Lahat ng Kabanata ng Craving his control : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

Mia didn’t sleep that night.Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Harry Declan’s face—the way he looked at her, like he could see straight through her defenses. Like she was a challenge he had already decided to conquer.She wasn’t sure what scared her more: that he hadn’t fired her… or that she didn’t want him to.At 8:00 a.m. sharp, she arrived at Declan Enterprises in a navy blouse and tailored slacks that felt like armor. She’d barely made it through the lobby when a voice crackled from the front desk.“Miss Williams?” the receptionist called, brows raised. “Mr. Declan would like to see you in his office. Now.”Heads turned. Whispers followed.Mia swallowed hard and forced a polite nod. “Thank you.”By the time the elevator doors opened on the top floor, her palms were sweating.The door to his office stood wide open this time. Like an invitation or a trap.“Miss Williams,” he greeted without looking up. He was seated behind his massive black desk, sleeves rolled, tie loose, fi

The office was ghostly quiet after dark.The fluorescent lights had long shut off, leaving only the soft hum of desk lamps and the glow of the city bleeding through the floor to ceiling windows. Mia was still at her desk, posture stiff but focused, forcing herself through the last few lines of the quarterly revenue summary Harry had asked for.She was the only one left on the entire floor.Correction almost the only one.Behind the frosted glass wall of his office, Harry Declan’s silhouette remained still, cast like a shadow against the deep blue backdrop of the skyline. He hadn’t moved in over an hour. No calls. No meetings. Just him and whatever it was that kept him up long after everyone else had gone home.Mia’s eyes burned with fatigue, but something about walking out without telling him felt... wrong.So she stood. Straightened her skirt. Smoothed her blouse. And walked to his door.She knocked lightly.No response.She hesitated, then tried the handle. It clicked open with ease

The hotel suite was still.Too still.Mia lay under the silk sheets, eyes wide open, the faint sounds of the city below doing nothing to soothe the storm inside her.She had replayed the moment a dozen times already. “You’ve been a distraction since the moment you walked into my office.”It wasn’t just the words—it was the way he’d said them. Low. Controlled. As if he were keeping something barely caged.And now that she was here, in his suite, his scent clinging to the room, his voice still echoing in her chest—there was no pretending she could sleep.The air felt charged.She tossed off the sheet and stepped softly onto the plush carpet.The clock read 2:12 a.m.She padded toward the dim corner of the suite, where the long couch faced the window. Harry’s tall form was stretched out, the blanket draped carelessly across his waist, one arm behind his head, chest rising and falling slowly beneath the half-open shirt he hadn’t bothered to button back up.But he wasn’t asleep.His eyes

The sunlit ballroom of the Armitage Hotel was a playground for the elite. Floor-to-ceiling windows bathed the space in gold, casting soft light over white orchids, silver place settings, and the kind of quiet opulence only old money could pull off. Waiters glided between tables, champagne flutes chiming, name tags gleaming against tailored lapels.Mia felt every pair of eyes in the room.She stood just to the left of the main stage, tablet in hand, carefully avoiding the urge to smooth her dress for the hundredth time. The navy-blue sheath was modest by her standards—but the way it clung to her hips, the way Harry’s eyes had dragged slowly down her body this morning before they parted ways, made her feel anything but professional.Their night together had changed something.She wasn’t naïve enough to believe one night of tangled limbs and whispered names was love.But she couldn’t lie to herself either.Something had shifted.And everyone in this room seemed to feel it—even if they di

Mia barely felt the cold night air as she stepped out of the ballroom. Her heels clicked across the marble like a warning bell in a cathedral. Elegant. Controlled. But inside? A war. She didn’t wait for Harry to follow. Didn’t check if he noticed her leave. She needed air, space anything but the suffocating weight of Layla’s words. She was just like you. Until she couldn’t handle him. The truth wasn’t supposed to come from someone like Layla. It wasn’t supposed to come wrapped in lipstick and venom. But it rang too loud, too real to ignore. And Harry hadn’t denied it. Not really. Back in her room, Mia sat in front of the full length mirror, slowly unzipping her dress. Her skin prickled under the cool air, her eyes fixed on her own reflection like a stranger’s. She didn’t cry. She didn’t even feel angry. Just… betrayed. There were things she had given Harry without saying them aloud. A kind of trust. A kind of surrender. And now she wasn’t sure if that trust h