His secretary

Chapter One: The Door She Shouldn't Have Opened

Elsie Hart did not believe in curiosity. It had never brought her anything but pain-accidental eavesdropping, awkward eye contact, unreturned smiles. She preferred silence, structure, and staying invisible. Just another quiet assistant in the corner of Blackthorn Enterprises.

But on the night she opened the door to Damian Blackthorn's office without knocking, curiosity shattered her carefully constructed life.

The sounds hit her first.

A woman's sharp gasp. A low, masculine growl. The distinct, rhythmic slap of bodies colliding.

Her breath caught. Her hand froze on the doorknob.

She could've shut the door.

She didn't.

She saw him-her boss, Damian Blackthorn-fisting a woman's hair, pounding into her from behind over his mahogany desk, the city skyline glittering behind him like a throne room made of fire and glass.

His shirt was undone, muscles taut, eyes locked on the mirror across from them as he watched himself take her.

Raw. Ruthless. Completely in control.

Elsie couldn't move.

Couldn't look away.

And then-he saw her.

Their eyes met in the reflection.

She gasped and stepped back, but it was too late. His expression didn't flicker. Didn't stop. Didn't apologize.

He simply... smiled.

A dark, deliberate, spine-tingling smile that said stay.

She ran.

---

The next morning, Elsie avoided the executive floor entirely. She buried herself in data sheets and scheduling requests, trying to erase the image from her brain. But his voice cut through her earbuds like a knife.

"Miss Hart. My office. Now."

She froze.

Her coworkers stared. No one got summoned like that.