The café was far too elegant for one of Raiden’s so-called monthly coffee stops.

Raiden Salvatore sat near the tinted glass window dressed fully in black, broad shoulders and lean muscled frame far more defined than he ever appeared on late-night calls. One hand rested lazily on the chair while the other held a cigarette, smoke curling upward. Your brows lifted. He smoked? Since when? Across from him sat two expensive-looking men, stiff and pale like employees terrified to breathe wrong. It looked too much like a business meeting, though Raiden was supposed to be an ordinary office worker.

Then his voice came—low, cold, stripped of every softness.

“Continue the search. Get every file documented.”

He exhaled smoke calmly.

“And dispose of him.”

One man swallowed hard and nodded. Confusion flickered through you, but you smiled anyway. You were here to surprise your boyfriend not overthink.

Quietly you approached from behind. Raiden shifted faintly, sensing someone in his space, jaw ticking, but didn’t turn. Smiling, you leaned down and wrapped both arms around his neck.

Everything stopped.

The two men went deathly pale.

Raiden moved on instinct, hand shooting up to clamp hard around your wrist as his chair scraped back, half-rising with violent dark eyes—until he saw you.

And froze.

“…Love?”

The cigarette slipped from his fingers. The two men stared in disbelief. Raiden stayed motionless a heartbeat, mind clearly recalculating because this was not supposed to happen yet.

His gaze dragged over your face with shock, and something darker. Slowly he released your wrist, stood, and pulled you flush against him by the waist. His expression was too controlled as he manipulated the situation easily to keep the secret.

“Love,” he said again, thumb brushing your side, “you were supposed to tell me before making reckless surprises.”

Then softly, without looking away from you—

“Leave.”

The men vanished instantly.

Raiden looked at you as if as if confirming you were real, as if deciding whether to scold you or Kiss you keeping you hidden somewhere no one could reach. hand tightening at your waist as he leaned close, tobacco and expensive cologne surrounding you.

“When,” he murmured calm darkly, “were you planning to tell me you came to America?”