“Hello, food delivery!”

  Standing in the doorway was a guy in an Uber Eats uniform. He glanced down at the name on the order. “Is there a Chad here?”

  Kael knocked on the adjacent door. “Your food’s here.”

  “Coming!” a voice boomed from inside. A moment later, a shirtless guy who had to be pushing three hundred pounds shuffled to the door in a pair of flip-flops.

  Kael let out a silent sigh of relief. He was already regretting his decision. He should have just met Lila somewhere, not given her the address to this dump he shared. Still, it wasn’t too late to go out. Thinking this, he ducked back into his room to grab his keys and phone.

  When he came back out, Chad’s massive frame was still blocking the doorway. It looked like someone else was standing just outside.

  “Are… are you Dawnbreaker?” a sweet, feminine voice asked, laced with disbelief.

  Chad, who was practically drooling as he stared at the beautiful woman at the door, just nodded dumbly.

  There was a long, uncomfortable silence from the woman outside.

  “Um… maybe you should put on a top first?”

  “Oh! Right!” Chad spun around and scurried back into his room.

  Only then did Kael get a good look at the woman in the doorway. She was a knockout—long, dark hair framing a striking face and a simple dress that did little to hide the graceful lines of her body.

  Their eyes met, and a flash of mutual recognition sparked between them.

  “Dawnbreaker?”

  “Lila?”

  They said it at the same time.

  A beat passed, and then they both started to laugh.

  “You scared me for a second,” Lila said, giggling. “I really thought you were…” She made a wide circle with her hands to mime a large belly, then pointed towards Chad’s room.

  Click.

  The sound of Chad’s door opening again made Lila jump. Before he could emerge, Kael shot forward, slammed the apartment door shut, grabbed Lila’s hand, and pulled her towards the stairwell.

  They tumbled down the stairs, laughing the whole way.

  At the bottom of the landing, Lila pressed a hand to her chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”

  “So,” Kael said, still grinning, “if I really looked like that, would you still have come out with me?”

  “Hmm…” Lila pretended to think about it. “I’d probably have called a few of the other girls from the guild to come with me. Let them handle you.”

  Kael chuckled. “Well, with my actual looks, am I qualified to have dinner with the Whitmore heiress?”

  Lila gave him a sideways glance. “You’ll do. Marginally better than average.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  It was then they both realized they were still holding hands. They let go instantly, each turning their head away. The air became thick with a sudden, awkward tension.

  After a moment of silence, Kael remembered why she was here. “So, uh, what did you need to see me about?”

  Lila’s smile vanished. She sighed. “Let’s find somewhere to sit down. We can talk over dinner.”

  Half an hour later, they were seated in a high-end downtown restaurant.

  Kael sipped his tomato bisque with an easy grace, then cut into his sirloin steak, every movement practiced and unhurried. Lila watched him with a look of intense curiosity, as if he were a puzzle she couldn’t solve.

  Kael paused with a piece of steak halfway to his mouth. “Why aren’t you eating? Too captivated by my stunning good looks?”

  Lila snorted with laughter. “I’m just confused. You live in a shared, rundown apartment, but you handle yourself in a place like this like you own it. That kind of muscle memory with a knife and fork takes years to develop.”

  “What can I say?” Kael quipped. “I’m a natural. I see something once, and I’ve got it down.”

  Lila just smiled, clearly not buying the ridiculous excuse. Kael knew she didn't believe him, but it wasn't like he could explain.

  “You’re so incredible in the game,” Lila said, “I always assumed you had a professional studio or a data analysis team backing you up. I never imagined you were just a…”

  “A nerd who never leaves his room? Yeah,” Kael finished for her, completely unbothered. He wasn’t ashamed of who he was. “The world of Godpath has given me an opportunity. And it’s going to give opportunities to countless other people.” He paused, his gaze locking with hers. “Including you.”

  Lila’s heart skipped a beat. She felt as if he could see right through her. The excitement and curiosity she’d felt moments ago were replaced by a wave of melancholy.

  She poked at her pasta with her fork. “I was reading a novel the other day…” she began, her voice soft. “It was about a girl who was being forced to marry someone from another family for the sake of a business alliance. What would your take on that be?” She glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

  “My take?” Kael said casually. “I’d grab my popcorn and enjoy the show.”

  Lila’s face fell, a flicker of disappointment in her eyes. She looked up and saw that Kael was now staring at her, his expression serious. She felt a knot tighten in her stomach. Was this man going to strip away her last shred of dignity, too?

  She clenched her jaw and decided to meet him head-on. “Fine. It’s not a novel. It’s me. My parents are forcing me into an arranged marriage. I wanted to hear your opinion. Or maybe… I just needed someone to talk to.” She didn’t know why she was placing so much hope in this man she’d only just met in person.

  Kael set down his knife and fork and looked at her, his expression completely serious. “Every person belongs to themselves, but never completely. You’ve benefited from the world-class resources your family provided your whole life. It’s only natural that you’d be expected to repay the family in a practical way.”

  Hearing that, the light in Lila’s eyes dimmed. “So you’re saying I should just accept it? Go through with the marriage for the family’s sake?”

  Kael shook his head. “I said repay them in a practical way. That doesn’t necessarily mean doing whatever your parents tell you to do.”

  Lila blinked. “What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

  “You have to treat the disease, not just the symptoms,” Kael said. “What is the root cause of your family’s crisis?”

  “The ten-billion-dollar debt on the books,” she answered immediately.

  Kael shook his head again and tapped his temple, urging her to think deeper. Lila was brilliant; she understood at once.

  “Poor corporate management.”

  “Exactly,” Kael affirmed. “Your older brother, Seth, had a few successful investment projects years ago and started thinking he was a business genius. He never realized his early wins were all propped up by the Whitmore Group’s influence and name. When he was finally given sole control of a few divisions and had to compete against rivals on the same level as your own family, he got crushed.”

  Lila nodded slowly. “I know the problem is my brother. But the challenge right now is surviving this crisis.”

  “This marriage won’t solve the problem of your brother, and it won’t solve the problem of the Whitmore Group,” Kael stated bluntly. “It’s a band-aid. In three to five years, the company will still collapse, and it will be torn apart and devoured by your competitors.”

  Lila frowned. She didn’t want to accept it, but she knew his reasoning was sound. Still, something about it felt wrong. A detail was nagging at her.

  Suddenly, her eyes widened as she found the hole in his argument.

  “Wait a minute,” she said, her gaze sharp and focused. “I never said the problem was caused by my brother. How do you know all of this in such perfect detail?”

  A wave of cold panic washed over Kael.

  Crap. I just quoted a news headline from my past life.