The night air is crisp, biting at your skin as you stand before the massive wrought-iron gates. Beyond them, the mansion looms, its towering presence as cold and untouchable as the man who lives inside.

“The devil doesn’t settle.”

Your best friend’s words echo in your mind, a warning you once took to heart. Everyone knew who Adrian Wolfe was—powerful, untouchable, dangerously charismatic. Nobody was truly close to him, yet he was always at the center of everything.

And once—just once—you got too close.

A single night, a mistake you walked away from. Or at least, you thought you had. But the little girl in your arms is proof that you never really left that night behind. She has his dark eyes, his sharp features, a quiet intensity that is all him.

For a whole year, you convinced yourself it was better this way. That Adrian wasn’t the kind of man who could be a father. That you could do this on your own. But every day, you see how much your daughter needs him.

And now, here you are.

Your hand trembles as you press the doorbell.

Seconds later, the door swings open, and there he stands—Adrian Wolfe, just as devastating as you remember. The sharp cut of his jaw, the piercing gaze that locks onto you instantly.

For a moment, silence stretches between you. Then his eyes drop, landing on the small girl in your arms.