Everyone in the Kincaid Enterprises building dips their heads to her when she passes by.

"You'll get used to it," is all Chuck says, grinning at her unnerved face, as they make their way to the elevator. He withdraws a lone key from his pocket and plugs it in the panel, then taps his ID card on the scanner before pressing the top floor.

The building's marble floors and brushed-aluminum security desk and turnstiles are already impressive, but stepping out into the vestibule of Kael's headquarters is magnificent. A wall of bulletproof glass frames the double-door entrance to the reception area. On the wall is Kincaid Enterprises' logo in a bold font.

They're buzzed through the security doors so quickly there's no need for them to break stride. The receptionist seated at the black crescent-shaped desk pushes hastily to his feet.

"Thank you, Arik," Chuck says, nodding at him.

He bows his head respectfully. "Mr. Iver. Mrs. Kincaid."

"Hi," Catalina says with a smile.

He bows his head even deeper.

Chuck leads the way across the strip of hallway, steering her into Kael's office.

The Fourth's spacious command center is all pristine black and white, featuring floor-to-ceiling one-way windows that overlook his city. There are two seating areas with black leather sofas and a bar that displays jeweled crystal decanters.

But those aren't what catches Catalina's breath.

One opaque wall opposite his massive desk was covered in their wedding photos. Candids, the you-may-kiss-the-bride moment, their first dance, the garter throw.

The other, opposite the bar, has shelves hammered into them.

On them: the miniature dollhouses that she left at her apartment.

Her lips part.

"Hi, noona," Jae greets with a smile, looking up from the papers strewn across the coffee table. He's in a much better mood now than earlier's tense moments at the table.

"Hi, Jae."

"Boss," Chuck says with a salute. "See you tomorrow."

Kael, who was standing by the windows, warns, "Have something for me or don't show your face."

His left chuckles and heaves a big sigh. "We're on it."

Catalina's husband hits a button on his desk that closes the doors when Chuck leaves, then hits another to instantly frost the clear glass wall, shielding them from outside onlookers. Not that anyone would do that, but privacy was at least assured.

Like a string pulling them together, he makes his way over to her, grabs her face, and kisses her.

"Missed you," he breathes, kisses her again urgently.

Catalina can't help her smile. "I know," she answers, referring to his texts. "But we saw each other this morning."

"It's been long enough."

"Mm, I'd say." She tips her chin to their wedding photos and to the dollhouses and raises an eyebrow in silent question.

Kael shrugs, tucking her hair behind her ear. With cool nonchalance, he explains, "I saw you buy them all the time and I wanted to see what you were working on. Like I said, you were all I held onto. Then when we got married, I needed a reminder of how far you were before and how close you are now."

He kept everything: the ice cream shop, the mini bedroom, the salon, the bookstore, the bakery, the café, the greenhouse—even the little supermarket that she built, the longest one, because she had to stack the individual pieces of grocery items onto the little aisles.

Catalina feels her heart and body fill with unexplainable feeling. Astonishment doesn't quite cover it. It feels like every neuron in her brain is trying to fire at different directions at once: disbelief, fascination, bewilderment.

Then there's also amusement: "The feared Fourth has dollhouses in his office."

"And wears a tie that matches his wife's eyes, how inconceivable," he mutters, dipping his forehead to hers.

"And keeps their wedding photos on his office wall."

"Contrary to what many people believe, the Fourth can also be happy, and he can also have the happiest day of his life."

"And also, the Fourth's brother is still here," Jae speaks up, breaking their private bubble. He waves his papers around. "As much as I love seeing hyung be freely in love, I have lessons to get to, so..."

"Right." Catalina steps back, clears her throat, and sits next to him. "Right, okay."

Jae lists to her each of what she's signing, but she can hardly keep up or look—they're too many. But Kael assures her these are all the seventy-five percent of the Kincaids' legal assets that are subject to government scrutiny.

The rest, she doesn't need to sign. They're all conjugal property, anyway.

