A Line I Can’t Uncross

Chapter Four

Julian’s POV

I didn’t sleep.

Couldn’t.

Instead, I spent hours pacing my penthouse, the night pressing against the floor-to-ceiling windows like a silent witness to everything unraveling.

Aria had stirred something I couldn’t control. A need that wasn’t just physical. It clawed deeper into places I’d buried under business, blood, and silence.

But that wasn’t the worst of it.

The worst part was… I wanted her closer, even knowing that might be what got her killed.

When my encrypted line finally buzzed at 4:13 a.m., I didn’t hesitate. I answered, voice low, clipped.

“Talk.”

Trent’s voice came through, rough and strained. “I’ve traced the video breach. It didn’t come from inside Blackwell Global.”

I stopped pacing. “Then who?”

A beat of static. Then: “It came from Voss. He’s playing games again.”

Voss.

I should’ve known.

Dominic Voss didn’t make moves unless they served two purposes power and punishment. And right now, I was the target of both.

“How long until he comes for her?” I asked.

Trent was silent.

That silence told me everything I needed to know.

I ended the call.

My reflection stared back at me in the window sharp lines, cold eyes, the kind of face a woman like Aria should run from. But she didn’t. Not yet.

And I was about to make sure she never would.

By 8:00 a.m., I was at the office. Earlier than usual. My driver glanced at me through the rearview mirror like he wanted to ask if I’d slept.

He didn’t.

No one asked questions if they wanted to keep working for me.

Inside the elevator, I checked the morning surveillance feed on my phone. Cameras caught Aria entering the building thirty minutes before. She wore a fitted pencil skirt, cream blouse, and that familiar nervous energy that made my blood spike in ways I couldn’t justify.

I watched the footage longer than I should have zoomed in as she pushed her hair behind her ear, her lips parted as she answered her office phone, brows furrowed in that way that made me want to smooth the crease with my thumb.

I closed the feed before my thoughts got me in deeper trouble.

I had a meeting at 9:00 with a client who thought buying a two-billion-dollar tech acquisition meant he could tell me how to run my empire.

He’d learn quickly.

But before that I had something else to handle.

She looked up when I entered her office without knocking.

Surprise flickered across her face, but she masked it with that tight professional smile. “Good morning, Mr. Blackwell.”

“Julian,” I corrected, closing the door behind me.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

The way she said it made me want to find out just how far that word could stretch between us.

But I didn’t let it show.

“I’ve reassigned your next project,” I said coolly, sliding the folder onto her desk. “You’ll be working directly with me from now on. In my office.”

Aria blinked. “Excuse me?”

I moved closer, leaning a hand on her desk. “You want answers, don’t you? You want to know what you saw, what it meant.”

She swallowed. “Yes.”

“Then stay close,” I said. “Closer than before. You’ll get your answers but they come with a price.”

Her voice was a whisper. “What kind of price?”

I met her eyes. “Your obedience. Your silence. And your trust.”

A long silence passed. Her breath hitched, but she didn’t break eye contact.

Finally, she said, “I don’t trust you.”

“Good,” I murmured. “You shouldn’t.”

Ten minutes later, I was in my office, staring at the door like I could will her to walk through it.

She did.

And that was the moment I knew I was too far gone.

Because I should’ve sent her away. Fired her. Bribed her with a severance so generous she’d never look back.

Instead, I was pulling her closer to the fire.

To my fire.

“Sit,” I said, pointing to the leather chair in front of my desk.

She sat.

I slid a file across the polished surface. Inside were clipped photos, names, timelines.

“Who are they?” she asked, flipping through it.

“People I’ve protected. People Voss wanted gone.”

Her eyes darted to mine. “Why are you showing me this?”

“Because if you keep digging, you’ll end up like them.”

Her hands trembled slightly. “Why would you risk showing me something so… incriminating?”

I stood and moved around the desk, my voice low and rough. “Because I’d rather you hate me for the truth than die because of a lie.”

That stunned her into silence.

Her lips parted God, those lips and for a heartbeat, she looked like she might say something that would wreck me.

But she didn’t.

Instead, she whispered, “I’m already in, aren’t I?”

I nodded. “You were in the second you looked at me like you saw more than the tailored suit.”

That night, I stayed late. Aria did too. The hum of her presence just outside my office settled under my skin like a drug.

Around midnight, I stepped out, found her still working glasses perched on her nose, hair falling loose over her shoulder. She looked up, startled.

“You need to stop doing that,” she muttered.

“Doing what?”

“Watching me like you’re deciding whether to kiss me or fire me.”

I walked toward her, deliberately slow.

“Kissing you would be a mistake,” I said, voice like gravel.

She stood.

I moved closer.

“So would firing you.”

She didn’t step back. “What happens if you do both?”

I exhaled hard, fighting the urge to take her against the wall right there.

“I don’t mix business with pleasure,” I said.

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because you’re not a pleasure,” I said darkly. “You’re a distraction. One I can’t afford.”

But I was already reaching for her before the words were even finished.

Her breath caught. Mine did too.

Our mouths inches apart. Her lips slightly parted.

Then

A knock shattered the moment.

My jaw clenched as I stepped back.

Aria blinked, flushed and breathless. “You’re going to drive me insane.”

I gave her a dangerous smile. “That’s the idea.”