Chapter 3: Between Fire and Ice
The next few days passed with Ava wrapped in a dangerous calm. Kai didn't bring up Lucien again, but his eyes tracked her every move. Every time a man lingered too long by her desk, Kai appeared. Every time her phone lit up, he looked.
He never said a word.
But the silence was louder than a scream.
On Thursday, the sky cracked open with a violent storm, just as Ava stepped out for lunch. She was halfway across the street when a black car pulled up beside her.
Lucien.
He rolled down the window. "Need a ride, sunshine?"
She hesitated.
Then got in.
The car smelled like leather and danger.
"You disappeared," he said.
"You were about to die. I figured you'd need space."
He chuckled. "Your boss has a temper."
"He has a habit of burying people who touch what's his."
Lucien looked sideways at her. "Are you his?"
She didn't answer.
He pulled into an underground parking garage, stepped out, and opened her door.
"Come upstairs. Just coffee. No strings."
Ava followed.
Lucien's apartment was minimalist, industrial, high-rise and dangerous. He handed her a mug and leaned against the counter.
"You're not like the others."
"Is that a line?"
"It's a warning."
She sipped. "About what?"
"Kai. You're not the first woman he's become obsessed with."
That word.
Obsessed.
Ava's spine stiffened. "You seem awfully interested for someone who should be running."
He stepped closer. "I don't run. Not from men like him."
She looked up at him.
And felt it.
The same slow pull. Different from Kai's burning dominance—Lucien's was cold, calculating. Dangerous.
He leaned in—
—and her phone buzzed.
Kai.
[Where are you?]
Then another.
[Answer me or I will burn this city looking for you.]
She turned off the phone.
Lucien's breath was hot on her cheek. "You're playing with fire."
She whispered back, "I am fire."
His lips brushed hers. Just once. Just enough.
Then she pulled away.
"I should go."
"Next time, stay."
By the time she returned to the office, Kai was waiting in the hallway, arms folded.
"Where were you?"
"Lunch."
"With who?"
"Someone who doesn't threaten to kill people for touching me."
He stepped forward. "I'll do more than threaten."
"Why? Because you can't control yourself?"
"No. Because I know what Lucien is."
"And what are you, Kai? The better monster?"
His jaw clenched. "The one who doesn't pretend to be a savior."
Ava shoved past him, but he caught her wrist.
"You were with him."
"I didn't sleep with him."
"But you wanted to."
She stared at him. Hard. "Maybe. Just to see if he touches me the way you do."
The breath left him. Rage surged in his eyes.
He didn't speak.
He didn't have to.
That night, Lucien's penthouse was stormed by masked men. No deaths. Just a message:
Stay away.
Lucien laughed when he read the note on his shattered window.
"He won't kill me," he muttered to himself. "I'm the one exception."
And that night, as Ava stood in her apartment, still shaking from the way Kai had kissed her in the elevator—violent, needy, possessive—she stared out into the storm and realized something:
Lucien was dangerous.
But Kai was inevitable.
And she was falling for both