The dust had barely settled, the stench of gunpowder still clinging to the air, but for Adrian Black, the war was over.
Victor Calloway was done. Or at least, for now.
Amelia stood over Victor, her gun pressed against his forehead, her pulse still pounding. She had expected Adrian to stop her, to tell her that killing Victor would be crossing a line she couldn't return from. But when she flicked her gaze toward Adrian, all she saw was approval.
“Go ahead,” Adrian murmured, voice dark and edged with something deadly. “Put a bullet in him.”
Victor laughed, blood dripping from his lips. “You don’t have it in you, sweetheart.”
The remnants of shattered whiskey glasses glistened under the dim glow of the penthouse lights, but neither Adrian nor Amelia paid them any mind. The heat between them was still thick, lingering in the air like an unspoken promise.Adrian’s grip on Amelia’s thighs remained firm as she caught her breath, her body still tingling from the raw intensity of what had just unfolded between them. His stormy gray eyes burned into hers, a silent declaration that he wasn’t nearly done with her yet.Amelia smirked, dragging a hand down his chest. “I think we just christened your desk.”Adrian exhaled sharply, amusement flickering in his gaze. “It was long overdue.”She chuckled, but the
The ride back to the city was steeped in heavy silence. The tension from the meeting lingered, stretching between Adrian and Amelia like a taut wire ready to snap. The revelation of Ethan’s supposed son had disrupted the balance of power, a move Elizabeth Cavendish had played with calculated precision.Adrian sat rigidly in the back seat of the Maybach, one hand drumming against his knee, the other gripping the armrest with barely contained restraint. His stormy gray eyes were fixed on the city lights streaking past the tinted windows, but Amelia knew he wasn’t seeing them. His mind was elsewhere, dissecting Elizabeth’s words, weighing every possibility, every consequence.Amelia, on the other hand, was caught in a whirlwind of emotions she refused to acknowledge. Betrayal wasn’t new to her, not when it came t
The tension in Adrian’s office was suffocating. The revelation of Ethan’s child, a boy with undeniable Cavendish blood had shifted everything. But the moment Marcus uttered the word missing, the stakes had skyrocketed.Amelia felt an eerie chill settle over her skin. A child. An innocent child was now tangled in the dangerous web Elizabeth Cavendish had spun.Adrian stood motionless, his grip tightening around the folder containing the boy’s photo. The silence was thick, stretching between them like an impending storm. Then, without warning, he slammed the folder onto the desk.“She knows where he is,” Adrian said, his voice low, lethal. “Elizabeth wouldn’t let her greatest weapon vanish without a trace.”
The jet cut through the dark sky, slicing across the Atlantic like a blade. Inside the cabin, tension crackled in the air, thick and unrelenting. Adrian sat in his seat, his fingers tapping against the armrest as his mind worked through every possible scenario. The photo of the boy rested on the table before him, its edges slightly curled from being handled too many times. His eyes didn’t leave it.Amelia sat beside him, her arms crossed, her stomach twisted in knots. “Adrian,” she said quietly, watching him with cautious eyes. “What if we’re walking into a trap?”Adrian exhaled slowly, his gaze still locked on the photo. “Then we make sure we’re the ones holding the leash.”Marcus, seated across from them, checked his ta
The black SUVs tore through the winding French countryside, the scent of burning rubber mixing with the crisp night air. The estate was behind them, but the weight of what had just happened clung to the air like smoke after a fire.Lucas sat across from them, small, silent. His little hands were balled into fists in his lap, his blue eyes darting between them, but he wasn’t shaking. He wasn’t crying. He was just watching.Elizabeth had lost Lucas. And that meant she had lost everything.Inside the vehicle, the tension was thick. Adrian drove with precision, his eyes flicking to the rearview mirror every few seconds, checking for tails. Amelia sat beside Adrian, her heart still racing, the echoes of gunfire ringing in her ears.
The world had moved on. Cavendish was gone. Lucas was just a memory. The battle with Elizabeth Cavendish was over. The war had been won. And yet, Amelia felt no relief, only the hum of something unfinished pressing against her chest.The morning air inside the penthouse was crisp, the skyline stretching beyond the glass walls like an untouched painting. The city was waking up, buzzing with life, but inside Adrian’s penthouse, everything was too quiet.Amelia stretched beneath the silk sheets, blinking against the light. The bed beside her was empty, the space where Adrian had slept cool to the touch. Typical.Pushing herself up, she slipped out of bed and pulled on a robe before stepping into the vast living room. There he was, Adrian Black, perfectly composed, dressed
The night was far from over.Amelia had spent the last hour mingling with some of the most powerful people in the business world, yet her mind was tethered to only one, Adrian Black. Every glance, every smirk, every damn moment of tension between them gnawed at her like an unsolved mystery.Standing by the sleek marble bar, Amelia took a slow sip of her champagne, feeling the weight of Adrian’s gaze from across the room. He was speaking with a group of executives, his posture relaxed, but she knew better. Adrian was never just relaxed, he was always watching, always strategizing. And right now?He was focused on her.Her lips curled into a slow smirk. Two could play this game.
“Tell me,” Adrian murmured, dragging his lips down her neck, “who do you belong to?”The arrogance. The sheer dominance in his voice made her head spin. But she wasn’t one to surrender so easily.She tilted her chin defiantly. “No one.”Adrian stilled. Then, in a swift motion, he lifted her, her legs wrapping around his waist as he pressed her harder against the mirror.“No one?” His voice was rough now, his control slipping.She smirked against his lips. “That’s what I said.”Something in him snapped. His mouth crashed onto he
"But first, I'm going to explore. I'm going to touch and taste every inch of you."Adrian stared at Amelia’s neck, his lips trailing soft kisses down her throat, his hands caressing her skin, her shoulders, her arms. His touch was gentle yet firm, confident yet exploratory. He learned the slope of her collarbone, the swell of her breasts, the dip of her waist. He traced the lacy edge of her bra, his fingers brushing against the soft mounds of flesh, making her arch into his touch.He unhooked her bra with ease, baring her to his gaze. He paused, his eyes taking in her nipples, hard and rosy from desire. Then he leaned down, taking one into his mouth, swirling his tongue around the peak, suckling gently. She moaned, writhing beneath him, her wrists pulling against the restraints.
