Chapter Seven: Queen's Gambit

The room fell into stunned silence.

The kind of silence that felt like the pause before a bomb went off.

Aria didn't flinch. She stood there, eyes locked on Richard Kingston like she'd faced devils before and this one didn't scare her.

Theo couldn't stop staring at her.

He didn't know whether to grab her and kiss her senseless or drag her out of there before his father pulled a more dangerous move.

Richard's jaw ticked. "You have no idea what you're doing."

Aria gave him a sweet, venom-laced smile. "Actually, I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm taking away your favorite toy control."

Theo stepped in beside her, his presence solid and unshakable. "She's not bluffing."

Richard leaned back slowly, eyes narrowing. "And you really think this ends well for either of you? The board will never side with her."

"They don't have to," Theo said. "They just have to know what you've done."

Richard looked at the flash drive again, quiet now. Calculating.

"This isn't over," he finally muttered.

Aria stepped forward, her voice steel under silk. "Oh, it's just beginning."

Back at the penthouse…

It was nearly midnight by the time they got home.

Theo loosened his tie and tossed it onto the kitchen counter, tension still coiled in every movement. Aria dropped her bag on the couch and rubbed her temple, exhaustion settling in now that the adrenaline was fading.

She didn't even realize he was watching her until she looked up.

"You followed me," he said.

She nodded. "You didn't think I'd actually sit around and wait, did you?"

"I was trying to protect you."

"Yeah, and that's exactly what I hate." She turned to face him fully. "You keep trying to shield me, keep me on the sidelines like I'm breakable. I'm not."

"I know," he said quietly. "Tonight proved that."

She stepped closer. "You're not the only one with scars, Theo. You're not the only one who knows how to fight."

He looked down at her, something soft flickering in his eyes. "You scared the hell out of me."

Her voice dropped. "Good."

They were inches apart now.

No more barriers. No more pretending.

"I'm not going anywhere," she whispered. "So stop pushing me away."

His breath caught and then, just like that, he closed the gap.

It wasn't a heated, desperate kiss like before. This one was slower. Anchored. A surrender, not to passion but to them.

To what this was becoming.

When they pulled apart, Aria rested her forehead against his chest.

"So… what now?" she asked.

Theo exhaled. "Now? We move first."

She looked up.

"We take the evidence to Alice at PR. We get ahead of the story. Control the narrative. Force the board to act before my father makes his next move."

Aria nodded slowly. "And after that?"

He looked at her. "We burn the kingdom. Together."

Elsewhere...

In a dark corner office, Richard Kingston stood staring out at the skyline, a glass of whiskey in one hand, a burner phone in the other.

He pressed a number.

"Plan B," he said coldly. "Activate it."

The morning sun spilled across the penthouse, but neither of them had slept.

Theo stood at the massive glass window, staring out at Seattle like it was a chessboard and he was already ten moves ahead.

Aria emerged from the guest room turned war room, her laptop tucked under one arm and her hair up in a loose knot that still looked annoyingly perfect. She'd been up all night coordinating with Sky, organizing the evidence, mapping every angle.

"You sure Alice can be trusted?" she asked as she poured coffee into a mug.

Theo didn't look away from the skyline. "She's been loyal since day one. And more importantly, she hates my father almost as much as I do."

"Good," Aria said. "Because this flash drive has enough dirt to bury him and his board of soulless sharks for a decade."

Theo turned now, eyes sharp. "We won't get another shot. We do this wrong, it could backfire."

She raised an eyebrow. "Since when do I miss?"

He smirked despite himself. "Cocky."

"Confident."

He crossed the room slowly. "There's a difference?"

She shrugged, sipping her coffee. "Confidence wins wars. Cockiness gets people killed."

He stopped just inches away. "So what does us get?"

Aria paused. "Complicated."

Theo didn't flinch. "But worth it."

Before either could say more, Theo's phone buzzed. He checked it a message from Alice.

> Alice: Meeting confirmed. 1 p.m. You've got one hour to beat the leak.

Theo looked up. "It's happening. Now."

An Hour Later Marshall & Lee PR Firm

The office buzzed with intensity. The kind of hush that comes before a media storm.

Alice Chen, PR genius and fixer extraordinaire, sat behind her glass desk, scrolling through headlines that hadn't even gone live yet. Her expression was unreadable.

She looked up as Theo and Aria entered.

"You two look like hell," she said.

Theo smirked. "We've been busy."

Alice stood, took the flash drive, and slotted it into a secure laptop. Her eyes scanned through the files rapidly. Board manipulation. Financial fraud. Blackmail logs. Staged leaks. Dossiers with timestamps. Even footage from private meetings Richard never knew were recorded.

"Holy…" she whispered. "This is nuclear."

Aria folded her arms. "And we want to drop it before the leak."

Alice looked at her. "You realize this will start a war."

"Already started," Aria said.

Alice nodded. "Okay. We break this in two waves. First, the leak a press release paired with an exclusive article from a trusted outlet. Second, a controlled video statement from Theo, painting him as the victim, the reformer, the phoenix from the flames."

Theo shook his head. "No. No sob story. No manipulation. Just the truth. The receipts. Let people draw their own conclusions."

Alice raised a brow. "Risky. But bold."

She turned to Aria. "And you? What role do you want to play in this?"

