Once Rejected Twice desired

“On your knees, Adrian.”

My voice was low. Cold. It cut through the heavy, suffocating silence of the VIP lounge like a razor. Outside the soundproofed door, the thumping bass of the nightclub vibrated through the floorboards, but inside, the air was dead and completely still.

Adrian Hayes didn't hesitate.

Six years ago, he was the golden boy of our high school. He was rich, untouchable, and beautiful. Today, his knees slammed straight onto the hard wood floor with a loud, heavy thud. The expensive fabric of his suit trousers bunched around his thighs as he dropped.

Tears tracked through the flush on his handsome face. His hands shook violently as he reached out, his fingers clutching the hem of my black tailored trousers. He looked up at me with wide, desperate eyes, treating me like I was his only salvation.

“Please, Noah,” he choked out, his voice thick, rough, and completely broken. “I’m sorry. I’ll give you anything. Just don't do this. Don't look at me like I'm nothing.”

I looked down at him. My face remained an absolute mask.

The weak, crying boy who used to beg for Adrian’s love was dead. The man standing here today felt nothing but cold amusement for the pathetic creature pleading on the floor.

I leaned down slowly, crowding his space until he was forced to inhale the sharp scent of my expensive cologne. It was the exact same scent the city's most powerful billionaire had been kissing off my throat just an hour prior.

“Six years ago, you called me a pathetic freak in front of the entire school,” I whispered right against his ear, letting my warm breath fan across his burning skin. “You said I wasn't your type. So why the fuck are you on your knees begging that same freak to ruin you now?”

I pulled my leg back with a sharp jerk. His fingers clutched empty air, his body stumbling slightly from the loss of contact.

He had no idea that my phone was currently buzzing against my chest with a text from his family's biggest corporate rival. He had no idea that by tomorrow morning, his family's entire business legacy would be completely bankrupt because of me.

He thought this room was about love. He didn't realize it was about owning him.

Three weeks earlier...

I stood in front of the full-length mirror in my penthouse, slowly smoothing the cuffs of my tailored black silk shirt. The dark fabric hugged my frame perfectly, showing off the heavy, lean muscle I had spent six agonizing years building. My hair was styled back, my jawline sharp enough to cut.

I didn't look anything like the messy, nerdy Noah Carter from high school anymore. I looked like an expensive masterpiece.

My phone buzzed loudly against the glass table. It was a direct message from Vance Sterling, the most ruthless billionaire tycoon in the city:

“Do you want me to send my driver to pick you up, beautiful? Don’t make me come get you myself.”

A dark smile curved my lips as I swiped past it. Immediately, another notification lit up the screen—an I*******m DM from Julian King:

Julian: "Save a dance for me tonight, or I’ll drag you onto the dance floor in front of everyone."

I ignored Vance's text, reaching down to pick up a heavy, silver envelope resting on the table. It was a formal, embossed invitation card:

The Hayes Family requests your presence at the engagement party of Adrian Hayes and Chloe Vance.

Adrian was marrying Julian’s younger cousin. It was nothing more than a desperate business arrangement meant to inject cash into the sinking Hayes family empire.

"An engagement party," I murmured to myself, the dark smile widening as I slipped a small, heavy black USB drive into my inner coat pocket. That tiny piece of metal held the financial records that would destroy everything Adrian loved.

I didn't want closure. I wanted to make him feel exactly what it felt like to be completely rejected.

I grabbed my coat and stepped out into the night, ready to start the fire.