Kacy sat alone in his home office, reclined in a high backed leather chair crafted from rare Italian hide, the kind of chair built for men who signed empires into existence with a stroke of their pen.
It didn't just support his weight, it carried the authority of a man who owned cities in silence and ruined men without raising his voice.
The room itself was a kingdom.
Dark mahogany shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, filled with rare books, confidential files, and framed acquisitions that spoke of empires built and crushed.
A massive black marble desk dominated the center, polished to a cold shine, gold accents glinting beneath the dim recessed lighting.
Floor to ceiling windows overlooked the city skyline, glass walls separating him from a world he ruled without mercy.
To the far side of the office was a private bathroom hidden behind a matte black door. Italian marble, chrome fixtures, glass walls.
A place built for a man who never truly left work, even when he bled.
He tapped his fingers lightly against the desk.
Once.
Twice.
The leather chair creaked softly as he rolled it left, then right, restless energy coiling tight beneath his skin.
His mind wasn't on business.
It was on her.
The hesitation in his wife's eyes.
The flicker of doubt she thought he hadn't seen.
The way her emerald gaze drifted, unfocused, distant.
When he had asked her to promise she would never leave him, never divorce him, she had said the words.
But her eyes had betrayed her.
Silence screamed louder than denial.
Fear lingered there.
Uncertainty.
A fragile lack of trust she tried to hide behind a calm mask.
And he saw it all.
No one knew his little moonlight better than him.
He had agreed to her words back at the mansion. He meant to hold onto them.
But lately, her withdrawal was impossible to ignore.
It was written in every quiet moment between them.
Before, she teased him when he came home.
Toyed with him. Drew him in without trying.
Now, she answered him with short, careful replies.
Polite.
Distant.
Like strangers retracing old steps.
It hurt more than he cared to admit.
Even intimacy no longer tempted him the way it should.
Not when her mind was elsewhere.
He didn't want her body without her wanting him back.
He craved her fire, response, hunger.
Not emptiness.
Not a hollow presence beneath his touch.
Yesterday still burned fresh in his thoughts.
He had only meant to talk to her.
That was the lie he told himself.
The moment he saw her in that strapless gown that clung to her like sin itself, molding to every dangerous curve, his control had already begun to unravel.
She hadn't tried to seduce him. She didn't need to. The fabric alone did the damage.
Then his arms were around her.
Then his mouth found hers.
Another lie followed. Just a kiss. I'll stop after this.
But the kiss deepened. His hands betrayed him.
Every promise shattered
The gown slid down her body and pooled on the dining room floor, and he told himself again that he wouldn't touch her.
Another lie.
Because he did.
His fingers moved on instinct, memory, need.
She moaned, her reaction answering him in ways words never could.
Yet her eyes were empty.
The fire that usually burned there, the hunger, the want, it was gone.
She stared through him like a closed book, unreadable and hollow, and that was what stopped him.
Not her sounds.
Not her body.
But her eyes.
So he slowly guided the fabric back over her skin,with hands that trembled, turned away, and walked upstairs without looking back.
He could feel her gaze on him, heavy and silent, but he didn't dare turn around, restraining himself with every movement.
Because he knew himself.
He knew that if he looked at her again, if he saw even a flicker of nothing in her eyes, he would lose it.
He would pour every sleepless night, every ounce of frustration, every dark thought into her body without mercy.
And that wasn't what he wanted.
He didn't just want her body.
He wanted her to want him back.
Lost deep in spiraling thoughts, the office door burst open.
Noise. Laughter. Chaos.
He exhaled sharply, dragged back to reality as his childhood friends stormed in, followed closely by his sister Lilian.
Great. Just perfect.
The trio dropped onto the sofa facing his desk like they owned the damn place.
He shot them a lazy, annoyed glance before turning away, pretending to focus on his laptop.
His fingers hovered over the keyboard, unmoving, lost somewhere between thought and reality.
He was planning a business trip to Italy. He wanted to take her with him. Away from the city. Away from their parents. Away from the pressure.
Maybe there, alone, Away from the world's gaze, he could find her again, the real her, delicate, raw, and dangerously intoxicating in its vulnerability.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing, bro?"
Lilian's teasing voice cut through his thoughts.
She jumped up, perched herself on the edge of his desk, flicked his forehead, and laughed when he scowled.
He snapped back to reality, glaring at her before shifting his stare to his friends.
"Who the fuck let you idiots into my office," he muttered, rubbing his temples. "And why are you sitting like you own the place."
"Shut up," Adams laughed. "And don't you dare glare at my darling wife to be."
Lilian scrunched her nose, hissing, half embarrassed, her striking blue eyes, large, round, like siren eyes, sparkling with mischief.
Leon, ever the glutton, kept shoveling chips from a gold-plated tray, crumbs falling onto the marble floor, utterly unfazed by the chaos around him.
Kacy leaned back in his chair, jaw tight, irritation simmering beneath the surface.
Beneath it all, though, there was something darker, a weight only he carried, the ache of a man who could conquer the world yet felt powerless to hold the one thing he refused to live without.
His wife.
