Damien Cross's penthouse overlooked Central Park like a kingdom surveying its territory. Floor-to-ceiling windows showcased the glittering Manhattan skyline, and the interior was all sharp lines, dark wood, and expensive minimalism that screamed power without needing to shout.
I stood by those windows at 4 AM, wrapped in one of his silk robes, watching the city sleep while my mind raced with everything we'd discussed.
The alliance. The plan. The revenge that would destroy Nathan piece by piece.
And what had happened two hours ago in Damien's bedroom.
I should feel guilty. Ashamed. Something other than this cold satisfaction settling in my bones.
But I didn't.
Nathan had been my first love, my first everything. I'd saved myself for marriage like the good girl my mother raised me to be, believing in fairy tales and forever. And he'd thrown it all away for my step-sister and her convenient pregnancy.
So when Damien had leaned across that bar booth, his grey eyes dark with something dangerous, and asked, "How far are you willing to go for revenge?" I'd known exactly what he was offering.
And I'd said yes.
"Regrets?" Damien's voice came from behind me, smooth as the whiskey we'd been drinking. He'd pulled on black silk pajama pants but nothing else, and even now, I couldn't help but notice the lean muscle definition, the way he moved with predatory grace.
"None," I said honestly, turning to face him. "You?"
"I don't do regrets." He moved to the bar cart, pouring two glasses of water. Thoughtful. Nathan never would have thought of that. "But we need to discuss what happens next."
"The plan, you mean."
"The plan. And us." He handed me the water, his fingers brushing mine deliberately. Testing. "What happened tonight changes things."
I took a sip, buying time to organize my thoughts. The sex had been… intense.
Controlled and commanding, like everything else about Damien Cross. Nothing like the fumbling, awkward encounters I'd imagined marriage to Nathan would bring.
This had been claiming. Possessing. A business transaction wrapped in silk sheets and whispered commands.
And I'd loved every second of it.
"It changes nothing," I said finally. "We made an alliance. What happened afterward was"
"A bonus?" His lips quirked, almost a smile.
"Mutually beneficial stress relief."
"Very clinical, Miss Chen." He moved closer, backing me against the window. The glass was cold against my back, but his body radiated heat. "Is that what we're calling it?"
"What would you call it, Mr. Cross?"
"The beginning." His hand came up, fingers tilting my chin so I had to meet those mercury eyes. "You walked into that bar looking for a weapon to use against my brother. Congratulations. You found one."
"You're not a weapon. You're a partner."
"No, Aria." His thumb brushed my lower lip, the gesture intimate and threatening all at once. "I'm both. And so are you. The question is: can you handle what that means?"
I should have stepped back. Should have established boundaries. But I'd spent three years with Nathan being the perfect, accommodating fiancée, swallowing my opinions and ambitions to fit into his vision of what a Cross family wife should be.
I was done being accommodating.
"Try me," I challenged.
Damien's smile turned sharp. "Here's what happens next. Tomorrow today, technically you're going to wake up in your penthouse, alone. You're going to let Nathan think he won. Let him think you're broken."
"While actually"
"While actually, you're going to accept the position I'm about to offer you. Chief Innovation Officer at Titanium Holdings. Two million dollar salary, stock options, corner office. You're brilliant with tech strategy your mother trained you well, even if Nathan's been hiding that talent."
My breath caught. "You researched me."
"I research everyone. Your thesis on AI integration in legacy systems was groundbreaking. Your recommendations for Chen Technologies' expansion into Asian markets increased profits by forty percent. But Nathan took credit for all of it, didn't he?"
He had. Every presentation I'd crafted, every strategy I'd developed.
Nathan had presented them as his own innovations, and I'd let him because I thought we were building something together.
Fool.
"Why would you hire me?" I asked. "Really. What's in it for you?"
"Besides the pleasure of watching Nathan's face when you resurface more powerful than ever?" Damien stepped back, giving me space to breathe. "You have skills I need.
Access to information about Chen Technologies that I want. And most importantly, you're motivated."
"To destroy your brother."
"To take back what's yours. There's a difference." He moved to the windows, staring out at the city. "Nathan isn't just my brother, Aria. He's everything wrong with the Cross family legacy. Entitled. Cruel. He takes what doesn't belong to him and calls it ambition."
There was history there. Pain, buried under layers of ice.
"What did he take from you?" I asked softly.
Damien's jaw tightened. "Five years ago, I was engaged. Her name was Sophia. She was… perfect. Smart, kind, completely uninterested in my family's money. She loved me when I was still trying to prove myself, before Titanium Holdings became what it is."
Past tense. Was.
"Nathan seduced her six weeks before our wedding. Got her pregnant. When she told me she was leaving me for him, she was crying, saying she never meant for it to happen. That Nathan had pursued her relentlessly, promising her things I apparently couldn't give her."
My stomach dropped. "Damien"
"She lost the baby at eight weeks. Nathan dumped her immediately after. Said he'd realized it was a mistake, that the pregnancy was the only reason he'd been interested."
His voice was flat, emotionless, but I could see the tension in his shoulders. "Sophia couldn't handle the shame. She killed herself three months later."
Oh God.
"I'm sorry," I whispered, the words pathetically inadequate.
"Don't be sorry. Be angry." He turned to face me, and his eyes were pure ice. "Because Nathan follows a pattern. Find a woman connected to someone he resents. Seduce her. Get her pregnant. Destroy everything. And no one stops him because the Cross family protects their own."