Chapter 17

Kayna’s POV

The morning light in Los Angeles was softer than Manhattan’s, filtered through the sheer curtains of my hotel room, but it still woke me with a start. I blinked at the clock on the nightstand. Six thirty. It was too early for how late I’d stayed up.

I had spent the better part of last night replaying Damian’s words and replaying mine.

I’m only here in the capacity of your assistant.

I’d said it. I’d meant it. But even now, in the still hush of morning, I felt the way he’d looked at me afterward—the darkness in his eyes, the way silence pressed like a weight between us.

I shook the thought off and sat up, tugging on the robe the hotel had provided. Today mattered for another reason.

The Cosmo decision. The weight of that decision could make or break a lot at Marshall’s.

My stomach fluttered with a mixture of hope and nerves as I checked my phone. No updates yet. The board had said they would convene overnight and decide.

A knock on the door startled me.

“Kayna?” Ava’s voice floated in, muffled but cheerful.

I padded over, opening it. Ava stood there in a bright floral blue dress, holding two coffees and a smile that already told me she knew something I didn’t.

“You’re up early,” I said, taking one of the cups.

“You’ll thank me,” she replied with a mischievous glint. “News just came in.”

My heart stuttered. “Cosmo?”

She grinned wide. “We got it. Damian secured the contract.”

For a second, I forgot to breathe. The tension that had been strangling me since the pitch dissolved, replaced by a flood of relief. “We—” I started, then stopped, correcting myself.

“He did it.”

“No,” Ava said firmly, nudging my arm. “We did it. Don’t downplay what you did in that room last night. You turned the board.”

Heat rose to my cheeks, but I couldn’t help smiling. “It’s… surreal.”

“Julian just came down from Damian’s suite,” Ava added. “Apparently champagne’s being sent up. They’re already celebrating.”

Of course. Damian Marshall didn’t just win contracts; he won battles. And when he did, the world knew.

By mid-morning, the suite had been transformed. Champagne flutes clinked, Ava laughed with Julian, and for once Damian allowed himself the rarest of luxuries: a smile. It wasn’t wide, wasn’t showy, but it lit his features in a way that made my chest tighten despite myself.

“Cosmo marks a turning point,” Julian said, lounging in the armchair with the ease of a man who’d already consumed two glasses. “Brighton won’t be happy, which makes me very happy.”

Damian gave him a cool glance. “Brighton was never meant to be happy.”

The two men shared a look that told me volumes and nothing at all. Their relationship was layered, built on a history I didn’t yet understand, but it was clear they trusted one another very much.

Ava caught my eye across the room and raised her glass in a silent toast. I lifted mine back, my chest swelling with pride. For the first time since I’d stepped into Marshall Enterprises, I felt like I truly belonged.

But the illusion cracked an hour later when my phone rang.

I slipped away from the group, answering quietly. “Hello, Mom?”

Her voice was soft, thinner than usual. “Kayna, darling.”

The sound of it pulled me back instantly to childhood, her gentle humming in the kitchen, the way she used to braid my hair for school. But now there was a faint strain in her tone that tightened every muscle in my body.

“Are you okay?” I asked quickly.

She hesitated. “I didn’t want to worry you. It’s nothing urgent, just… I haven’t been feeling well lately. The doctor says it might be nothing, but I’d feel better if you came home for a little while.”

My heart dropped. “Unwell how?”

“Oh, just dizzy spells. Some chest pain. They think it could be stress. But I…” She trailed off, then added, quieter, “I’d just like to see you.”

I pressed my hand to my temple, the champagne fizz turning sour in my stomach. “Mom—why didn’t you call sooner?”

“I know how busy you are, Kayna. With the new job and all. I didn’t want to be a burden.”

The word hit me like a knife. Burden. She had sacrificed so much already—for me, for my brother, for the fragments of a family left behind when Dad went to prison.

“You’re never a burden,” I whispered fiercely. “I’ll come. I’ll figure it out.”

We talked a few minutes longer, her voice calming but the worry lodged deep in my chest. When I hung up, my hands were trembling.

How was I supposed to tell Damian? I was his assistant, not someone that could just take leave when she felt like it. But this was my mother. The woman who had held everything together with two jobs and sleepless nights.

I couldn’t let her down now.

The celebration was still going when I returned, though the mood had shifted slightly—Julian and Damian were in low discussion near the window, Ava laughing with someone from the hotel staff.

I swallowed hard and stepped toward Damian.

“Mr. Marshall,” I said, my voice steadier than I felt.

He turned, his eyes cool but attentive. “Yes?”

“Can I speak with you privately?”

Julian arched a brow but drifted toward Ava, leaving us alone. Damian’s gaze lingered on me for a moment before he nodded toward the balcony. “Out here.”

The glass doors slid open, the California air warm against my skin. We stood overlooking the sprawl of Los Angeles, and for a long second, I couldn’t find the words.

“Kayna?” he said at last, his tone edged with something almost… concerned.

I inhaled sharply. “I just got a call from my mom. She hasn’t been feeling well lately. She asked me to come see her.”

His expression didn’t shift immediately, but I saw the flicker in his eyes. “How unwell?”

“Chest pains. Dizziness. The doctors aren’t sure yet.” My voice cracked despite myself, and I forced it steady. “I need to go see her. I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t important.”

The silence between us stretched. I braced for irritation, for a reprimand about timing or responsibility.

But none came.

Instead, Damian stepped closer, his voice low and certain. “Then you’ll go.”

My head jerked up, startled. “You mean—”

“Yes.” His gaze was unwavering. “Family comes first. Always.”

The knot in my chest loosened, and I exhaled shakily. “Thank you,” I whispered.

He studied me, something unreadable passing over his features. Then, with a surprising gentleness, he added, “You did more for me in that boardroom than most men twice your experience could have. You’ve earned the right to take care of what matters to you.”

The words hit deeper than they should have. Not just because he gave me permission, but because of the way he said it, like he understood, truly understood, what family meant to me.

For a moment, the air between us shifted. The celebration inside faded, the city below disappeared. There was only Damian, standing too close, his eyes locked on mine with an intensity that made my pulse race.

I could have sworn he was about to reach for me. Or maybe I was about to reach for him.

But then Julian’s voice broke through the door, sharp and amused. “Are we plotting world domination without me, or just enjoying the view?”

I stepped back instantly, heat rushing to my cheeks. Damian’s jaw tightened, his eyes lingering on me one beat longer before he turned toward the interruption.

“Just business,” he said smoothly. But his gaze flicked back to me once more, and the unspoken lingered in the air like smoke.

Nothing more, I had told him.

And yet in that moment, I wasn’t sure I believed it myself.