"Oh, shut up, baby," Lilian huffed, fanning herself with her hands, cheeks burning as she blinked against her laughter.
"No, baby, don't say that. You know we're getting married soon,"
Adam babbled, voice high-pitched and ego inflated, arms outstretched as if demanding a hug.
Lilian just huffed, flipping her hair over her shoulder, her irritation mixing with embarrassment, and hissed sharply.
Kacy let out a low chuckle, amused by their ridiculous, childish bickering.
"Oh! Everyone, silence!" Leon finally announced, mouth stuffed with chips, crumbs cascading over the golden table.
He stretched toward the milkshake and slurped loudly, uncaring and shameless.
Eyes narrowed at him, Lilian hissed, glaring.
Kacy's patience thinned.
Fuck, the man had destroyed the chips and milkshake his wife had specially prepared for him.
He only huffed, rubbing his palms together in restrained annoyance, side-eyeing the chaos with lethal calm.
Adam, disgusted by Leon's manners, tried to intervene, dipping his hand toward the remaining chips.
Too slow. Leon grabbed his hand, dragging and wrestling with him like children over treasure.
Chips flew, crunching under clumsy hands, golden crumbs scattering across the marble.
Lilian glanced at Kacy, silently asking where he'd sourced these two idiots.
Kacy met her gaze, a smirk curling at the corner of his mouth, silently replying : one of these idiots is your man.
Lilian snorted, twitching her face in mock exasperation, voice sharp and playful.
"I'd doubt you wouldn't drag every little thing with our children if we ever get married."
The words struck like a spell.
In the chaos, both Adam and Leon froze, chips suspended mid-air, before gravity took over. Chips tumbled to the ground, covering them in golden crumbs.
Lilian couldn't contain herself any longer.
She burst into a loud, musical laugh, hopping down from her brother's desk with the grace of a predator and the mischief of a siren.
Still giggling, she made her way to the two idiots sprawled on the sofa, paying no mind to Adam, who was now comically covered in chips.
Before anyone could react, she straddled him, sliding onto his lap with a playful sway, her laughter filling the room and her presence impossible to ignore.
Kacy sat nearby, his gaze sharp, calm, dangerous and unyielding, watching the three of them with a mixture of disbelief and restrained irritation.
They didn't even notice him, lost entirely in their foolish antics.
Leon was busy brushing crumbs off himself, muttering curses under his breath, and shooting Adam side-eyes that were half irritation, half amusement.
Adam, oblivious to everything except Lilian, leaned in, pecking her cheeks with tender adoration, entirely deaf to the exasperated groans from Kacy and the curses from Leon.
They were disgusting, ridiculous, and impossibly infuriating, laughing, clinging, flirting, and almost on the verge of making out on his expensive sofa like it was their playground.
Then Kacy's voice cut through the chaos, low, soft, and commanding, carrying the weight of authority and unspoken danger.
"If either of you dare think about making out on my million-dollar sofa…" He paused, smirking evilly, before continuing, his voice low and threatening.
"…even your combined net worth isn't half the money I spent on this. Consider yourselves thrown out. I fucking mean it."
Scoffs and silent hisses followed, everyone well aware that Kacy Lillard's wrath was not to be tested.
Lilian, unbothered, slid off Adam's lap, cat-walking to the chair opposite Kacy, crossing her legs like a model, her teasing smirk daring him.
"Don't tell me you're sulking because your wife isn't here."
Lilian's voice cut through the office like a whip, sharp, playful, and dangerously teasing.
Her siren-blue eyes glittered with mischief as she leaned forward, hands resting on the edge of the desk, the curve of her body commanding attention without effort.
"Let me guess… she went shopping with her friends, leaving you restless, hard, horny and hungering for what you can't have. And here you are, fuming, muttering nonsense, trying to act like a man in control. Oh please… don't blame me for your predicament, big bro. That's all on you."
Her words dripped with teasing venom, each syllable a spark that set the air between them electric, a dangerous dance of humor and provocation, leaving him simultaneously irritated and impossibly alive with dark, unspoken tension.
Adam and Leon gaped. Kacy's smirk darkened as his eyes locked on her, a dangerous edge dancing beneath the amusement.
Lilian knew the look, his glare were like knives and she'd be six feet under if he ever lost control.
"Remind me again, sister, why I call you Miss Annoyance?"
Kacy's voice softened, laughter threading through the low timbre, his lethal gaze finally easing.
Damn, her brother's glare was not to be trifled with.
"Because you secretly love my teases, big bro. And I love my man." Her words lingered, teasing, unapologetic, daring.
Kacy turned to Adam, who was still smiling idiotically, and Leon, still clueless, shaking his head with a laugh.
"Oh, sorry, excuse me? How does 'you definitely love my teases, bro, and I love my man' even relate?" Leon asked, blinking in confusion.
The moment Lilian turned her glare on him, his face drained of color, and he quickly averted his eyes, staring anywhere but at her.
Who wouldn't be terrified of my sister's glares? Kacy thought, chuckling quietly to himself.
"You're so dumb. I guess that's why you're single, foolish boy. Gawd, bro, where did you even drag Leon from? Tell me the truth. Was it the bush or the gutter?" Lilian snapped, her blue eyes blazing like siren lights.
