The world stopped.
One second, Eva was stepping out of the elevator, her heart pounding. The next, her blood turned to ice in her veins.
Her father stood in the middle of the beautiful room. His face was a dark storm. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides. He was staring right at her.
Behind him, near the huge windows, Leonard Cruz stood perfectly still. He watched them both. His face showed nothing. No surprise. No anger. Nothing.
It was a trap.
The thought screamed inside Eva's head. Leonard had set her up. He had called her father the moment she left the party. He was going to hand her over. All of her brave words, her big plan—it was a joke. She was a stupid little girl who had walked right into a cage.
Her feet felt glued to the floor. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe. Every instinct told her to run, but the elevator doors had already closed behind her. She was trapped.
Her father took a step forward. The sound of his shoe on the floor was like a gunshot in the quiet room.
"Eva." Her name came out of his mouth like a curse. "What is the meaning of this? What are you doing here?"
His voice was low and shaking with a anger she knew well. It was the voice he used right before he really lost his temper. The voice that had always made her want to hide.
For a second, the old Eva wanted to cry. To apologize. To make up a silly story about being lost.
But then she saw it. The flicker in his eyes. It wasn't just anger. It was fear. He was scared. Scared of why she was here. Scared of the man standing behind him.
He was not in control here. And he knew it.
The ice in her veins began to melt, replaced by a new, hot anger. She lifted her chin. She forced herself to look past her father, to look directly at Leonard Cruz.
"You invited us both," she said. Her voice was quieter than she wanted, but it didn't shake. "Why?"
Leonard didn't smile. He just tilted his head a little. "I thought we should all talk. Clear the air."
"There is nothing to clear!" her father snapped, turning his anger on Leonard now. "This is a family matter. My daughter has clearly... lost her mind. She ran away from home. We have been sick with worry."
The lie was so big, so easy for him to say. Eva felt sick.
"Is that true?" Leonard asked. His cool gray eyes moved to her. "Did you run away? Are they sick with worry?"
He was testing her. Throwing her right into the deep end to see if she could swim.
She looked right at her father. She saw the warning in his eyes. The silent command to play along, to be a good girl, to not make a scene.
She took a deep breath.
"No," she said. The word was clear and strong. It hung in the air between them. "That is not true."
Her father's face went from red to purple. "You will stop this nonsense right now—"
"Why am I here, Father?" Eva interrupted him. She had never interrupted him before. He looked shocked into silence. "Why did you really want me to go to that party last night? Why did you want me to meet Alexander Cruz? Tell him. Tell Mr. Cruz the real reason."
The room was so quiet she could hear her own heart beating. Her father's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. He looked from her to Leonard and back again, like a animal caught in a snare.
Leonard watched it all, a silent judge.
"I... It was a social event," her father finally choked out. "A chance for you to meet... good people."
"Good people?" Eva let out a short, harsh laugh. It sounded foreign to her own ears. "You were selling me. You and Mom and Tyler. You were going to trade me to Alexander Cruz like I was a horse. To get his family's money and influence. Weren't you?"
The words were out. The ugly truth, laid bare in this beautiful, sunlit room.
Her father looked like she had slapped him. His eyes bulged. For a second, she thought he might actually rush at her.
But Leonard Cruz moved.
He didn't step between them. He didn't raise his voice. He simply walked over to a small, wet bar and poured a glass of water. The simple, normal act was more terrifying than any shout.
"An interesting business plan, Charles," Leonard said, his back to them. He took a slow drink of water. "Using your daughter as a bargaining chip. And with my nephew, of all people. A boy who can't be trusted to run a bath, let alone a marriage."
He turned around. He looked at Eva's father like he was a bug on the floor.
"You tried to sell damaged goods to my family," Leonard said, his voice dangerously soft. "You thought you could pass off a problem you couldn't control to me. That was a stupid mistake."
Eva's father looked like he was going to be sick. "Leonard, please, you have to understand—"
"No," Leonard cut him off. "I don't. You are a bad businessman and a worse father. You are dismissed."
The words were so final. So cold. Eva's father stood there, his mouth hanging open, completely destroyed. He had come here expecting to collect his naughty daughter. Instead, he had been humiliated and thrown out by the one man he wanted to impress.
He shot Eva a look of pure hate before he turned and walked stiffly to the elevator. He didn't look back.
The doors closed behind him.
Silence.
Eva was alone with Leonard Cruz. Her whole body was trembling. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to stop it.
Leonard put his glass down. He walked over to her. He didn't stop until he was standing right in front of her. Too close.
"You passed the first test," he said, his voice low.
Eva looked up at him. "The first test?"
"Loyalty," he said. "You had a choice in that moment. You could have sided with him. You could have taken the easy way out. You didn't. You chose to burn that bridge. completely."
He was right. There was no going back to her family now. Ever.
"It wasn't a hard choice," she whispered.
A hint of a smile touched his lips. It wasn't a nice smile. "Good."
He turned and walked towards a large desk. "The deal is this. You will stay here. In this building. You will have your own rooms. You will be safe."
Eva's eyes went wide. "Stay... here? With you?"
"It's not a slumber party," he said, not looking up from his desk. "It's security. Your family is now your enemy. They will be angry and stupid. This is the safest place for you."
He looked up at her, his eyes sharp. "In return, you will give me everything. Every secret. Every weakness. You will answer every question I have. You will become my expert on the Sterling family. And together, we will take them apart. Piece by piece."
He leaned forward, his hands on the desk.
"Do we have a deal?"
Eva looked around the beautiful, cold, empty penthouse. It was a gilded cage. But it was a cage she was choosing to walk into.
She looked back at the man who held the key. The devil himself.
She nodded.
"Yes," she said. "We have a deal."