The elevator ride up felt interminable, the soft hum beneath my feet echoing the tension I had carried from the office. Every step toward my apartment felt heavier than the last, as if the walls themselves sensed the storm I was bringing inside.
When I finally closed the door behind me, I leaned against it, letting the silence settle around me. The apartment was empty, quiet except for the faint hum of the city beyond the windows. I slid my hands across my desk, brushing over the cold metal of my laptop. Work never left me completely, no matter where I went.
The quiet gave the memories space.
Flashback Two Years Ago
Rain slicked streets, the echo of footsteps chasing me, and betrayal sharp in my chest. I had trusted him trusted someone I thought would protect me.
Gunfire. The sharp sting in my shoulder. Pain radiating, unstoppable. Blood soaking my sleeve. And then… abandonment. Left to the chaos, to the storm, left to survive alone while he walked away.
Power had been more important than me. He had chosen ambition over loyalty. And I had learned to survive because of it because of the fire it lit inside me.
---
I shook my head, trying to shove the memory aside. Years had passed, yet the sting lingered, raw and unhealed beneath layers of pride and precision.
My phone buzzed sharply, cutting through the heavy quiet. Laila.
"Amara, are you alive, or did you literally become part of the building today?" Her voice was calm but playful, always the perfect counter to my tension.
I smiled faintly. "Alive. Mostly intact. Why do you sound like you're about to lecture me?"
"You've been radio silent for days. I was worried," she said, concern threading her voice even beneath her casual tone. "Not that you'd tell me if anything happened, but still. You need a break, Amara."
I exhaled, leaning back into my chair. "Work… it's messy. Complicated."
"Mm hmm," Laila said knowingly. "Sounds like Adrian is involved."
My chest tightened. "Maybe," I muttered, careful not to give anything away.
"Don't pretend he hasn't made you lose sleep. I've seen it, the texts, the late nights. You're not as untouchable as you think," Laila pressed, protective.
A short, humorless laugh escaped me. "I've survived worse."
"But this is different," she said gently. "You're being pulled back into his world. And it's not just work. I can see it. You're tangled in him again."
Her words hit hard. I had felt it too Adrian's calculated presence, the pull I couldn't ignore, and the chaos Ethan brought that made everything feel lighter but also more dangerous.
---
"Tonight," she continued, "we're going out. You're leaving all the stress at the door, and you're coming with me."
I hesitated. "A club?"
"Exactly," Laila said, smirking. "Dancing, drinks, loud music, and no thoughts about Adrian. Just you and me."
I gave a reluctant sigh, trying to say no "Laila i don't think it's best idea
Laila never took no for an answer.
When she appeared at my door with her mischievous grin, a glittering dress draped over her arm, I should have known resistance was futile.
"You've been drowning yourself in stress," she declared, tossing the dress onto my bed. "You need to breathe, Amara. And what better place than a club?"
"A club?" I frowned. "I don't think drowning myself in cheap perfume and drunk strangers is going to help."
She smirked. "Who said anything about strangers? You'll have me. And maybe some fun."
I opened my mouth to argue, but she pressed the dress into my hands, her gaze softening. "Please. I don't like seeing you like this. You deserve a night to just… exist without the weight of everything."
And just like that, my excuses died on my tongue.
And there, in the chaos of music, lights, and bodies, I realized just how much control, desire, and danger Adrian exuded and just how much I couldn't escape it.
The bass throbbed through the club, heavy and alive, as if the entire room pulsed with one reckless heartbeat. Neon lights painted everything in fractured colors violet, gold, and midnight blue.
"This," Laila announced, tossing her hair back with a grin, "is exactly what you need."
I tried to protest. "Laila"
"No excuses. You've been wound tighter than a spring since you started working with that devil " She slid me a conspiratorial glance, lips quirking. "Tonight, you're forgetting about him. Tonight, you're mine."
By the time she pulled me onto the dance floor, I was laughing. Not the polite kind I'd mastered at courtly events, but something freer. Real. My body moved to the rhythm, and for the first time in weeks, I wasn't Amara the genius coder Amara the broken girl I was just a girl swaying to music with her best friend.
And then
"Care for a dance?"
The voice came from behind me. Smooth. Confident. I turned to find a man with a sharp smile, his hand already extended. His gaze swept over me in a way that felt too deliberate, too practiced.
"I.."
"She does," Laila interrupted, shoving me forward with a wicked grin.
