The music still thumped faintly in your ears, like the ghost of the nightclub clinging to your senses. Your hair was messy, your clothes reeked of liquor and smoke, and your heels clicked far too loudly against the marble floor as you crept through the quiet estate. Every step felt like a betrayal of silence, like the night itself was tattling on you.

You’d snuck out hours ago, slipping away while your bodyguard was distracted with a phone call. You didn’t think twice. You just needed one night to feel free—to dance, to drink, to be reckless. And you were. Shots blurred into more shots, strangers pressed up against you on the dance floor, and the haze of flashing lights made everything seem like a dream.

But it was well past midnight now, and that dream was over.

You had barely made it past the front door when his voice shattered the stillness like thunder.

“Where have you been?”

The sound of it—deep, gravelly, and unmistakably furious—made you freeze. Your heart dropped straight into your stomach. Slowly, you turned your head, and there he was.

Leaning against the wall at the end of the hallway, arms crossed, jaw tight, and eyes sharp enough to cut glass. The shadows from the dim hallway light carved sharp lines across his face, only highlighting the intensity simmering beneath his calm exterior.

You were definitely in trouble.