The temperature in the Roth Industries server room was always a few degrees cooler than the rest of the building precisely maintained to keep millions of dollars worth of data from overheating. But as Elena stepped inside, the chill didn't touch her. Not when Liam Carter was already there, sleeves rolled up, neck slightly damp with sweat, crouched beside an open server tower with a flashlight in his mouth.
She hadn't expected to find him. She was just escaping another suffocating boardroom meeting filled with fake smiles and barbed suggestions. But something about the quiet hum of machines, the sterile safety of the blinking lights, had drawn her here. And now, so had he.
Liam looked up. He seemed surprised but not unsettled. The flashlight dropped into his palm.
"Elena." His voice was calm and controlled. "Everything alright?"
Her heels clicked on the floor as she walked toward him. "Do I look alright?"
He didn't answer. He just watched her.
She stopped two feet from him. "Victor's trying to box me into a corner again. Third time this week. Now he wants to 'streamline' innovation spending. It's barely coded but I know what he's really after."
"Control," Liam said softly.
She met his eyes. "Exactly."
He stood slowly. The distance between them now felt loaded.
"Elena…" he said, voice more cautious now, "You've got fire. They're scared of that."
She folded her arms. "They're trying to convince me that I can't do this. That I'm just a spoiled legacy girl in a suit."
"You're not," Liam said, stepping closer. "You're the smartest person in this building, and you're three steps ahead of all of them. You just don't know who you can trust."
Her breath hitched slightly. "And you think I can trust you?"
His smile was almost sad. "I think you want to."
They were too close now. The air between them buzzed louder than the servers. Her gaze dropped to his mouth, then snapped back up.
"This is a bad idea," she murmured.
"I haven't even said anything yet," Liam said, a hint of a grin in his voice.
"That's the problem. You don't have to."
There was a dangerous kind of stillness like standing at the edge of something that could shatter everything, or start something she'd never be able to undo. Elena's heart thudded against her ribs as Liam lifted his hand, very slowly, as though giving her time to stop him.
He reached for her... not to touch her skin, but to push a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his knuckles grazing her cheek. The contact was featherlight, but it sent a jolt through her spine.
Their eyes locked, and for a moment, the room seemed to fade the lights, the hum, the weight of their titles and secrets.
But Elena stepped back. Just one step. Enough to breathe.
"I should go," she whispered.
Liam nodded, stepping aside. "I'll finish up here."
She turned to leave, but before she reached the door, she paused and glanced over her shoulder.
"Don't underestimate what happens in the quiet spaces," she said.
Liam watched her go, pulse still racing, wondering if the fire in her voice had just burned a path straight into his chest and whether he wanted it to.