Rain pounded New York like a punishment. It didn't drizzle it drenched. Thunder growled low, as if the sky itself was angry.And so was she.Leigh paced the cheap hotel room like a ghost trapped in its own memory. Every creak of the floor reminded her she didn't belong here. Every second ticked by like the echo of everything she was trying to forget his hands, his voice, his face when she left.Three days.Three days in hiding.She hadn't called her friends. She hadn't dared check the headlines. She didn't want to know what they were calling her now The Mistress. The Temptress. The Scandal. She stood in front of the mirror and looked at herself like a stranger. Dark circles beneath her eyes. Dry lips. An ache in her chest that refused to leave.There was a time Damian's name would have made her smile.Now it made her knees weak in a way that wasn't romantic.It was exhaustion.She closed her eyes. But he was there. Always.Damian Cain. The man who ruined her and kissed her after. Across the city, the Cain Tower loomed like a monument to pride.Inside the glass-paneled war room, the board was slicing him up in polite pieces."She's a liability," said Marlowe, the oldest and loudest."You're bleeding PR, Mr. Cain," added Deborah. "We've had three investors pull out.""And what do you want me to do?" Damian asked, his voice a calm laced with venom."Make a public statement. Apologize. Disown the relationship."Damian leaned forward. "I don't apologize for telling the truth.""What truth?" Marlowe snapped."That I want her more than this goddamn building."Silence.Then You're unfit to lead."Damian stood. Adjusted his cufflinks."I built this company. Brick by brick. If you think I'll hand it over because you're scared of a woman ""She's not just a woman. She's your weakness."He smiled coldly. "She's the only thing keeping me human."He left the room.Phone in hand.He would find her.Even if it killed him. Leigh barely slept that night. Her dreams were tangled and hot, flashing with fragments of memory.The way he'd looked at her in Paris. The way he touched her in the elevator. The way he'd said her name like it hurt.She woke up sweating.Cursing herself for missing him.That was when the knock came.She froze.Waited.Another knock.She crept to the door and peeked through the spyhole.Her breath caught.Damian.Hair soaked from the rain. Eyes darker than night. A bruise just forming on his jaw.She opened the door slowly."Don't," she whispered.He didn't move."I thought you hated me.""I did," he said, voice hoarse. "Until I realized I hated being without you more."She let the door swing open."I'm not yours.""You were never mine to own. But I was always yours."She punched his chest once.Then again.Then pulled him in. The room filled with heat before a word was spoken.He kissed her slowly at first. Worshipfully.She kissed him back like she needed to bleed the pain out.Clothes were shed like regret. Buttons snapped. Zippers hissed. Her breath came short as he lifted her onto the dresser and sank to his knees.His tongue found her like he'd been dreaming of her.She arched. Moaned. Gripped his hair.He stood. Lifted her.Pressed her against the wall.Entered her.And it wasn't slow.It was possession.Redemption.They didn't come together. They shattered.And when it was done, she held him like he was the only thing real."I'm scared," she whispered."So am I," he said."But I'm here."The next morning, she woke to silence.No Damian.Just a note: "Don't run. Meet me tonight."
Night fell with a hush that didn't belong in New York.Leigh stood in the hallway of his penthouse, wearing a black dress that fit too well for someone who was supposed to be invisible. Her heels echoed on the marble as she stepped into the lion's den.He hadn't told her what this was. Just the note: Meet me tonight. She didn't know if it was closure or combustion.She didn't care.She'd come to see if the man she once loved still existed behind those cold, burning eyes.The door opened before she could knock.Damian stood in a black suit, no tie, sleeves rolled. His hair was damp from a shower, his jaw freshly shaved. His eyes? God. His eyes told her she was the reason he hadn't slept in days.Neither of them spoke.She stepped in.He shut the door.Silence.Then "You look like sin," he said.She tilted her head. "You look like punishment."He smiled.But it didn't reach his eyes."I didn't bring you here for sex.""Then why?""I want you to know what I'm giving up."He led her to the living room.Documents spread across the table.Papers of transfer. Stock dumps. Resignations."What is this?""I'm stepping down."She froze."From Cain Industries?""Yes.""Why?""Because you'll never be safe if I stay."She turned to him."You think I want you to throw everything away?""I think you don't want to be a shadow. Or a scandal. Or a dirty secret.""You're not listening.""I am," he whispered. "I've been listening since the moment I watched you walk away."Tears welled.She stepped closer.Slapped the papers off the table."You don't get to make this decision without me.""It's already done.""Why?"He looked at her like she was the only air in the room."Because I'd rather have you and nothing else… than everything without you."She broke.Grabbed his face.Kissed him.Like she needed to make sure he was real.He kissed her back.Lifted her again.Carried her to the couch.Pushed the dress up.Tore her panties.His mouth was savage.She cried out.Clutched at him.Rode the edge of oblivion.He entered her like he was starving.They didn't speak.Just felt.Moved.Burned.When they collapsed into each other again, sweaty and shaking, she pressed her forehead to his."I never asked you to give up your throne.""You didn't have to," he said. "I did it for me. Because I wanted to be the kind of man worthy of you.""I loved you before the crown."He touched her cheek."And I'll love you after it." Them next morning, headlines screamed. "Cain Resigns to Protect Mistress!" "Romance or Ruin? Billionaire CEO Steps Down for Love" But she didn't care.Because they were no longer secrets.They were survivors.They were in love.And they were free.