LOGINChloe’s POV
My heart slammed in my chest as our eyes locked. Drake’s face hardened instantly, a storm brewing behind his gaze. He looked at me like the ground had just shifted beneath him, like he’d just stumbled onto something he wasn’t ready to face. For a moment, no one said a word. The world froze, sound and movement dulled, until Jack’s friend broke the silence first, grinning as if nothing was wrong. “Chloe, it’s so good to see you. Man, I didn’t even know you and Jack were done. He never said a word.” Jack stiffened beside him, his jaw tightening. His voice snapped like a whip. “Shut up.” I turned my glare on him, the bitterness bubbling inside me spilling over. “Of course he wouldn’t say anything. Why would he? Telling the truth isn’t one of his strengths.” Jack’s expression darkened as he stepped closer, lowering his voice like he could still control me. “Don’t embarrass me here, Chloe.” I laughed bitterly, the sound sharp and hollow. “Embarrass you? You embarrassed yourself when you fucked my best friend.” His friend froze, his smile dying instantly. His eyes went wide as the truth sank in. “Wait… what? Jack, are you serious?” The air grew suffocatingly tense. All eyes shifted to Jack, who swallowed hard but didn’t deny it. Drake’s gaze snapped to his son like a blade, his jaw clenched so tight I thought it might crack. Then slowly, his eyes returned to me. There was shock there, yes, but beneath it, something else. Something darker. Desire, raw and unguarded, flickered in his stare like a dangerous flame he couldn’t mask. Jack tried to save face, reaching for me, his hand closing around my arm. “Let’s talk in private.” I yanked my arm free, my voice cold and sharp. “Don’t touch me, we’re done. I want nothing to do with you.” And then, I turned toward Drake. The anger in me softened, replaced by something frighteningly real, something I couldn’t hold back anymore. My voice trembled, but my words cut with conviction. “I don’t want Jack. Not anymore. He betrayed me. He broke me. But you…” My throat burned as I locked eyes with him. “You’re the one I want.” His chest rose and fell, his breaths heavy, uneven. His expression darkened, as if every word I spoke was tearing him apart. “You don’t know what you’re saying,” he muttered, his voice low, dangerous. But I didn’t falter. I couldn’t. “I know exactly what I’m saying,” I pushed back, my words spilling out like fire. “I’ve never felt the way I felt with you that night. I can’t stop thinking about it. I don’t care that you’re his father. I don’t care about anything else. I want you.” Jack’s friend’s mouth hung open in shock. Jack, on the other hand, exploded, dragging a hand down his face as he cursed loudly. “Are you fucking crazy, Chloe?” he barked. “That’s my father!” I turned on him, my chest heaving, my voice fierce. “Then maybe you should have thought about what you were doing with Sylvia before you lost me. Because you did. You lost me.” Drake’s eyes never left mine. For a long, heavy second, no one spoke. It was just him and me, standing in the middle of a storm that could destroy everything. Finally, his voice cut through the silence, hoarse and strained. “This… this can’t happen.” But I stepped closer, trembling, yet steady in my resolve. “It already has.” Later that night, I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned, my sheets twisted around me. My body was restless, my mind refusing to shut down. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him. His eyes. His voice. The hunger in the way he looked at me, like he wanted me and hated himself for it all at once. So when my phone buzzed and I saw an unknown number light up the screen, my breath caught. A single message. Come to the hotel. Room 406. I didn’t hesitate. I knew it was him.Chloe’s POVThe city night was a whirlwind of motion as I sped away from the Renwick Gallery. I didn’t know the name of the driver or the model of the black SUV that collected me discreetly two blocks from the main entrance, but I recognized the efficiency. This was the movement of a man who commanded swift, silent obedience.I had barely closed the heavy, soundproof door when my phone buzzed with the location: a pinned map coordinate deep in the hills north of the city, labeled only with a vague address for an exclusive private community. It looked like an hour’s drive, minimum.It wasn't a hotel this time. It wasn't his office. It was a place designed for utter isolation, and the thought thrilled me. He was running. He was so panicked by the proximity of his wife and the audacity of my public defiance that he was fleeing his own environment just to be alone with me.You broke first, Drake.I leaned back against the leather, the emerald silk of my dress shifting against the cool upho
