Semua Bab My One-Night Mistake Is My Billionaire Boss: Bab 1 - Bab 10

The car stopped in front of a building Aria didn't recognize.Not a home. Not yet. The sign above the entrance read Blackwood Enterprises in letters that caught the morning light like they were carved from something precious. She had never seen this place before. She had never heard this name before.And yet, here she was.Damien killed the engine. I turned to face her. His expression was unreadable again, the mask back in place after whatever had cracked in the garage."This is where you work now."Aria stared at him. "I don't have a job.""You do now." He reached into his jacket and pulled out a folder. Thick. Cream-colored. Her name was typed on the front. "You start today. Nine AM. It's eight forty-five."She didn't take the folder."You cannot be serious.""I am never not serious." He placed the folder in her lap. His fingers brushed her thigh through the robe—she was still wearing the hotel robe. She had no clothes. No shoes. No identity."I'm in a bathrobe.""You're in my car."

Victor Harrington found her in the lobby.Not by accident. Aria knew that immediately. He was standing by the security desk, dressed in a charcoal suit that cost more than her degree, holding two cups of coffee like an old friend waiting for a delayed train.He smiled when he saw her.Not Damien's smile—controlled, dangerous, a weapon disguised as charm. Victor's smile was warm. Open. The kind of smile that made you want to confess things."Aria." He said her name like he had been practicing it. "I was hoping I'd catch you."She stopped ten feet away. Close enough to talk. Far enough to run. "I don't know you.""You know my name. Damien made sure of that." He extended one of the cups. "Plain oat milk latte. No sugar. You haven't changed."You haven't changed.The words hit her like a key turning a lock she didn't know existed."I don't remember ever meeting you."Victor's smile didn't falter, but something behind his eyes softened. Almost pity. "I know. That's why I'm here."---He le

The Half Moon looked smaller in daylight. Aria stood across the street at five minutes to noon, watching the faded sign flicker above a door she had walked through once before—a night she couldn't remember, leading to a man she couldn't escape. The bar had seemed dangerous then, all shadow and mystery and the kind of music that swallowed regrets. Now it just looked tired. The paint was peeling. The windows hadn't been cleaned in months. Even the street felt abandoned, as if the city had forgotten this corner existed.She thought of Damien's hands clenched at his sides, the way he had looked at her when he said "I love you." Then she pushed the thought away and crossed the street.A bell dinged above the door when she entered. The interior was darker than she expected—wood-paneled walls, cracked leather booths, a jukebox that hadn't played anything this decade. The air smelled like old cigarettes and older regret. A single bartender wiped the same spot on the counter over and over, not

The car ride to her apartment passed in silence.Aria stared through the passenger window, watching streetlights blur into streaks of orange and gold. The photograph remained in her pocket, its edges pressing against her hip like a reminder. She didn't speak. Neither did Damien.He parked outside her building. Killed the engine. Waited.She didn't move. "You're not going to say anything?""What would you like me to say?" His voice was quiet. Tired. "Am I sorry? You already know that. What should I have told you? You already said that. That I would do it again?" He turned to face her. "Because I would. Every single time. I would erase your memory a thousand times if it meant keeping you alive."Aria got out of the car.He followed her up the stairs. Past the cracked tile on the third landing. Past the flickering light on the fourth. Her apartment door felt heavier than usual when she pushed it open.Inside, she didn't turn on the overhead light. A single lamp in the corner cast long sh

Victor's reply came before she finished drying her face."Not over text. Too many eyes. Tomorrow. Noon. Same place."Aria stared at the screen. The Half Moon again. The same crumbling bar where he had played her that recording. She should say no. She should block his number and never look back.She typed: "Fine."Then she threw her phone across the couch and walked to her bedroom. Sleep wouldn't come. She knew that before she lay down. But lying down felt better than standing still.At three in the morning, she gave up.She dressed in darkness. Jeans. A sweater. Shoes she didn't bother tying. The key card to the east wing sat on her kitchen counter. She picked it up. Put it down. Picked it up again.She wasn't going back there.She was going somewhere else.---The building was quiet at this hour.Not the silence of daytime, when voices and footsteps filled every corner. This was deeper. Heavier. The kind of quiet that made her feel like the last person alive.The elevator took her to