جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 40

"If you open that door, someone dies," Ethan said, his voice entirely flat as he stood in the entrance of his office.I paused with my fingers resting against the polished brass handle of the front exit. "It’s an invitation to a corporate gala, Ethan, not an execution order.""In this city, they are the exact same thing." He stepped toward me, his dark hair slightly rumpled and his sleeves rolled up to reveal his forearms. His gray eyes locked onto mine with a sharp, heavy intensity that made the air in the hallway feel immediately thinner. "The press has been looking for a tear in the armor for six months. The moment you walk through those ballroom doors as my plus-one, every executive, competitor, and tabloid reporter in the room will try to tear you apart."I looked down at the thick cardstock in my free hand. The raised gold lettering spelled out my name directly beneath his, glowing under the dim hallway lights. "The invitation says Ethan Blackwood’s plus-one, but I’m still tryin

By eight in the morning, I had learned that falling for a billionaire came with consequences I had never imagined.When I stepped through the glass doors of Blackwood Group, the thick tension in the lobby hit me like a physical wall. The usual morning chatter had vanished. Small clusters of employees stood near the elevators, whispering frantically while staring at their tablet screens. The second I walked past them, their voices cut off completely. Their sharp, judging glances followed my every move, heavy with suspicion.They were all looking at the gala photographs.My stomach churned as I made my way up to the executive floor. I had barely reached my desk when Ethan’s chief executive assistant hurried toward me.“Ethan has been called into an emergency board meeting,” she murmured, her voice tight with stress. She dropped a heavy stack of folders onto my desk. “He needs these financial and media impact reports organized immediately. Get them ready for the boardroom.”My hands shoo

"The second leak turned our private feelings into the least dangerous problem inside Blackwood Group," Ethan said, his voice dropping into a harsh, icy register as he slammed the printed security report onto my desk.I didn't even look down at the pages. The raw, dangerous rage vibrating off his tall frame was enough."The board is calling an emergency meeting in twenty minutes," he continued, taking a step toward me, his dark eyes locked onto mine. "They want a head on a spike, Aria. They think I’ve lost control of this company.""We knew someone was digging," I whispered, standing up so I didn't have to look up at him. My pulse hammered against my ribs. "We thought it was just personal gossip.""It’s not personal anymore." Ethan gripped the edge of my desk, leaning down until we were breathing the same air, the forced proximity sending a sudden, unwanted spike of heat through my veins. "The leaked document contains every sensitive valuation and structural detail of our upcoming acqu

"The breach isn't coming from outside," the IT analyst said, his hands moving fast across his mechanical keyboard. "The access key belongs to an executive-level account."I stood beside Ethan in his dark office, staring at the main security monitor mounted on the wall. Green lines of code rerouted across several internal firewalls, trying to narrow down where the intrusion was coming from.Ethan didn't say a word. He stood with his hands shoved deep into his trousers pockets, his shoulders set rigid as stone. On the surface, he looked entirely calm, but I could see the tight line of his jaw and the faint pulse in his throat. He was holding his breath. Everything was falling on him, his company, his family's name, and the safety of everyone in this building."Got it," the lead technician called out, tapping the monitor where a red light started flashing. "The trace is terminating at a hardware node on the fourteenth floor."Ethan moved immediately, his calm posture vanishing into sudde

"The person who disabled the vault server is standing in Security Control," Chief Vance said, his hand already resting on the heavy metal door frame. "We have him."The revelation hit like an electric shock. The threat inside Blackwood Group wasn't a distant corporate rumor; it was standing in our building, breathing our air, pulling the strings closer than any of us had dared to imagine.Ethan’s jaw locked. Without a second of hesitation, he bypassed Vance and strode down the brightly lit corridor toward the security control room, his long strides cutting through the quiet tension of the executive floor."Stay in the secure conference room, Aria," Ethan commanded, his voice a low, unyielding blade that didn't even turn in my direction. "It’s not safe."I ignored him entirely. My heels clicked sharply against the polished floor, keeping pace right behind his right shoulder. He threw a quick, sharp look over his shoulder, his dark eyes flashing with immediate reprimand, but the sheer m