After almost being caught by Damian’s mother they decided to call it a day.Isabella’s cheeks were still burning as they stepped into the elevator. The lingering warmth of Damian’s lips on her skin, the heat of his body pressed against hers, the mortifying memory of Eleanor Knight’s amused smirk—all of it swirled inside her like a storm.She kept her eyes down as they descended floor after floor, but the silence was different now. Not shy or awkward, not even sexual tension. Something else.By the time they reached the underground garage, the mood had shifted.Damian’s expression had cooled. His jaw clenched, lips pressed into a thin, unreadable line.He scanned the shadows as the elevator doors slid open.Damian’s expression had cooled, his jaw tense. “Go straight to the car,” he instructed.“What is it?” Isabella asked, instantly alert.He didn’t answer. Instead he took her hands in his and moved quickly through the garage. His fingers were closed protectively around hers and they w
“Damian.”The sound of that voice—firm, feminine, and far too calm for the moment—sliced through the haze like a bucket of ice water. His mother.Damian froze. So did Isabella.They turned, slowly, as if moving faster might shatter what little dignity they had left.Mrs. Eleanor Knight stood at the open door of the office.Elegant. Composed. Amused. She wore a navy Chanel suit, pearls at her ears and throat, her silver hair swept into a sleek chignon. In her hands: a white porcelain tray stacked with homemade chocolate chip cookies.The silence was unbearable.Then—“Have fun downstairs?” Helena Knight asked, Isabella’s stomach dropped to the floor. She tried not to visibly shrink, but her knees turned to water. Helena’s eyes sparkled with mischief as she added with a teasing smirk, “You might want to reapply your lipstick, darling. Or don’t. Either way… I approve.”“I always wondered if you got the ‘Knight impulse’ from your father,” Eleanor said, her voice deceptively light. “But
The moment ignites, but is interrupted.The vault’s silence was suffocating, yet neither of them moved.Isabella’s back was pressed against the cold steel wall, but the chill was nothing compared to the heat flooding her body. Every inch of her felt alert, alive, aching with something she hadn’t dared name for weeks. Damian stood just inches from her, his breath brushing her cheek, his presence overwhelming and unrelenting.His eyes, usually cold and calculating, now burned into hers with an intensity that made her stomach flip. Hunger. Desire. Regret. It was all there, stripped bare in the shadows.“You’re too close,” she murmured, her voice barely more than breath.“You’re not moving away,” he said, his voice husky.She wasn’t. Her hands were still clutched in the lapels of his blazer, holding him there like she was afraid the moment might slip through her fingers if she let go. His scent clean, expensive and intoxicating, wrapped around her, making her head spin. Her lips tingled f
Chapter 27 – The slam of the steel door echoed like a death knell.Isabella turned sharply, her heart skipping a beat. The hallway they’d just walked through was now sealed off behind them, the vault door locked with a sound that made her bones shiver. It wasn’t just the sound that made her shiver, it was the weight of it. Final. Absolute. Like someone had drawn a steel line between them and the world above.She blinked at the seamless metal surface. “What was that?”Damian’s jaw clenched. He stepped forward and yanked at the handle, then tried the digital override on the panel beside it. Nothing responded. No beep. No release. Just a red light glowing steadily back at him like an accusation.“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” he muttered under his breath.Isabella’s heart thudded louder. “Is this one of your games?”Her voice trembled, but not from fear. No, this was something older. Deeper. Something sharp and slow-burning. Betrayal or the suspicion of it. It had festered since the
The tension inside Jaxon Corp had taken on a texture—thick, invisible, and suffocating. It clung to the glass walls, seeped beneath the marble floors, and curled into Isabella’s chest like smoke.Something was off.Not just Helena’s presence.Not just the silence from Damian.Everything.From the moment she walked through the building’s sleek, mirrored entrance that morning, something had felt wrong. People she didn’t know had been whispering near the elevators, glancing at her the way people do when there’s a rumor they’re not supposed to say aloud. No one met her eyes for long. Not even Jenna from accounting—the only one who ever asked how her weekend was.And Helena…Helena had been hovering.Too poised. Too calm. Parading down the executive corridor like a queen inspecting her chessboard. Her heels clacked with intentional rhythm, a polished performance of dominance. She had passed Isabella’s desk three times already by noon—each time pausing just long enough to let her presence b
The threat is no longer outside. It has breached Jaxon Corp.The hum of tension on Jaxon Corp’s executive floor was so thick, it felt like even the walls were listening.Damian stood motionless behind his sleek black desk, his spine rigid, the city’s lights flickering behind him through the ceiling-high windows. But he didn’t see Manhattan’s glittering skyline tonight.He saw a single carnation.Left in his penthouse.Fresh.Blood-red.He had been there. Inside.Damian’s jaw clenched as he stared at the message glowing on his encrypted monitor.A second breach. But this wasn’t some amateur hacker breaking into a guest Wi-Fi. This was deliberate. Surgical. Sophisticated.And worst of all—internal.He slammed a button on his desk. The intercom buzzed. “Who accessed my private files?” he barked, voice low and lethal.“I—I’m still tracing the IP, sir,” came the stammering voice of his head of IT. “But the login came from within the building… Level twelve. Legal department.”Damian swore u