The air in the penthouse was thick, as if the walls themselves held their breath. Ava stood by the glass wall, the city's midnight lights sprawling beneath her like a kingdom she neither wanted nor could escape. Her hands were steady, but her chest was a battlefield — every beat of her heart hammering against a truth she didn't want to face.
Kai was silent behind her, the quietest predator she had ever known. His presence wrapped around her before his touch did — a shadow that knew her body better than light ever could.
"You've been reckless," his voice finally came, smooth yet edged with danger.
Ava didn't turn. "Reckless, or finally free?"
He was beside her in an instant, fingers brushing her jaw, tilting her head so her eyes locked onto his. "Freedom doesn't exist for you, Ava. Not while I'm alive."
The words were meant to cage her, but instead they ignited her. Her lips curled into a slow, defiant smile. "Then maybe I need to start imagining a world without you in it."
Kai's eyes darkened — not with anger, but with something far more lethal. His grip tightened, his thumb tracing the corner of her mouth as if memorizing the line between rebellion and surrender. "You could try," he murmured, leaning in, "but you'd die with me."
The truth of it hung heavy between them. For all her bravado, Ava knew there was no life for her outside his shadow. And for all his possessiveness, Kai knew the same — that he'd burn the world to ash before letting her slip away.
His lips brushed hers, but he didn't kiss her. It was a promise, or a threat, she couldn't tell which.
"You saw him again," he said at last. Not a question.
Ava's breath hitched. She didn't need to ask who he meant.
"I see a lot of people, Kai. You can't kill them all."
"I can try." His voice was silk-wrapped steel, a vow that wasn't meant to be poetic.
She stepped back, putting the smallest sliver of space between them. "You think killing every man who looks at me will keep me yours. It won't."
His jaw tightened, but his eyes softened — the kind of softness only she was ever allowed to see. "No. But it will keep them from thinking they can have you."
Ava turned away, moving toward the piano in the corner. Her fingers danced over the keys without pressing them down, pretending she could play without making a sound. It was her way of saying she didn't want to fight anymore tonight.
But Kai didn't believe in peace without surrender. He came up behind her, his hand sliding over hers on the keys, pressing them down until a low, haunting note filled the room. "You're not leaving," he whispered.
She closed her eyes. "What if I did?"
His breath was warm against her ear. "Then I'd come for you. And when I found you, Ava… you wouldn't walk away again."
The weight of his words pressed into her skin, but so did the heat of his body. And against her better judgment, her resolve began to slip.
---
Morning came with rain. Ava woke alone in the bed, the space beside her cold. She hated how quickly the absence of him made her restless. She wrapped herself in the sheets and walked to the kitchen, where a single envelope sat on the marble counter.
Her name, written in his hand.
Inside: a photo. Blurry, taken from a distance. It was her, laughing with the man Kai despised most. And on the back, two words in his sharp, deliberate script: Careful, Ava.
Her hands trembled — not from fear, but from the intoxicating reminder that he was always watching. Always close, even when invisible.
She should have felt trapped. Instead, she felt something far more dangerous.
Wanted.
---
That night, she didn't wait for him to come to her. She went to him.
The club was darker than usual, shadows clinging to the corners as if afraid to be seen. Kai was in the VIP section, surrounded by men who looked like they owned countries. He didn't look up when she walked in, but she knew he had felt her the second she stepped through the door.
When she reached him, he dismissed everyone with a flick of his hand. No one questioned him.
"You followed me," she said.
"You gave me reason to."
"You think a photograph will scare me into behaving?"
His smile was slow, dangerous. "No. But it will remind you that every move you make belongs to me."
She hated how much she wanted him in that moment. How the fight between them only sharpened the pull.
"You're insufferable," she said.
"And you're mine."
He pulled her down into his lap before she could protest, his hand wrapping around her throat, tilting her head back so her mouth parted on instinct. His lips claimed hers — not gently, not asking. Taking.
It wasn't just a kiss. It was possession.
And she let him.
---
By the time they made it back to the penthouse, the rain had stopped, but the storm between them hadn't.
Kai pushed her against the wall, his hands braced on either side of her head. "You want freedom, Ava? Then earn it. Make me believe I can let you go."
Her breath came fast. "And if I can't?"
His mouth brushed her ear. "Then you stay. Forever."
She knew then that there was no winning against him. The only choice she had was whether she'd burn with him willingly… or be dragged into the fire.
Tonight, she didn't resist.