Chapter 780: You and I Tugging Back and Forth

"Calista — I took care of her. I was worried that if she got arrested, she'd say things that could come back to bite you."

The way Raina said it — 'taking care of' Calista — was almost unsettling in how calm it was.

Like she was commenting on the weather.

Raina hadn't survived this long, let alone carved out a place for herself in Axel's world, without good reason.

Sharp. Perceptive. Measured. Decisive. And when she needed to be — ruthless.

She had a way of handling problems that Axel himself sometimes hadn't even seen coming.

In that moment, the way he looked at her shifted.

This was the kind of person who belonged at his side.

He had never seriously considered making Raina his wife — not officially, not out in the open. There had always been something a little shadowed about the way she operated. And then there was the matter of where she came from.

Those two things together had kept the thought at bay.

But right now, it surfaced anyway.

Not because he'd fallen for her. More likely it was the sheer exhaustion of dealing with Calista — that woman had been a walking disaster from start to finish. By comparison, Raina as a wife started to look less like a choice and more like a solution. Fewer headaches. And the things he couldn't afford to get his own hands dirty with? She'd handle those too.

Raina noticed the shift in his gaze the moment it happened.

That was exactly what she'd been going for.

Getting herself taken in by the Mitchell family hadn't been luck. It had been strategy.

And if she wanted her position to hold long-term, she needed leverage — the kind that came from being useful.

She was new here. The Mitchells weren't about to hand her any real power yet. Which meant she needed an ally.

She'd turned it over from every angle. For an outsider trying to establish herself in Emerald City, one name kept rising to the top.

Axel.

What she'd just shown him wasn't a confession. It was a résumé.

"I had Parker help me stage a fire. Then we made it look like a suicide attempt. When the firefighters showed up, they pulled me out too — and by the time the authorities finished their investigation, the official story was that I'd been held against my will the whole time. No one suspected me. If anything, they felt sorry for me."

She didn't slow down.

"After I got out of Calista's place, I started thinking through my next move. I'd heard the Mitchell name come up, and Christopher came to mind. I tracked down someone in his circle, then quietly arranged a situation that put his brother's people in a tight spot. I stepped in at the right moment and got them out. That's how the adoption came about."

Raina laid it all out — every card, face up on the table, offered to Axel without hesitation.

"I knew you were smart." He paused. "I didn't know you were that smart. You read every situation, used every opening — and on top of all that, you dealt with Calista." The praise came without reservation. "That was no small thing."

The sincerity in his voice landed. A faint smile touched the corner of Raina's mouth.

"You really mean that?" she asked. "You're not bothered that I went ahead and made that call on my own — that she's dead because of me?"

At the mention of Calista, something cold moved through Axel's eyes.

"After everything she pulled, I was already done with her. I figured she still had a little use left — that was all. Then she got her hands on something she could hold over me and decided that meant I owed her everything. Helping her walk away from the authorities last time —" He shook his head. "That was the moment I knew she was more liability than asset. You just saved me the trouble. Why would I be angry?"

As he said it, he lifted a hand and gestured for her to come sit on the edge of the bed.

Raina obeyed.

That part still caught her off guard sometimes — how quickly her body responded to him. Her mind hadn't even finished processing the request before she was already moving, already settling beside him.

Axel noticed. He always noticed.

It told him everything he needed to know. Whatever else she'd become, she was still his — shaped, in part, by him. She would go on being useful for a long time.

The moment she sat down, he reached out and pulled her in.

"It's been a while." The gravity in his voice dissolved, replaced by something low and unhurried, his eyes carrying a heat that made the words almost beside the point. "Did you miss me?"

His hand found her waist and stayed there — patient, deliberate, coaxing.

Their chemistry had never been the problem.

It certainly wasn't the problem now. The warmth of his touch moved through her like something familiar, and when she spoke, her voice had already softened against her better judgment.

"Axel — stop. You're still hurt, and we're in a hospital." She let out a slow breath. "Wait until you're better. I'll make it worth the wait, I promise."

The refusal was real.

But the voice that delivered it was doing the words no favors at all.

Axel wasn't even slightly put out.

If anything, he looked a little smug.

"Your mouth's saying one thing," he murmured, a quiet laugh in his throat. "The rest of you isn't backing it up."

Raina's eyes flickered. Her tone stayed soft, unhurried. "You know I've never been able to hold out when you do this. That's what I get for actually liking you." A small pause. "But I'm not going to be selfish about it. You need to heal. We've got time."

Her fingers drifted to his chest and traced a slow, idle circle.

Then — right at the moment the air between them went taut — she gave him the gentlest push.

She stood. Stepped back. And looked down at him from the edge of the bed with a smile that gave nothing else away.

She understood something most women forgot: it didn't always have to go all the way. Sometimes the most powerful move was knowing exactly when to stop. Leave a man wanting, with no immediate way to close that distance — and he'd be thinking about you long after you were gone.

Raina knew what she was doing.

Axel raised an eyebrow.

"You've grown." A beat, and then a slow, approving nod. "Fine. I'll let it go — for now. We do have time." He shifted. "So what's the plan from here?"

Raina thought for a moment before answering.

"I have some ideas, but nothing that needs to move yet. Right now I have no real authority inside the Mitchell family — that's the first thing I need to change. Once I have some footing, the rest can follow. For now, focus on getting better. Watch what I do."

"Fair enough." His trust in her, at this point, was unqualified. "I believe you."

She offered him a little more — a thread to hold onto.

"Emily's back in the capital. She's joined the Day Group — VP-level, and from what I can tell, Otto is actively grooming her to take over. He's already delegating." She let that settle before continuing. "While I was quietly looking into the Mitchell Group's partner network, I found something. The Day Group and the Mitchell Group are tied up in a joint project together. That's where I'm going to start."

The timing was almost too convenient. Emily was brand new to her position — the old guard at the Day Group almost certainly hadn't warmed to her yet. If a partnership with the Mitchell Group collapsed on her watch, it wouldn't just cost the company. It would cost Emily the room's confidence, and make holding on to that president's chair a much steeper climb.

Axel followed her logic without needing it spelled out.

"Good." The admiration in his voice was unguarded now. "I picked well."

He'd thought about that sometimes — why he'd chosen her, back when she'd first come to him with nothing to offer but nerve. No track record. No demonstrated value. No leverage.

Just that streak in her. That bone-deep refusal to be managed.

He'd recognized it immediately. He'd wanted to see what it would become.

"Alright — we'll call it even for today." He moved on the way he always did, interest already sharpening toward the practical. "Will the Mitchells throw you a proper welcome event? Make it official?"

"Yes. One week from now."

"Good. I should be out of here by then." He'd already decided. "I'll send a gift. Something that makes a statement."

Her eyes lit up — just for a second, just enough.

That was exactly what she needed. A public gesture from a man like Axel would do two things at once: raise her profile in Emerald City, and send a message to the Mitchell family before she'd even had time to prove herself.

They might have taken her in out of gratitude — but gratitude had a short shelf life. The moment her presence started touching their interests, there would be resistance. There always was.

But if her value was undeniable? If the room understood what she brought to the table?

Then the objections would stay right where they belonged.

Unspoken.