For once, they did not rush back to their empires, their plans, or their ever-growing dominion over the world.
Instead, they chose something much simpler.
Something they had never truly experienced before.
A normal day.
For all their power, influence, and the countless secrets woven into their lives, Vincent Blackwood and Anastasia Vasiliev had never truly experienced something as simple as a normal day together.
Their lives were a never-ending game of chess, where every move was strategic, every interaction was calculated, and every step forward required either sacrifice or manipulation. They were heirs to unimaginable wealth, rulers of their respective empires, and forces that shaped the world from the shadows.
But today, for the first time, they weren't business rivals, the hidden monarchs of a world few even knew existed.
Today, they were just Vincent and Anastasia.
No elaborate disguises, no high-stakes meetings, no need to maintain the personas the world had come to fear and admire.
Just them.
For once, the weight of the world was not on their shoulders. There were no allies to appease, no enemies to eliminate, no empires to expand. It was a rare moment of peace—one that neither of them would have ever sought on their own, yet somehow, now that they were here, it felt like something they had always needed.
Vincent had made sure of it.
The city they were in was chosen carefully—not a major capital, not a place frequented by elites or the world's wealthiest, but somewhere simple. A city that was alive, filled with laughter, movement, and people too occupied with their own lives to notice two seemingly ordinary individuals walking side by side.
Vincent's fingers were intertwined with Anastasia's, his grip neither overly tight nor loose. It was just firm enough to tell her that he wasn't letting go.