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Collin Tanner My feet felt like lead as I took the first step down the grand marble staircase. I kept praying that my eyes were playing tricks on me, that the dim hallway lighting and sheer exhaustion were manufacturing a ghost from my past. But as I rounded the landing, the harsh chandelier light caught him clearly. He was wearing a dark, custom-tailored suit that hugged his broad shoulders perfectly. His dark hair was brushed back, slightly tousled from travel, and those sharp, piercing gray eyes were fixed on the tablet his assistant was holding out to him. Zander Kash. Not Zander Vance, the broke-acting, intensely private student who used to share a cheap single mattress with me in a cramped dorm room. Zander Kash. The heir, the billionaire, the father. As if sensing my presence, Zander turned his head toward the stairs. His sentence died mid-air. The assistant stopped speaking. For several long, suffocating seconds, neither of us said a word. The air in the massive foyer turned completely thin, making it hard to draw a breath. Looking at him was like taking a physical blow straight to the chest. Suddenly, I wasn't twenty-six, standing in a million-dollar mansion in a guest sweater. I was twenty-two again, shivering in the rain outside a late-night diner, listening to the man I loved destroy my entire world with a few quiet sentences. I can't do this anymore, Collin, he had said that night, his face completely devoid of emotion. My family has expectations. A life like this... a life with you... it will destroy my future. We can never be public. It's over. I had given him everything. I had shared every secret, every fear, every late-night promise of a future we were supposed to build together. And he had cut me out of his life like a surgeon removing a minor inconvenience, leaving me heartbroken, broke, and picking up the shattered pieces of my pride. I swore that night I would never let him reach me again. And now, here he was. Standing ten feet away from me in his own palace. Zander’s initial shock vanished, replaced almost instantly by a dark, dangerous flare of anger. His jaw clenched tightly, a muscle ticking beneath his skin as his eyes narrowed on me. "What is this?" Zander’s voice was low, deep, and dangerous. He snapped his gaze away from me and glared straight at Mrs. Gable, who was standing quietly near the inner archway. "Why is he in my house?" Mrs. Gable blinked, caught off guard by the raw tension suffocating the room. "Sir? Mr. Tanner was placed by the agency this afternoon. His qualifications—" "You didn't check the file?" Zander cut her off harshly, his voice echoing off the high stone walls. "You brought a stranger into my house without running his identity past me first?" "He passed every background check, Mr. Kash," Mrs. Gable insisted, her voice tight. "You told me to handle the final hire myself because you were on a flight from London." Zander took a slow, heavy step toward me, his presence filling the room with an uncomfortable, intense heat. "Did you plan this, Collin? Did you track down my family name and apply just to get—" "Are you out of your mind?" The words ripped out of me before I could filter them. The sheer audacity of his assumption burned away my shock, leaving pure, hot fury behind. "I didn't even know who you were! You lied about your last name the entire time we were together! I took a job to pay my rent, Zander. I didn't ask for a nightmare reunion with my ex." I turned directly to Mrs. Gable. "I'm leaving. Right now. You can keep the money for the day." "Collin, wait—" Mrs. Gable started, looking horrified. "No," I snapped, my heart hammering against my ribs. "I am not doing this." I turned around to head back upstairs to grab my duffel bag, but before my foot could touch the first step, a small, terrified cry echoed from the top of the staircase. "Collin!" I stopped dead. Sophie was standing at the top of the stairs, clutching her stuffed rabbit to her chest. Her tiny face was flushed, tears streaming down her cheeks, her small shoulders shaking violently. "Sophie?" Zander’s voice instantly softened, the harsh edge dropping as he took a quick step toward the stairs. "Sweetheart, what's wrong? Daddy's home—" "Collin!" she sobbed, ignoring Zander completely. She didn't even look at her father. She barreled down the stairs on her tiny feet, completely slipping past Zander, and threw her little arms wildly around my waist, burying her face into my sweatpants. "I had a bad dream! The dark monster was in the closet again!" Instinct took over. I dropped to my knees immediately, wrapping my arms around her small, trembling body. "Hey, hey, it's okay," I murmured softly, smoothing down her dark curly hair as she sobbed into my shoulder. "I'm right here, Soph. The monster isn't real. I checked the closet twice, remember? We locked it." "You... you locked it with the magic key?" she sniffled, looking up at me with huge, tear-filled eyes, her little fingers clutching my shirt like a lifeline. "With the magic key," I lied gently, wiping a tear off her cheek with my thumb. "Nothing is getting past me. I promise." Right beside us, Zander stood completely frozen. I looked up from Sophie and caught his expression. The anger had completely vanished from his face, replaced by a stunned, almost painful look of bewilderment. He watched his daughter—a child who usually hid behind curtains whenever someone new entered the house—cling to me as if I were the only safe thing in the world. A second later, soft footsteps sounded from the dark upper hallway. Oliver stepped out into the light. He looked down at the scene in the foyer, his blue eyes moving from his father to me. He didn't cry, but his small hands were balled into tight fists at his sides. "Are you leaving?" Oliver asked quietly. His voice was guarded, but under the tough exterior, I could hear the desperate, fragile hope of a kid who had been abandoned too many times. "You said you were going to make grilled cheese again tomorrow." The room went dead silent. My throat closed up tight. I looked at Sophie, who was still hiding her face in my neck, and then up at Oliver, whose eyes were pleading with me not to walk out that door. In less than eight hours, these two heartbroken kids had decided to trust me. If I walked away right now just to protect my own pride from Zander, I would be proving to them that every adult eventually leaves. I swallowed hard, pulling Sophie a little closer. "I... I'm not going anywhere tonight, Oliver." Oliver gave a tiny, almost invisible nod, relaxed his shoulders, and walked back toward his bedroom without another word. Zander cleared his throat. The cold, corporate authority had returned to his posture, but his eyes were dark with unreadable emotions. "Mrs. Gable," Zander said, his voice flat. "Take Sophie up to her room and help her settle." "No!" Sophie whimpered, holding tighter to my shirt. "It's okay, Soph," I whispered softly into her ear. "Go with Mrs. Gable. I'm going to be right upstairs in the guest room. I won't leave without saying goodbye." She looked at me for a long moment, reluctantly unclasped her tiny hands, and let Mrs. Gable lead her gently up the stairs. Once the hallway cleared, it was just the two of us left in the massive, quiet foyer. Zander adjusted his cuffs, refusing to meet my eyes for a second before looking directly at me. "We will discuss your contract in the morning, Collin. You can stay in the guest room tonight." "I'm staying for them," I said, my voice cold and steady as I stood up. "Not for you. And tomorrow morning, you can find a permanent replacement." I turned my back on him and began walking toward the stairs. My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it ringing in my ears. I just wanted to close the bedroom door, lock it, and process the absolute insanity of this day. "Collin." Zander called out to me. I stopped at the base of the stairs. Hearing my name roll off his tongue in that deep, quiet baritone hit me like a physical shockwave. It was the exact same voice that used to whisper into my hair in the middle of the night, years ago, when I thought we had a future. I didn't turn around right away. I kept my back to him, my fists clenched tightly at my sides. "I never thought I'd see you again," Zander quietly said. I turned my head just enough to look at him over my shoulder. His gray eyes were staring straight at me, vulnerable for a fraction of a second before the icy mask slipped back into place. "You made sure of that," I said. And without waiting for a response, I walked up the stairs and left him alone in the dark.