Saturday. Another obligation, another event I had no desire to attend. My parents' wedding anniversary was waiting, and I was expected to show up, smile, and play the dutiful son. I sat in the back of my car, phone pressed to my ear, my assistant rattling off numbers and updates. Deals, investments, profits this was my world. Cold, precise, controlled.
The lift doors opened, and I stepped inside, still focused on the call. My voice was clipped, commanding, the tone of a man who never tolerated mistakes. And then everything stopped.
Her eyes.
Brown, deep and luminous, they locked onto mine, and for the first time in years, my focus shattered. She was small compared to me, yet her presence filled the space with a quiet power. Her hair was black, cascading softly around her shoulders, framing a face that was breathtakingly beautiful. Her skin carried a light brown shade, warm and radiant, the mark of her heritage. I could tell she was an Indian.
And then there was the dress. A dark green silk that shimmered under the light, hugging her figure in a way that made my chest tighten. Her body was exactly my type graceful, feminine, yet strong in its own right. Sweetness lingered in the air around her, a warmth that clashed violently with the steel walls I had built around myself. Her scent soft, intoxicating slipped past my defences, stirring instincts I had long mastered.
My jaw clenched. My chest constricted. What is this?
I had never cared to notice strangers. Faces blurred, voices faded, none of it mattered. But her… she was different. My instincts roared to life, primal and unrelenting. Possession surged through me, raw and consuming. I wanted to know her name. I wanted to know what she was. I wanted to claim her.
It was irrational. Dangerous. Yet undeniable.
The lift descended, the crowd spilled out, and she vanished into the noise of the city. My assistant's voice returned, but I barely heard it. Control, my greatest weapon had slipped through my fingers.
An unknown desire had taken root inside me, obsessive and possessive. And though I did not yet know her name, I knew one truth with absolute certainty:
I would find her.