Aria didn't hesitate. "The one they never saw coming."

Alice smirked. "You're going to make a hell of a villain in the tabloids."

"I prefer 'anti-hero.'"

Alice grinned. "I like her."

Later That Day Back at the Penthouse

The news exploded like a bomb.

Headlines blared across every screen:

> "KINGSTON LEGACY IN JEOPARDY INSIDE THE SHADOW WAR AT KINGSTON CORP"

"BILLIONAIRE HEIR EXPOSES FATHER IN CORPORATE SCANDAL"

"THEO KINGSTON BREAKS SILENCE: 'I WON'T BE SILENCED BY BLOOD OR BOARDROOMS'"

Theo's video was already going viral.

In it, he didn't beg. He didn't play victim. He stood against a skyline, shoulders squared, voice calm.

> "My name is Theo Kingston.

I was raised to believe that power was the only currency that mattered.

I'm here to say that they were wrong."

People weren't just watching. They were choosing sides.

Inside the penthouse, Aria and Theo stood in front of the TV, watching the chaos unfold.

"Phase one, complete," Aria said quietly.

Theo looked at her.

There was gratitude in his eyes. Admiration. Maybe even something deeper.

"You really did this."

Aria gave him a look. "We did this."

But before the moment could settle, a sharp beep echoed from Theo's phone.

He checked it. A text. No name. Just a number.

> Unknown: You made a move.

Now it's our turn.

Below it a video.

Theo tapped it. The screen flickered to life.

Aria's old apartment. Ransacked. Her belongings trashed. A message spray-painted across the wall in red:

"STOP OR SHE DISAPPEARS."

Aria's breath caught.

Theo's face turned to stone.

"They just declared war," he said.

The screen flickered off, and the silence that followed was suffocating.

Aria's jaw tightened, her hands curling into fists as she stared at the still image burned into her mind her old life, vandalized like it was nothing. A warning shot. A threat. A message written in rage and arrogance.

Theo didn't say a word.

He turned the phone over in his hand slowly, his knuckles going white with pressure. When he looked up, his eyes were colder than she'd ever seen them.

"They went after you."

Aria took a step back, trying to calm the pounding in her chest. "They're bluffing. They just want us to back off."

"They know it won't work," he growled. "So they're escalating. Classic Kingston strategy burn the field to smoke out the threat."

"But this time, we lit the fire," she said.

Theo looked at her then, really looked at her and in that second, it was like something shifted between them. Not just fire. Not just tension. This was war now, and they were standing back-to-back in the battlefield.

"I'm pulling security for you," he said. "No arguments."

Aria didn't flinch. "Fine. But don't expect me to hide behind them."

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, the barest flicker of amusement cutting through the fury. "Didn't plan to."

They moved quickly, efficiently. Aria packed a go-bag while Theo called his personal security team, issuing low, tight commands that left no room for misinterpretation. He wasn't a billionaire now he was a general in the middle of a war zone.

When she came out of the room with her bag, he was already strapping on his watch and checking a second phone a burner, likely.

"You're staying with me now," he said.

Aria arched an eyebrow. "I was already staying here."

Theo looked up. "Not just the penthouse. I'm taking you to the safe house."

She frowned. "You have a safe house?"

"Two," he said. "But only one's off the books."

Of course. Because of course Theo Kingston had off-the-books properties, burner phones, and a plan B, C, and D. He wasn't just rich, he was prepared. For everything. And yet…

He hadn't been prepared for her.

She could see it in the way he looked at her now, like maybe the only variable in his life he hadn't accounted for… was falling for her.

And maybe she wasn't prepared for him, either.

A Few Hours Later Undisclosed Location, Seattle

The safe house was more fortress than home. Tucked into the edges of the city, surrounded by dense trees and surveillance systems Aria didn't even want to guess the price of.

But inside, it was warm. Lived-in. Personal.

Photos of Theo as a kid. A faded guitar in the corner. Records. Books. Not the curated, polished version of his life. The real one.

"Is this where you go when everything's too much?" she asked as he locked the door behind them.

He nodded once. "Yeah. No cameras. No press. Just… silence."

Aria wandered in, letting her fingers trail across the bookshelves, the couch, the familiar chaos of someone who only ever wanted to feel normal.

"You grew up in a mansion," she said softly, "but this is the first place that feels like you."

Theo didn't answer right away. Instead, he came to stand beside her, his voice lower now. More human.

"I always wondered what it'd be like," he said. "Letting someone in here."

She turned to him. "Scary?"

He chuckled once. "Terrifying."

They stood there for a beat.

And then he reached for her, not with desperation, not with strategy, but with something real. He touched her cheek, let his fingers linger like he didn't want to rush this moment.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"For what?"

"For being braver than me."

Aria smiled, barely. "Someone's gotta keep you in check."

Then he kissed her.

Not urgent. Not rushed.

Just real.

Meanwhile Midtown Office Building, Nightfall

Richard Kingston poured himself another drink as the news coverage looped on the massive screen in his office. But he wasn't alone.

A man in a dark suit stood by the window, face hidden in the shadows.

"You failed," Richard said without turning.

The man didn't move. "Not yet."

Richard sipped. "He's forcing our hand."

The man's lips curled into a slow, dangerous smile. "Then let's crush him with it."