was expected to call home. The guest suite in the Hale mansion was as pristine

A reading nook sat by the massive window, besides a plush armchair. A walk-in closet stood ope

ught with her. Everything else from her previous life had no place here. She to

ng on display than a person's home. Just sleek walls, expensiv

interaction after the interview. He had barely looked at her when she arrived that afternoon. One of the staff had led her to her room,

lmost invisible, working silently in the background. Even they seemed to ca

the itinerary

fast

meschoolin

erapy

expec

old print, was a single ru

boundary was clear. He wa

eel like she had stepped into dangerous terri

-

bare feet silent against the marble. She had planned to go to the kitchen

her breath catching when

he hesitated outside the half-open door to the library. Inside, bathed in the glow of a single lamp, Damien sat

the ruthless businessman, the detached employer. This Damien was something else entirely

creaking softly under her weight

sic st

room shifting instantly. Neither of them spoke. Then, in a voice colder than

urled at her sid

ould be

-whatever part of him had been exposed-was gone. She wanted to push, to ask him why he play

dn't

ven. "Then I heard the music." His jaw tensed, and for a split second, somet

before she could, Damien's

nd me of

Is that so?" His gaze darkened, assessing her, but he didn't say anything more. Lena didn

-

e like her. Lena had only been there because of her friend, who had somehow dragged her into this world of wealth and power for

re then, maybe he had been, but not to her. Their eyes met acro

stopped in front of her. "You don't belong here," he h

r head, a playful

tched, amusement sone in his sh

ed a brow. "U

g back at her. "These events are all the same. Just business d

castically. "So

ave no

hen, she had felt it-the pull, the quiet inevitabi

a long moment, then exten

ause she knew stepping into his world, even for one night,

ip firm but careful, as if he had expected her to run at any second. She had placed a hand on his should

you?" he had asked quietly, his voice just for her. Lena had

ad tightened slightly.

time in a long tim

-

ed. and now, two years later, she was back in his world-but not as the woman he had once held in his arms. Now, she was just his employee. Nothing more. Lena ex

forced her eyes shut, but Damien's words from earlier woul