The morning light broke too early. Amelia woke tangled in Adrian’s arms, his skin warm against hers, his breath steady, even as the weight of the world coiled tighter around them. The ache between her thighs was a raw, exquisite reminder of the night before. Last night hadn’t been soft.For one suspended moment, it felt like none of it was real — the photos, the headlines, the threats. Just his body curved around hers like armor. But then her phone buzzed. Again. She reached for her phone and flinched, more missed calls. Notifications, emails. Headlines she didn’t dare read.Adrian stirred, pressing a kiss to the top of her shoulder. “Don’t,” he murmured. “Not yet.”She nodded against his chest, her voice husky. &ld
Christian Christian didn’t stand when Adrian entered the office. He remained seated, legs casually crossed, fingers steepled under his chin, one arm draped over the back of the chair like it was a throne, looking for all the world like a king surveying his stolen throne. His dark suit was perfectly tailored, his tie casually loose like he had better places to be but chose this for the thrill, his expression unreadable behind the kind of smile that didn’t touch his eyes.Adrian stopped just inside the doorway, one hand on the edge of the glass desk. Amelia stood just behind Adrian, her posture tense, instincts prickling.“Christian.” Adrian said coolly, stepping inside. “Didn’t realize we were taking visitors this early.”Christ
The city greeted them like a sharp intake of breath, brisk, fast, and unrelenting. The city felt colder than she remembered. Gone were the soft rustle of palm trees and the endless lull of ocean waves. In their place horns, high heels clacking against pavement, and a skyline that blinked with a thousand ambitions.It wasn’t just the weather—though it was gray and damp, a soft drizzle peppering the windshield as the car glided down the familiar road that led to Adrian’s penthouse. No, it was something else. The way the skyline looked more steel than silver. The way the buildings rose like jagged teeth rather than shimmering towers.Amelia rested her forehead against the cool glass of the car window, watching raindrops chase each other down the pane.Vaca
Adrian gently laid Amelia down on the plush blanket he had spread out on the sand. The cool night air and distant sound of waves provided a sensual backdrop as he gazed upon her beauty in the moonlight. His dark eyes smoldered with barely restrained desire as they roamed over her curves, taking in every detail.His hands slowly roamed her curves, caressing every inch of exposed skin as he undressed her piece by piece with aching tenderness. Amelia shivered under his touch, relishing the feel of his fingers igniting flames across her body. She arched into him, desperate for more."Adrian," she sighed, reaching for him.Their lips met in a deep, hungry kiss that spoke volumes of their longing for one another. Tongues twined and danced as their passion grew hotter. Adrian
The last morning on the island came wrapped in golden hush, in a kind of silence that made everything feel heavier. Not sad, not quite, not yet. But something lingered in the air, something that felt like goodbye.Amelia stirred before the sun did. She heard the sound of waves, slow and rhythmic against the shore. The breeze, warmer now with summer’s edge, drifted in through the open terrace doors, rustling the white curtains and brushing across the bare skin of her arms.She reached across the bed, instinctively searching for warmth—but found only crumpled sheets. She blinked, eyes adjusting to the soft morning glow. Adrian wasn’t beside her. His presence was everywhere, the scent of his cologne faint on the pillow, the imprint of his body in the mattress, the echo of his voice from last night, whispering pro
The morning after felt like silk unfolded slowly, like molasses dripping under the golden spill of coastal light.Golden light streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Adrian’s villa, catching on the fluttering curtains and dancing across the bed where Amelia lay wrapped in one of Adrian’s T-shirts and an oversized comforter. Her body was still humming from the way Adrian had kissed her last night, from the way he’d held her like she was something precious, not fragile, but irreplaceable.Adrian had gotten up early, but not before pressing a kiss to her temple and murmuring something about coming back with breakfast. She wasn’t entirely convinced that there hadn't been a bribe to stop her from demanding more rounds last night.She blinke
The ocean sparkled under the late-morning sun, a blinding expanse of endless blue stretching toward the horizon. The air was humid and salted, the sky painted in strokes of blue and gold as early afternoon pressed into view.On the private beach nestled below Adrian’s coastal villa, paradise looked like a postcard. Amelia, however, was not feeling particularly zen. Especially not when Adrian revved the engine of the jet ski and sent them flying across a wave that could’ve launched them straight into orbit.Adrian turned, smirking over his shoulder. “Ready, sweetheart?”Amelia stood on the dock, squinting into the sunlight. Her hair was up in a messy ponytail, oversized sunglasses perched on her nose, and a bright coral bikini peeking through the open
The moment Adrian’s lips crashed into hers, the world fell away. The air between them was thick with heat and longing, heavy enough to drown in.The storm outside faded into a distant hum, nothing but white noise compared to the thunder in Amelia’s chest. He kissed her like she was the only thing tethering him to reality, like the craving for her was so deep it had carved a permanent space in his soul. His mouth moved with a hunger that contradicted the slow burn simmering just beneath the surface.She responded just as fiercely.There was no rush to undress. No frantic fumbling. Just the fevered, maddening art of holding back of tasting, teasing, testing the limits of restraint.Adrian broke the kiss bu