Chloe’s POVHilda, in her protective zeal, had found the perfect venue for my supposed rehabilitation: the annual summer collection launch at the Renwick Gallery. It was a well-known stop on the city’s high-society circuit, predictably attended by anyone with a trust fund and a corporate title. In short, it was exactly the kind of place where Drake Humphrey and his wife, Margaret, would be standing like two perfectly preserved marble statues.It was a risk, a calculated infiltration of his territory, and that was precisely why I agreed.I stood in front of my bedroom mirror, feeling the material of the dress slide over my curves. It wasn't the simple black sheath of our first rendezvous. This was war paint. It was a slip dress made of deep emerald silk, cut on the bias, clinging unforgivingly to every line of my body. It dipped low in the back, revealing the sweep of my spine, and the side slit rose almost impossibly high, a deliberate invitation that scre
Drake Humphrey’s POVThe air in the private conference room was thick, humid with the sweat of ambition and the dry scent of printed legal briefs. I had reconvened the Apex Asia negotiation in a smaller, off-site location, a bunker of polished steel and soundproof glass, ostensibly to ensure privacy, but truly to escape the ghosts of my own boardroom.Alan and the legal team were across the table, arguing the sealed liability clause, the very loophole Chloe had identified forty-eight hours earlier. I was supposed to be leading the counter-offensive, leveraging my confidence and resources to force the Asian firm to absorb the risk.I was performing. My suit was immaculate, my posture rigid, and my gaze unwavering. Every word I spoke was measured, a calculated strike. Yet, underneath the veneer of corporate infallibility, my nerves were frayed to a brittle thread. I hadn't slept properly. I was terrified of my own silence, waiting for the inevitable follow-up.I kept my private phone, t
Chloe’s POVThe silence from Drake’s end was a victory, not a defeat.He hadn’t called. He hadn’t texted back. He hadn’t acknowledged the burner phone message that shattered his board meeting, but I knew he’d read it. I felt the ripple of chaos I had created from the safety of my own apartment. I imagined him, pacing his executive suite, furious at the weakness I had exposed both professional and personal.A weak man would have called to rage. A controlled man would have sent his security detail. Drake did neither. He simply froze me out, expecting me to wither in his absence. He was waiting for me to break, to send a desperate plea, to confirm I was just a needy child.I refused to give him the satisfaction.Instead of obsessing over the burner phone, which remained silent and cold on my nightstand, I focused entirely on his world. My days became consumed by the business section of every major newspaper. I Googled Drake Humphrey, Humphrey Enterprises, and the Apex Asia deal until my
Drake Humphrey’s POVThe mahogany of the boardroom table reflected the cold, impersonal glow of the recessed lighting. It was a perfect mirror, showing me thirty years of carefully constructed control: the high-backed leather chairs, the meticulously arranged water glasses, the crisp lines of the legal documents pertaining to the Apex Asia acquisition. This room was my fortress, designed to be impervious to weakness, distraction, or chaos.But the chaos was already seated at the head of the table. Me.I ran a thumb over the cold, polished surface of the table, struggling to anchor myself. The final review of the Apex Asia deal—a multi-billion-dollar merger that would solidify Humphrey Enterprises’ foothold in the Asian market—was due to start in two minutes. My legal counsel, Alan, was clearing his throat beside me, ready to present the final risk assessment.I should have felt the familiar surge of corporate power, the sharp, exhilarating focus of a man about to conquer. Instead, I f
Chloe’s POVThree days of enforced silence felt like a geological era. My life had shattered, been temporarily reformed in a burst of forbidden heat, and was now placed on a high shelf, waiting for Drake Humphrey’s permission to move again.I was drowning in his rules. Every minute felt governed by his absence. I kept the black dress I’d worn to his office crumpled in a ball beneath my pillow, inhaling the faint, masculine scent of his expensive cologne mixed with my own climax, a brutal souvenir of his control. I was a puppet whose strings had been abruptly severed, and the inertia was maddening.I checked my personal phone every fifteen minutes, despite knowing he had blocked the anonymous number I used. The phone screen was a constant source of anxiety and disappointment. I was caught in a cycle of desperation, and it made me despise him and myself for needing him so completely.I couldn't escape the memory of his mouth, not just the initial, hungry kiss, but the devastating, cold







