The city was alive beneath her, pulsing with the kind of energy that never slept. From the rooftop of her penthouse, Elena Hayes stood at the edge, her fingers gripping the cold steel railing as the wind swept through her hair. The skyline glittered like a mirage, but none of it felt real tonight. Not after what she had just discovered.
Her brother, Liam, was missing. Worse than that, his name was now tangled in scandal that would destroy her family if she didn't get ahead of it. The affair, the betryal - it had all come crashing down in one swift, brutal moment. the media was already buzzing with rumors. And Elena, always the one to fix things, had no idea how to stop the avalanche.
Byt that wasn't what made her chest tighten with a familiar ache of dread. No, it was the man who had just walked in her life - uninvited and dangerous. Dominic Thorne.
"You're in over your head, Elena." His voice came from behind her, low and smooth, as if he had all the time in the world. Dominic stepped closer, his presence impossible to ignore. Tall, dark, and every bit as menacing as the storm cloulds gathering on the horizon, he had a way of making the world tilt off - balance.
She didn't turn to face him, refusing to give him satisfaction of knowing he'd unnerved her. "What do you want, Dominic?"
His chuckle was dark, a sound that slid under her skin. "What I want is what you want. To clean up the mess your brother got himself into."
She clenched her jaw, her grip tightening on the railing. She hated how he spoke with such certainty, like he already knew how this would play out. "This is none of your busness."
"Ah, but it is," he said, stepping closer until she could feel the warmth of his breath on her neck. "You see, Elena, Liam owes a lot of people. Dangerous people. And when he doesn't pay his debts, it becomes everyone's busnsess. Including mine."
Her heart raced, but she forced herself to remain still, her voice sharp. "I'll handle it."
"I'm sure you will," Dominic murmured, his tone laced with amusement. "But not alone. You're going to need me. You just don't know it yet."
Finally, she turned to face him, her eyes locking with his. His dark hair, perfectly toused, framed a face that was both too handsome and too calculating. His lips curved into that signature smirk of his, the one that made women trust him far more than they should.
"Let me make one thing clear," Elena said, stepping forward until there was barely any space between them. "I don't need your help. I've cleaned up worse than this."
Dominic's smile didn't falter, If anything, it grew. "Maybe. But this time, elena, the stakes are higher. And you won't win if you don't know the game."
Her heart hammerednin her chest, and she hated that he was right. She hated that despite everything, despite the warnings screamingin her mind, she couldn't pull away from him. the danger, the intrigue - it wrapped around her like a fire she couldn't escape.
And Dominic Thorne, with his secrets and his dark eyes, was right at the center of it.