I shot her a glare, but she only mouthed, have fun.
The stranger pulled me into the beat. He was charming, I'd give him that. His hand lingered a second too long at my waist, his mouth too close to my ear as he murmured, "You don't belong here. u r too beautiful for a dance club"
I froze, the word echoing. Beautifull . The same one Adrian had used in past . My chest tightened. Before I could step back, a different presence cut through the haze.i know it before I could see him it's like my body recognize his presence the way it reacts towards him .
Cold. Sharp. Commanding.
Adrian.
He appeared out of the crowd like he owned it, every step purposeful. The lights caught his sharp jaw, his dark shirt unbuttoned just enough to be reckless, dangerous. The crowd seemed to part for him, as if even the chaos recognized a predator when it saw one.
His eyes found mine and stayed there.
Ethan appeared then, threading through the crowd toward Laila drinks replaced by a sly grin. "Laila," he greeted her casually, eyes lighting up at the sight of her. "Fancy seeing you here."
Laila smirked, matching his energy. "Ethan Blackwell and look who's here Adrian Blackwell . Didn't expect to see both of you here."
Adrian didn't replied
"I'm always available when it comes to my brother's buisness," he replied, playful but protective. His gaze flicked to me briefly, softening as if to remind me I wasn't completely alone in this madness.
The music surged, and the stranger twirled me once more. Adrian's jaw tightened as he saw me . His movement toward me was deliberate, calculated, and possessive. Each step closer made the heat between us sharper, unspoken yet undeniable.
I laughed nervously, caught between freedom and restraint. Adrian's hand reached for mine just as the stranger leaned in closer, and in that moment, the storm of emotions desire, frustration, protection exploded silently between us.
Laila and Ethan's playful banter continued nearby, laughter punctuating the charged atmosphere,
The stranger's hand slid lower on my hip. Adrian's gaze flicked down, lethal.
"Dance with me," Adrian said. Not to the man. To me.
It wasn't a request.
"Hey man she's..." he shouted and Adrian glared at him and said" she's mine "
Before I could think, his hand replaced the stranger's, firm and possessive. The man muttered something under his breath and melted into the crowd, clearly knowing better than to challenge him.
I swallowed hard. " I am not yours and What are you doing here?"
He leaned in, lips brushing the shell of my ear as he spoke, sending shivers racing down my spine. "Making sure you don't make reckless choices." ignoring my first remark.
"That wasn't "
He leaned close, his lips brushing my temple, sending goosebumps racing across my skin. "You shouldn't let men like him touch you," he said softly, venom laced in every syllable.
"And i should let you ?" I shot back, forcing defiance into my voice though it shook.
His answering smirk was dark, dangerous. "I'm not just any man, Amara."
The words lingered long after the song ended.
And so did the ache of what almost was.
me flush against him as the beat shifted, slower now, deeper. His hand splayed across my lower back, the other catching mine and lifting it effortlessly into place.
The air thinned.
The way he moved controlled, commanding left me no room to resist. Every turn, every shift in the music, he dictated. My body responded before my mind could catch up.
"You're… impossible," I whispered, breathless.
His mouth curved, inches from mine. "And yet you can't seem to stay away."
The world blurred around us. It was just the two of us the heat of his touch and something down there, the scent of him, the dangerous pull I couldn't fight.
His lips hovered close. Too close. My heart thundered, my skin burning where his fingers traced a slow line up my spine.
"Adrian…"
His nose brushed mine, his breath warm. For one suspended second, I thought he would close the distance, claim what had been building between us since the moment we met.
But then he stopped.
His mouth ghosted over mine, so near it ached. His grip stayed firm, but his gaze flicked down to my parted lips before snapping back to my eyes, darker now, hungrier.
"Not yet," he murmured, voice rough, as if the restraint cost him everything.
My knees nearly buckled.
The words lingered long after the song ended.
And so did the ache of what almost was.
---
Across the floor, Laila was laughing of course she was. Ethan stood in front of her, drink in hand, wearing that lazy, devil may care grin.
"You're trouble," she told him, shaking her head.
"And you like it," he fired back, leaning closer. His tone was teasing, but his eyes lingered too long on her
lips.
She arched a brow. "You think you're charming, don't you?"
"I don't think," Ethan said smoothly, lowering his voice. "I know."
Her eyes widened, then softened into a smirk. "You're insane."
"And you're smiling," he countered.
end of chapter 6