Two days had passed since they returned from Vienna.

Grayson sat in his office, slouched in his black leather chair, his suit jacket open and his tie hanging loose. The laptop in front of him still showed the documents he'd pulled up hours ago. He didn't remember opening them. He hadn't touched a thing.

Everything was ready for him to fly back to Chicago. The private jet could take off the second he gave the order. He just… wasn't giving it. Something held him back. That something was Kate.

After rejecting him, she hadn't answered a single call. She'd even blocked him—on her phone, on her personal email, and on every social platform she had. Mason confirmed it once he got access.

"She's in glacier mode. Give her space."

Like that was remotely possible.

And to make it worse, she wasn't even sleeping at the mansion. He'd forced it out of Thomas, the gardener, with a mix of pressure and suspicion. The old man hadn't said it outright, but the way he looked down and scratched th