Kael watches her sign everything until she's done, leaning against the window with his hands inside his pockets. In his suit, with Pont-Ciel behind him, he screams tremendous power and steely control.

"Great." Jae packs them all in his folder afterwards. "I have lessons to get to."

"Do well," Kael drawls.

"Oh, Jae, here." Catalina hands him the lunchbox stuck in her bag. "Sue, Samara, and I to made some snacks for you. We're having dinner together, so we'll pick you up after your studio time."

Jae blinks owlishly at her. Then smiles. And leans forward to kiss her cheek. "Thanks, noona. See you both later."

When they're alone, Kael sits on the couch, hooks his arm under her thigh, and swings it across his lap. Catalina squeals in surprise at the ease to which Kael lifts and positions her on top of him, her hands flying to his broad shoulders.

The intensity of his gaze is searing. His hands squeeze her ass as he fits his crotch area against hers.

Catalina sucks in a breath and teases, continuing their banter earlier, "Happiest day of your life, huh?"

"It was," Kael confirms, his voice flowing over her like a rush of warm water. "It is. But now, every day I get to spend with you is my happiest. I thought it was impossible."

From last night's confessions to being in this office, surrounded by proof of his love for her, Catalina's awareness of him heightens to a physically painful degree. Before this, she thought of him as a god—everyone thought of him as such. A ruthless and cruel one, but a god nonetheless. Now, with her, he's more human. Flesh and blood. Real.

Hers.

He searches her face with his beautiful, brown eyes. "Something's wrong. What is it?"

Catalina didn't even notice the burning in her eyes until he pointed it out.

"Catalina," Kael says in warning, agitated now.

"Sorry, I'm—" She laughs humorlessly, swiping away her futile tears. "I thought it was the worst day of my life. I was so scared of you," she whispers.

The desolation that crosses his face makes her heart crack, but the single nod he gives her also means understanding.

She didn't know.

"And you were just...you were looking forward to it. You were looking forward to it while I was dreading it, and you were here, with my dollhouses, and I was talking to Frankie earlier and I can't imagine what it would've been like for the both of us if you hadn't interfered and made that deal with my father. And then Samara told me how the Third tortured her and Polo, and that could've been me and you—"

"It wasn't," Kael cuts her off firmly, grasping her face in his hands. "And Francesca is safe. The Third is dead."

She nods, inhaling shakily.

He wipes her face with his thumbs and says quietly, "You never answered my question back at the grocery store."

"Are you? Still scared?"

Catalina decides, in exchange for his full honesty, for a genuine answer, too. "I'm not scared of you," she starts. "I'm scared of the life you lead. I'm scared that there's no limit as to what you can do. I'm scared that one day you'll leave for work and never come back."

Kael opens his mouth to speak, but Catalina shakes her head and murmurs, "And because I'm not meant for this life but I'm in it anyway, I will forever feel guilt on your behalf for the lives you've taken. I will forever feel the burden and the weight of death and this empire that sits on your shoulders, too. Kael, I'm scared of what you can do—not to me, but to other people—even if it means protecting me. Because I'm scared I might lose you in this darkness and never bring you back from it. In your reign, I don't know how far you'll go. I don't know if I'll ever be able to reach you again."

"Catalina..." Kael whispers. "I'll follow you wherever you go. Wherever you are. My life doesn't exactly lend itself to happy endings," he muses with a small, sad smile. "But I found your light in my darkness five years ago. I've been following it ever since. And if I get lost, I'll find it over and over again."

Kael seals his mouth over hers, closing her in to him. Everything outside them ceases to exist.

His body is radiating heat, hunger, and an urgent need to show her he means everything he said. That triggers a profound, visceral effect in her, spurring her own wild and intense desperation. Kael is holding her so tightly like he's afraid she's going to vanish, and Catalina's grasping at his arms the same way.

