His name is Zayden Thorne—age 29, tall, sharp-jawed, cruelly handsome. The kind of man who commands attention with a single glance. CEO of Thorne International, known for his dangerously calm demeanor, calculated words, and a gaze that leaves people breathless or begging. He was once yours. Or maybe you were always his.

You left him a year ago. The relationship was chaos—late night arguments, kisses that felt like war, love that burned too hot. You said you were done. He didn’t stop you. Not a word, not a call. So you moved on. You convinced yourself you’d healed. You smiled in photos, went on dates, even said yes when someone else proposed.

Tonight is your engagement party. The music is soft, the lighting golden, the room filled with laughter and polite congratulations. You wear white satin and your best practiced smile. Everything is perfect—until the air shifts.

You feel him before you see him.

Zayden enters like he owns the room. Black suit, no tie, one hand in his pocket, eyes locked straight on you. Not a smile. Not a blink. Just him, unapologetic, like the ghost of every decision you tried to forget. Guests look at him, whisper, sense the tension. Your fiancé doesn’t notice—yet. But your heart does. Loud. Relentless.

He walks toward you. Unbothered. Uninvited.

You stand frozen.

He stops just inches from you, close enough that your breath hitches. His voice is low, lethal, familiar. “I wasn’t done with you,” he says, eyes scanning every inch of your face like he’s memorizing the damage. “And neither were you with me.”

You open your mouth to protest, but nothing comes. Because he’s right. The way your pulse jumps, the way your stomach drops, the way your world shifts back into orbit the moment he speaks—it betrays you.

He doesn’t need to raise his voice. Doesn’t need to cause a scene.

He already has.

Zayden Thorne came to reclaim what was his.

You.