grass like a scene out of a dream he didn't know he'd been chasing.
She held a pair of gardening gloves awkwardly in one hand. "You said the rose bushes need care. I thought I'd… learn."
Ethan blinked. "You want to garden?"
She shrugged, avoiding his gaze, a little embarrassed. "I used to love this place. The greenhouse, especially. I just, I've been feeling like I should… remember that."
He smiled gently, nodding. "Alright then. Let's ruin your nails."
She laughed, soft and genuine. It caught them both off guard.
Ethan offered her a trowel. Their fingers brushed. Neither pulled away.
Amelia kneeled beside him, smoothing her dress under her knees as she watched what he did, her brow furrowed in concentration.
"Like this?" she asked, pressing the spade into the soil.
"Almost," Ethan said, guiding her wrist gently. "Angle it just a little, yes, like that."
She looked up at him, her lips curved slightly. "You're a good teacher."
He was dangerously close to saying something stupid, like only for you, so he just smiled and kept digging.
They worked in silence for a while.
Amelia pruned a few branches under his instruction, careful not to snap the stems.
"You're good at this," he said.
She glanced at him. "At what? Not killing plants?"
"At finding calm."
Her hands stilled. She looked up slowly, caught off guard by the softness in his voice.
"No one's ever said that to me."
"They should."
Amelia dropped her gaze, suddenly flustered. "I haven't felt calm in a long time."
Ethan hesitated, then said carefully, "Maybe this is the start."
She didn't respond right away. But she smiled, not just with her lips, but with her eyes.
It was the first real smile he'd seen from her.
He wanted to memorize it.
She wiped sweat from her brow with the back of her glove. "I never thought I'd be out here doing this. I always thought… my life would be different."
Ethan looked at her. "Different how?"
"More… full. I used to have dreams. I wanted to open a flower shop. I loved lavender and jasmine. I wanted to live above it in a small apartment with big windows. I used to imagine it every night before I fell asleep."
He was quiet, taking that in.
"What happened?" he asked gently.
She gave a small, hollow laugh. "I married Richard Vale."
There was no bitterness in her tone, just exhaustion. Honesty.
Ethan placed his hand over hers. She didn't flinch.
"I think your dream still exists."
Her voice was quieter now. "Even if I can't reach it anymore?"
"Even if it changed."
Their eyes met. A flutter. A breath. A silence that meant everything.
Amelia pulled her hand away slowly, clearing her throat. "You're very poetic… for a gardener."
Ethan grinned. "You caught me. I moonlight as a philosopher."
"Oh, so you are mysterious," she teased.
"Painfully so."
They both laughed.