CHAPTER 8-The Spider's Web
Leo didn't take her to a corporate conference room. He led her to a private elevator that descended instead of rising. When the doors opened, they were in an underground garage where a matte-black armored vehicle waited.
"Where are we going?" Luna asked as the car glided through the city.
"The Wǎngshā estate."
"I thought my apprenticeship was at SilkWeb."
"Your apprenticeship," Leo said, watching the city blur past the tinted windows, "is with the family. Not just the corporation."
The Wǎngshā estate was nothing like the Xiānyǔ fortress. Where her family's home was cold modernism, this was… organic power. Traditional architecture blended with subtle, brutal security. Gardens of raked sand and precisely placed stones. Water features that masked sound. It felt alive, and watchful.
They were led to a tea pavilion overlooking a koi pond. Fen Wǎngshā was already there, seated beside an elderly man with a face like weathered stone—Tao Wǎngshā, Leo's grandfather. Standing nearby was a severe, elegant woman Luna recognized from society photos: Ming Wǎngshā, Leo's mother.
And then there was Zara.
Leo's sister leaned against a pillar, wearing tailored black pants and a look of amused curiosity. She winked at Luna when their eyes met.
"Sit," Fen commanded.
Luna sat on the cushion indicated. Leo sat beside her, close enough that their sleeves brushed.
Tao Wǎngshā spoke first, his voice a low rumble. "The Xiānyǔ girl. Your mother drives a hard bargain."
Luna kept her head bowed slightly. "I'm here to learn, sir."
"Learn?" Ming Wǎngshā's voice was cool. "You're not here to learn. You're here to fulfill a contract."
Luna's breath caught. She looked at Leo, but his expression was impassive.
"Six months ago," Fen said, pouring tea with ritualistic precision, "your mother and I negotiated a merger. Not of companies. Of bloodlines."
The world tilted. "What?"
"The marriage contract between House Xiānyǔ and House Wǎngshā," Tao said. "Signed, sealed, and awaiting execution."
Luna felt the room close in. "You're saying I'm… engaged?"
"Not engaged," Ming corrected. "Married. The contract is valid upon your arrival here today. The tea ceremony is the formal recognition."
Luna stood, her legs trembling. "No. This is a mistake. My mother said apprenticeship—"
"Your mother," Fen said calmly, "sold you for a forty percent stake in the new Jade Consortium and guaranteed protection for your family's artifacts for the next fifty years. A good deal, for her."
Betrayal, cold and sharp, pierced Luna's chest. She looked at Leo. "You knew."
He met her gaze. "I knew."
"And you said nothing?"
"Would you have come if I had?"
The truth of it silenced her. No. She would have run. And her mother would have destroyed what little freedom she had left.
Zara stepped forward, her playful demeanor gone. "Look, it's medieval. But it's also… practical. Our families need each other. You're the glue."
"I'm a transaction," Luna whispered.
"Aren't we all?" Zara shrugged. "The question is, what do you want to build with the currency you've been given?"
Fen pushed a document across the low table—thick parchment, covered in elegant calligraphy and stamped with both family seals. "The contract. You may read it. The terms are… comprehensive."
Luna's eyes scanned the lines. Union in perpetuity… mutual protection of assets… heirs to strengthen the alliance… It was a business agreement. A cold, clinical merger of two human beings.
At the bottom, two signatures: Lihua Xiānyǔ. And Leo Wǎngshā.
He'd signed. He'd agreed to this.
She looked at him, her voice breaking. "Why?"
For the first time, something flickered in his eyes—not calculation, but something raw. "Because sometimes," he said quietly, "the most logical choice is also the only one that matters."