Leon could only give a helpless stink eye, words failing him completely.
Adam and Kacy tried to hold in their laughter, but it escaped at the worst possible time.
One sharp glare from Lilian and they immediately swallowed it back.
"Ouch, that hurt, Miss Annoyance," Leon huffed, throwing her a playful glare.
Lilian hissed softly, thinking to herself how ridiculous her brother's childhood friends were. She had just insulted him, yet he was laughing like a child.
"Enough. I need my fucking privacy," Kacy said calmly.
But that calm was deceptive.
Beneath it lurked something sharp, restless, and dangerously close to snapping.
He was exhausted to the bone.
First, there was the slow unraveling with his wife, the distance in her eyes haunting him more than any enemy ever could.
Then came his useless childhood friends and his sister, bickering like unruly children.
Three problems.
Three relentless headaches pounding at once.
Fuck.
If someone does not fucking tell Edna to bring his wife back home soon, he doubted he would survive another minute without losing his mind. Or his heart.
He muttered a silent prayer, irritation simmering hotter by the second as anger tightened its grip around his chest.
"Or you need your wife's pussy? Which one?" Lilian teased softly, dragging him out of his thoughts.
The fuck. I want to sew this girl's mouth shut.
As if that wasn't enough, his friends started making ridiculous, grating sounds.
Kacy closed his eyes, inhaled slowly, then opened them, fixing the trio with a lethal glare.
"Shut the fuck up, Lily, before I sew your mouth," he scoffed.
His nose reddened, but his eyes remained disturbingly calm.
"You really look like Dad. Calm and collected on the surface, yet bursting with annoyance inside. The only difference is you're not obsessed with money like him. That's why I love you, big bro," Lilian taunted, sarcasm curling through her laughter.
"And you're not different from Mum either. Same manipulative, blackmailing tongue. You just reserve it for teasing me," Kacy shot back, smirking in quiet victory.
Adam and Leon watched in amusement, enjoying the sibling war unfolding before them.
Kacy's victory didn't last long.
Lilian dropped a bomb.
"Is that payback? Seriously, I'm not the one cock blocking you from fucking your wife. Her darling friend is. And honestly, I wouldn't mind. If there was anything I could do to keep your pretty wife longer in the mall, just to watch you suffer, wanting her, needing her, I'd gladly do it."
Adam and Leon made ridiculous cheering sounds, encouraging her as she mercilessly shattered Kacy's ego.
His face burned, irritation flaring hotter.
This was exactly why he could never win against his sister. She was ruthless. Worse, she was right.
He shot his sister a warning glare, letting it linger just long enough to cut.
Then, slowly, a lazy smirk curved his lips.
One sentence.
That was all it took.
Lilian's confidence shattered on the spot, heat flooding her cheeks as she snapped her mouth shut, suddenly very aware of the attention on her.
"Angry?" he asked softly, his eyes glinting with dangerous amusement.
"Or frustrated that I stopped your little romance rendezvous with Adam?"
His eyes gleamed with mischief, dark and knowing.
"Or is it that you need his cock so badly and I deprived you from sucking his cock?"
The words were smooth.
Dangerous.
Deliberate.
A quiet laugh followed, low and lethal.
Leon exploded into laughter, nearly choking as he took in Adam and Lilian's mortified expressions.
Both of them were flushed, stunned into silence.
"Fuck, devil," Leon taunted between laughs.
"You roasted them alive. Look at them."
Kacy mouthed, "Who are you calling a devil?" while throwing Leon a glare.
Leon only grinned wider mouthing "You, the devil".
Kacy laughed, savoring his sister's defeat.
For once, he had won.
The secret was simple.
Stay calm.
Stay calculated.
Let them speak first.
Then strike once and leave nothing but silence behind.
He stopped laughing.
The moment shattered the noise, the teasing, the chaos.
His eyes lifted and found her.
Those intoxicating emerald eyes that had always undone him.
His wife.
She stood at the entrance of his office, her best friend beside her, and suddenly the room belonged to no one else.
Every gaze turned.
Every breath stalled.
She wore a backless satin evening gown, the kind that clung like a whispered sin.
The fabric hugged her curves perfectly, flowing down her body as if it had been designed for no one else but her.
The open back revealed smooth skin that begged for his touch, subtle yet devastating.
Her dark curls cascaded freely down her back, wild and soft, framing her like temptation itself.
And there it was, resting against her skin.
The gold necklace.
The delicate rose pendant he had given her on their honeymoon.
She was still wearing it.
Recently.
His jaw tightened.
She's still wearing it, he thought, heat pooling low in his chest. Fuck. I love that. I fucking want her.
Her face was faintly flushed, betraying her innocence, her embarrassment.
She had heard his laughter.
Felt it.
And now she stood there, eyes locked with his, vulnerable and breathtaking all at once.
The world faded.
Across the room, their stares tangled, heavy with longing, with hunger, with everything left unsaid.
The need between them was raw, visible, almost violent in its silence.
Neither of them moved.
And in that moment, everyone else ceased to exist.