Chapter 2 — The man from ice

I didn't sleep that night.

Not a minute.

I sat until dawn on the hard wooden bench at the bus stop

towards our apartment and stared in the rain, which continuously

Asphalt tumbled. My clothes had long been dried, but the cold had remained.

She sat deep in my bones like something that would never disappear again.

Daniel called me more than thirty times.

Mia Carter had written me five messages.

I hadn't opened one.

At six in the morning, the first bus went to the city centre. I got in, still

always in the same dress as in the evening before, my hair glued from the rain, my

Mascara probably smeared like a madman.

Nobody looked at me.

Or maybe I just formed it.

The high house of Adrian Blackwood stood like a black monolith in the grey

Jesus. Fifty floors of glass, steel and money. At the sight of me

Bad.

Blackwood Enterprises was one of the largest investment firms in the

Land, and Adrian led them like a kingdom.

They said he earned twenty-nine more money than some families in

10 generations.

They also said he had no feelings.

I thought so.

When I walked through the door, the receptionist just looked at me. Your view remained

hang a moment too long on my trembling dress, but she said nothing.

The elevator to the fiftyth floor was almost empty. My hands trembled so strong that

I buried them in the pockets.

Maybe I should just quit.

Maybe I should never come back.

But then I thought about the rent. To my account. To the fact that Daniel and I

the apartment had rented together and I presumably in a few days on

the road would stand.

I needed this job.

No matter how much I hated him.

The elevator doors opened loudly.

The whole floor was just him.

Dark marble floors. Floor depth window. Silence that was so hard that each paragraph

how a crime sounded.

I rushed to my desk in front of his office and just sat in the

Wait when the elevator doors went up again.

A deep, rhythmic click of leather shoes.

My stomach came together.

I didn't have to look up to know who it was.

But I did.

And for a moment I forgot to breathe.

Adrian Blackwood looked like he was from another world.

Black custom suit. Dark hair, perfectly combed back. Wide shoulders. A

Face that was so flawless that it seemed almost cruel. Its sharp pine line

was tense, and his blue eyes met me with the same warmth as a

Knife on the throat.

He stayed in front of my desk.

His gaze was over me.

My crumbling clothes.

The cried eyes.

The pale skin.

His expression didn't change.

“They are two minutes too late.”

His voice was deep. Easy. Dangerous.

I swallowed.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Blackwood. Transport —’

“Save the lie.”

He went past me, opened the door to his office and added without himself

to turn:

“Coffee. Black. And bring the documents for the board meeting. Right away.

The door fell behind him into the castle.

I just closed my eyes.

Don't cry.

Not here.

Not for him.

I stood up, went to the small kitchen and mechanically put on the espresso machine.

My hands trembled so much that I almost dropped the cup.

When I entered his office, Adrian was already on the window. The skyline was behind him, grey

and blurred in the morning fog.

He didn't turn around.

I put the cup on his desk.

“Your coffee, sir.”

Silence.

Then:

“Why do you smell like rain and foreign perfume?”

My head got up.

He still didn't see me. Just scrolling through documents as if he had just

asked for the time.

I felt my face getting hot.

“I don’t understand.”

Now he took the look.

And these eyes met me directly.

Cold. Precise. Like they could see any lie under my skin.

“I do not want unprofessional employees in my environment.” His voice

was quiet. “If your private escapades affect your work, I will replace you

still today.”

Something torn in me.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep.

Maybe the pain.

Perhaps the fact that I lost everything in less than twelve hours and

that man dared to look at me like that.

“With all due respect, Mr. Blackwood,” I said, my voice begged, “my private life

does not concern you.”

The air in the room was quiet.

Dangerously quiet.

Adrian slowly put out the filler.

Then he walked around the desk.

One step.

One more.

Until he was right in front of me.

Too close.

His fragrance was expensive, dark, almost anesthetic. Something to cedar wood and danger.

I raised the chin, although my knees were soft.

He slightly bent down to me.

“They seem to forget Miss Carter,” he said quietly, “that all your performance

influenced, very well my problem is.”

My heart beat so loud that I thought he had to hear it.

“Then you quit me,” it burst out of me.

His eyes narrowed.

For the first time, I saw something like a surprise in his face.

And now I repent every single word.

What did I do?

Nobody talked to Adrian Blackwood like that.

No one.

His eyes slowly glitt over my face as if he really did me for the first time

see.

Then his look at my left ring finger fell.

Where I never wore the ring.

But where the pale print site was still visible.

His voice was unexpectedly calm.

“Did he cheat you?”

I stopped breathing.

I step back.

“What?”

“The man.” Adrian's face remained unexpressed. “The reason you look like

you had spent the night on the street.”

My neck hurried.

I wanted to say something. Something. A lie. A sharp answer.

But at this moment his phone vibrated on the desk.

Adrian took a look at the display.

His entire expression changed.

Hard became too icey.

He grabbed the phone.

Then he said only three words that my blood was freed:

“Put him in.”

The door behind me opened.

I turned around.

And my heart stopped.

Because the man who entered the office was not some business partner.

It was Daniel Hayes.

My ex.

And when our eyes met, Adrian Blackwood smiled for the first time.

It wasn't a friendly smile.

It was the smile of a man who had just understood how to break me

could.