Semua Bab His Cold CEO: Bab 21 - Bab 30

Chapter Twenty-One: Eyes in the GlassPOV: Noah HartHe could feel it before he saw it.The shift.The way conversations clipped when he entered a room. The glances. The too-casual smiles that didn't quite reach anyone's eyes.He’d been invisible in this office for months — a sharp assistant, clean record, barely a ripple in the pond.Now, people were noticing him.And he hated it.---The morning after Elias showed him the photo, Noah sat at his desk outside the CEO’s office and tried to act normal. He typed. He scheduled. He drank coffee. He answered emails like his world wasn’t burning beneath the surface.But he could feel it.Lena, two desks down, kept glancing at him like she was trying to solve a puzzle.Ben from accounting gave him a nod that felt more like an inside joke.Even Tessa, the receptionist, asked, “Rough night?” with a smile that lingered too long.Noah smiled back.Tight.Controlled.He was good at smiling when everything inside him screamed.---At lunch, he slip

Chapter Twenty-Three: So That’s What You ArePOV: Noah HartHe was used to whispers.But this—this was different.They weren’t whispering anymore.They were watching him like he’d walked into the building naked, wearing Elias Voss’s name on his skin.The elevator doors opened to the executive floor, and Noah stepped out like he always did: head high, posture perfect, heart pounding.He knew something had shifted.Yesterday, it was a quiet warning. A red-inked “Careful” in a manila envelope.Today, it was a public reckoning.He passed by a glass-walled meeting room. Jared Hale sat inside with three department heads — laughing, but not with his eyes.When Jared saw him, he didn’t look away this time.He smiled.And that smile said everything.So that’s what you are, Hart.Noah swallowed and kept walking.But the moment he sat down at his desk, his phone buzzed with a message.UNKNOWN: Break room. 5 minutes. Come alone.His stomach dropped.He stared at the screen.He could ignore it. He

Chapter Twenty-Five: Where the Silence StaysPOV: Noah HartThe city glittered below the penthouse windows like it didn’t know the world had changed.Like it didn’t care.But Noah cared.Because Elias had walked in and kissed him like it meant something.Like he meant something.And now they sat on opposite ends of the couch in a quiet too heavy to be casual.---Noah turned toward him. “You’re brooding.”Elias didn’t deny it. “It’s a habit.”Noah tucked one leg under himself. “You always do that. Retreat into yourself.”“I’ve lived a life where silence was safer than sincerity.”“And now?”Elias looked at him — truly looked. “Now I’m trying to relearn the sound of being wanted.”---The words hit Noah like heat and ice at the same time.He stood and walked toward Elias, slowly. Each step deliberate.Elias didn’t move.When Noah straddled his lap and sat down, Elias inhaled like he’d forgotten how to breathe.Noah touched his face. “I want you.”Elias closed his eyes.“I want the man

Chapter Twenty-Seven: You Don't Touch What's MinePOV: Elias VossElias stood at the window of his office, watching the skyline burn gold under the late morning sun.His jaw was tight.His mind was razor-sharp.And for the first time in weeks, he felt that familiar chill in his blood — the one that came before war.---They had called Noah into a private board meeting.Without him.No advisor. No witness. No warning.That wasn’t oversight.That was intent.That was threat.And now, Elias Voss would show them what happened to people who made mistakes like that.---At 10:04 a.m., he walked into the executive boardroom.No invitation.No announcement.Just presence.Madeline looked up first.Then Bernard.Rajen, late to turn, adjusted his tie like it might save him.Elias didn’t sit. Didn’t speak. Just dropped a black folder onto the table.“Internal audit of board communications over the past ten days,” he said. “Guess whose names came up.”Silence.Then Margot scoffed. “This isn’t you

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Put My Name In Your MouthPOV: Split — Noah & EliasNoahHe sat in the passenger seat of the town car, staring at the studio building like it was a guillotine.Sleek. Stark. Brutal.The tall black-glass facade was mirrored, but he could still see the silhouettes of paparazzi pacing outside the entrance, lenses glinting like sniper scopes in the midday sun. A woman in stilettos shouted something at their car window. Someone else held a homemade sign that read BEDROOM BOARDROOM in block letters.Noah clenched his hands into fists. They were damp with sweat. His shirt stuck to his spine.He felt like a lamb headed to slaughter, and the worst part? He’d volunteered.Beside him, Elias hadn’t spoken in a full minute. That wasn’t new. But this silence felt loaded. A coil of tension between them, pulled tight but warm.Finally, Elias’s voice broke through the quiet.“You don’t have to do this,” he said. Not cold. Not commanding. Gentle, in that rare way he only ever was w