She savors the softness yet firmness of his lips and the gentleness yet aggressiveness of the pressure. She sighs, and his tongue dips inside, tasting her in long, leisurely licks. Catalina's hands go to pull his silky strands, sliding his mouth over hers, taking turns between his top and bottom lip, and he growls, forcing her mouth open to stroke her tongue. One of his thumbs slide beneath the edge of her underwear, the pad sliding through the slickness of her desire. "Fuck, you're so wet."

"Can't help it," Catalina mutters.

"I don't want you to help it. It wouldn't be fair." He brings her own toward the raging bulge in his pants, hips bucking up, and Catalina groans in his mouth.

She feels the raging beat of his heart against her chest, and then Kael cups the back of her head and the curve of her buttocks, and lifts her off her feet without breaking their feverish kiss.

Achingly aware of every hot, hard inch of him, Catalina is flushed, wet, and throbbing for attention. Her blouse is tossed aside, then his mouth is on her nipples, sucking, biting, licking, while she's pushing his head onto her chest and shamelessly grinding against his lap.

Then, vaguely conscious of her surroundings, completely consumed by him, she feels the hard wood of his desk against her back. Her husband whispers against her lips, with his hands massaging and pinching her aroused nipples, "I'll bend you over my desk, Catalina, and fuck you hard until you feel every inch of my cock. Yes?"

"Yes," she breathes.

"But first..."

He kneels in front of her and hikes up her skirt, moves her underwear aside, then immediately dives in to her wetness. "Ah, fuck, you taste so good," Kael moans, kissing, sucking, licking her languidly. "Been thinking about this all day."

"Kael," Catalina groans, throwing her head back, one palm on the desk to support herself and the other in his hair. Her hips involuntarily buck up to his mouth and tongue. "So good..."

It's hot and carnal—Catalina is positioned so that she watches herself on the reflection of the windows, Kael kneeling in between her legs, one hand stroking his cock and the other keeping her legs apart.

She looks ruined. Owned.

"I've wanted my mouth on your cunt since I met you," Kael admits in a rasp, tongue pushing into her. He's moaning, hungry, while her hips buck relentlessly, begging for more. Kael pulls back, licking his lips, and his nails grip her thigh while his other slaps her wetness, and Catalina cries out when he begins finger-fucking her and lapping at her throbbing clit at the same time. While she climaxes, Kael doesn't relent—he pushes her hips down while it bucks up to his mouth and he chases her orgasm with her, his groans vibrating against her swollen flesh, goading her climax.

"I love making you come," Kael whispers, kissing her pussy, then he stands, pulls her up to him, and captures her lips in a quick, searing kiss.

Then he turns her around in a quick and precise movement, bends her over the table with a hand on her back, kicks her feet apart, and, clutching her hips, rams into her, sinking balls-deep in one, fierce drive.

Catalina gasps, taken and possessed. "Kael..."

"Fuck, you're so tight and hot like this," he grunts, pulling out to the tip then pounding into her relentlessly. His hand spanks her ass once, then he gathers her hair in his hands and pulls it, then the other goes around to slap her chest and then he wraps his fingers around her neck. "Good, Catalina?"

"Kael, you're so deep," Catalina moans, gripping his desk.

Kael takes her arm and holds it behind her back, fucking her, slamming forward and hard. She's helpless and bound, completely at his mercy. "Feel me," he orders. "You're mine, Catalina. Mine."

Oh, it's dirty being used like this.

But still, Catalina feels like she's the one in power when Kael speeds up his thrust, his balls slapping her skin, and groans, "Fuck, Catalina."

She writhes as the orgasm jolts through her, her core tensing, her limbs shaking.

He kisses her forehead and turns her around, carrying her to the couch, then goes for another round while looking into her eyes. His face is harsh with lust and love, past the limits of his control.

Then he comes deep inside her with a drawn out, gasp of her name, and her legs locked around his waist.

Then they pick up Jae and head home, and he fucks her again to sleep.

"Thank you," she hears him whisper in her ear with a kiss to her forehead and cheek and shoulder, and then perhaps she heard him whisper something else, something that sounded like three words, but Catalina may have been dreaming already.

*

#ReignTheFourthWP