Page 57 of The Owner's Temptation

Her eyes widen. Her spine straightens like a wire being pulled taut.

Panic blooms just behind her expression. Her lips part.

“Good,” I say calmly, leaning back in my chair. “You understood the more important rule. You weren’t greedy.”

Her shoulders ease just slightly.

“You were thinking of your contract even when it wasn’t expected. As a Companion, you must always be thinking ahead.”

She nods, a slow, tentative dip of her chin.

I reach for the tray, select a slice of papaya, and spear it with the small silver fork. Her gaze flicks to the movement, just for a second, and then snaps back up as if caught.

I smirk.

“They’ll pay for your attention,” I say, placing the fruit between my teeth. “Your silence. Your presence. If they want noise, they’ll ask for it.”

Another pause.

“Until then, learn how to exist without demanding anything.”

The lesson hangs in the air between us, weighty and exacting.

Sienna nods again. This one firmer. A small effort to regain ground.

I let the silence stretch, my eyebrows raising expectantly.

“Yes.” She affirms.

Then finally, “Yes, sir.”

Good girl.

Finally—calmly—I push my chair back and rise.

“Come back tomorrow.”

She gathers her things, quietly.

My hand wraps around the untouched water bottle she left for me and I head back to my desk.

“And Sienna?” I add, just before she opens the door.

She glances back, her expression neutral but eyes too alert.

“Don’t be late again.”

She nods and slips out the door.

I don’t tell her I’ll be watching but she should know–I always am.

Two weeks. Fourteen days. One hundred and twelve hours spent either sitting silently in Lucian Vale’s office or running the world’s most unimportant errands.

I swear I’ve been more houseplant than person lately. Some mornings, he barely even looks at me. Other times, he barks a single word—Sit—like I’m some sort of glorified show dog.

And his littleassignmentsare pissing me off.

Yesterday, I stood in line at a boutique patisserie forexactlyfour vanilla bean macarons. Not five. Not a variety box. Four.

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