Page 88 of Virtue & Vengeance

I hadn’t seen Kade since then, but I made sure Zander passed on my condolences.

Zander cleared his throat, and I blinked myself out of my thoughts.

“So what will it be? Will you stay the night tonight, angel?”

I grinned, enjoying the way he was looking at me like he was ready to devour me once more.

“I don’t know. Let’s see if you can be extra sweet tonight.”

“I think I can do that,” he said, pulling me into his arms and kissing the side of my neck.

I was wrong earlier.

Zander was damn near perfect.

At least to me he was.

After leaving Zander’s office, I didn’t take the elevator down. Instead, I pushed in the code to his suite.

Inside his suite, I found myself standing in front of his safe. I almost felt as bad sneaking into it now as I did all those months ago. But I told myself this time was different.

I typed in the code and waited for the door to pop open before peeking inside. I frowned when I didn’t see the small velvet box sitting in the front.

I knew Zander stored the engagement ring he bought for me inside the safe. Every now and again, I would take a look at it. I liked to remind myself that I was doing the right thing by refusing it. Until Zander was ready to commit, we needed to wait.

But now, as I looked at the empty space where the ring box used to sit, I was terrified that maybe I’d said no too many times. Perhaps the fact that the box was gone meant he was no longer going to be asking.

I closed the safe and stomped down the sadness that reared its ugly head.

I wasn’t going to cry.

Things would happen for us all in good time.

As I drove back to the condo, I tried to pretend I wasn’t devastated that the ring was gone. It was my day off from Empire, and I didn’t want to spend it depressed.

Not that I didn’t love my job.

I did.

In fact, Zander had almost refused to let me continue to work at Empire Sevens, but after several arguments he caved, letting me have my way like usual.

I took the rest of the afternoon to get ready and think about my options. I knew it was probably too late to expect Zander to propose, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t ask him to marry me.

He knew why I said no all those times. He understood my reasons and knew that even though I refused to marry him until we were ready, I still wanted him in my life.

I made up my mind as I curled my hair in the bathroom, that tonight during dinner I would ask him to spend the rest of his life with me. I made sure to dress special for the occasion, curling my hair just so and applying the perfect amount of make-up.

I wanted to look perfect.

So I took my time for him.

When I left the condo around seven, I headed straight for Empire Sevens. And when I entered Zander’s penthouse, I paused in the entryway.

Candles lit the space around me, and pink rose petals lined the walkway leading into the living room. I followed them, my heels clicking against the marble flooring.

“Zander?” I called out.

Then my breath caught when I entered the main room.

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