Chapter 1 - The Two-Week Contract
She blinked. “What?”
“Two weeks,” Adrien Varelli repeated.
His voice was a low rumble, completely devoid of the rage she had expected.
He looked at his wrist, then back at her wide, exhausted eyes.
“You need surgery for your grandmother. You need money you cannot earn pouring coffee and folding laundry. I need something, too.”
Lena’s heart hammered against her ribs. “What do you need?”
“Sleep.”
The word hung in the air, absurd and heavy.
One of the guards behind him shifted, shooting his boss a look of pure shock. Adrien ignored him.
“My assistant will wire the funds to Rush University Medical Center first thing in the morning,” Adrien said, buttoning his suit jacket with mechanical precision. “Every cent. The surgery. The private recovery suite. The best specialists in Illinois.”
Lena’s breath hitched. “Why would you do that?”
“Because for the next two weeks, you work directly for me.”
“Doing what?”
“Sitting,” he said flatly. “In a chair. Next to me.”
He stepped closer. The scent of bergamot, expensive leather, and cold night air surrounded her.
“You touched me, Miss Reyes. People who touch me usually lose the hand they did it with. But when you did it… the noise stopped.”
He didn’t explain what the noise was. He didn’t have to. The dark, bruising circles under his own eyes told a story of a man who ruled the night because he could never escape it.
“Two weeks,” Adrien stated. “You move into my penthouse. You are available when I require rest. You ask no questions about my business. When the fourteen days are over, your grandmother is cured, your debts are cleared, and you walk away.”
Lena thought of the hospital monitors. The pale skin of the woman who had raised her.
She looked at the dangerous man standing before her.
May you like
“Okay,” she whispered.
Adrien nodded once. “Pack your things. The car waits outside.”
