The morning after, Damien stood shirtless by the tall glass window of his penthouse, coffee in hand. The city pulsed below, glittering with power and possibility—but all he saw was the woman tangled in his sheets.
Aria stirred, her dark hair spilling across the pillow, her bare shoulder kissed by the soft light of dawn. She looked fragile, almost too delicate for his world of steel and strategy, yet she belonged here more than anything he had ever built.
"You're staring," she teased, her voice husky from sleep.
"I'm memorizing," Damien replied, setting the cup aside. He moved back to the bed, his fingers tracing the smooth line of her arm. "Do you know how dangerous you are to me?"
Her lips curved into a faint smile. "And you to me."
–––
But the fantasy shattered the moment Damien walked into the boardroom later that day.
Whispers crawled across the room like wildfire. His head of PR slid a newspaper toward him, the headline blazing in bold type:
Billionaire CEO's Secret Romance Exposed — Who Is She?
A grainy photo of him and Aria entering his penthouse filled the front page. Gasps, smirks, and sharp eyes circled around the table. Rivals saw an opening; investors smelled weakness.
Damien's jaw clenched. He was a man who thrived in control, yet this—this was chaos, the kind that threatened both business and heart.
–––
Aria, too, felt the heat of the spotlight. By afternoon, reporters camped outside her office. Her phone buzzed endlessly with unknown numbers. Every whisper at work carried her name.
That evening, she stormed into Damien's office, her face flushed with anger and fear. "This… this is my life now? Flashbulbs, gossip, being dissected like I'm a scandal?"
Damien rose slowly from behind his desk, his expression unreadable. "I'll handle it."
Her eyes blazed. "You don't get to just handle me, Damien. This isn't a merger. This is my life. My career. My reputation."
The fire between them, once only desire, now burned with conflict.
In three swift strides, Damien closed the space between them. He cupped her face in his hands, his voice low, rough with something close to desperation.
"Then tell me right now, Aria—do you regret it? Do you regret us?"
Her silence was sharp, her heart torn between the intoxicating pull of him and the destruction his world brought. Finally, her whisper cracked the air:
"I don't regret you… but I'm terrified of what loving you will destroy."
And for the first time in his life, Damien Cross—the man no one could touch—realized he might lose the one thing he couldn't afford to.