Chapter Six – A Wolf at Dusk
Alexander's POV
The city always looked different at night. From the top floor of Drake Enterprises, the skyline glittered like diamonds scattered across velvet. People saw beauty in it. I saw strategy. Power. A reminder that everything worth having was taken, not given.
The boardroom fiasco still lingered in my mind. I should've forgotten it by now—it was routine to crush weakness, to expose incompetence before it rotted into something bigger. But Aria Bennett wasn't routine.
She hadn't cried.
Most people broke under pressure, especially in front of a dozen executives. Some begged, some folded, some quit before I had to cut them loose. But she… she'd stood there, silent, her chin trembling but held high. Rage burning behind her eyes instead of tears.
Interesting.
Dangerous, even.
I poured myself a glass of scotch, the amber liquid catching the light as I leaned back in the leather chair of my penthouse. My world had no room for softness. People were tools, pawns, or obstacles. And yet, Aria had managed to slide between those lines—too stubborn to be a pawn, too untested to be trusted, and far too reckless to ignore.
Vanessa Hale had played her hand well today. Too well. I knew Vanessa—ambitious, manipulative, obsessed with me in a way that was as predictable as it was useful. She wanted Aria gone. That much was obvious. And perhaps I should've let her win. It would've been easier. Cleaner.
But easy never interested me.
I sipped the scotch, letting the burn settle in my chest.
Aria claimed Vanessa tampered with the files. The smarter move would've been to deny it, to pretend ignorance, to back down. But she hadn't. She'd looked me in the eye and accused one of the most connected women in the building without flinching.
Brave. Or stupid. I still hadn't decided.
A wolf doesn't admire the sheep that wanders into its den. But another wolf? One foolish enough—or bold enough—to bare its teeth? That, I noticed.
I set the glass down, the city lights reflecting in the window before me.
Aria Bennett thought she was fighting for a job. She didn't realize she was standing on a battlefield where one wrong move could ruin her.
And still, a part of me wanted to see just how far she could go before she broke.
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