Maya's POV

The message haunted me.

“We need to talk”.

Two simple sentences that set my heart into a wild, rebellious rhythm. I had stared at my phone long after the screen had faded, long after my mind had whispered all the reasons I had to ignore him. But none of them did.

Because there was only one person who would dare to send me something like that.

Gabriel.

The man I shouldn't even consider… much less desire.

Yet my dumb heart had it own way of setting me up.

I should have stayed at home that night!

I wanted to feel something that night and somehow the universe answered my prayers in a cruel way by making me feel loved, needed , wanted and desired by the one man who will eventually turn out to be my mother’s finance and my future step father.

My eyes landed on the text.

“What should I say?”

“Should I text back?”

I said nothing. I had no need to. My silence was answer enough. I knew him well enough now — his silence said more than his words ever could. He wouldn't ask me again. He wouldn't beg.

No, Gabriel was the type of man who waited — waited for me to break first. The type who will watch me shake and shake till I am unable to bear the pressure anymore .

And I did.

The second night arrived earlier than I was ready for. The sun had barely set before I was sitting across from him again at a family dinner I could barely eat. The laughter, the casual conversation, Olivia's gentle voice floating through the dining room — it was all a blur beneath the suffocating weight of his presence.

He sat beside her, dressed in the kind of tailored black suit that made him look devastating and untouchable. He played the role to perfection — the calm, charming fiancé. The mask of control was second nature to him.

But beneath… I could feel him watching me.

Every glance. Every subtle shift of his position. The way his jaw tightened each time my voice became part of the conversation. The way his thumb brushed against the rim of his glass absent-mindedly — a gesture I should've ignored but couldn't because I remembered what that thumb felt like gliding down my bare back. Gliding down my core as I begged him to make me release.

I forced myself to look away, pretending to be hearing Olivia talk about the wedding plans she was so excited about.

But he wasn't pretending.

Gabriel reached across the table at one point — a casual, thoughtless movement — to pour Olivia's glass full of wine. And somehow… his hand brushed my wrist in the process.

Just the lightest touch. Bare skin on skin.

But it set my nerves on fire. My breath caught, the sensation lingering long after he had pulled back.

It wasn't accidental.

None of this was.

He did it on purpose.

To tease me.

To remind me that he owns me and knows how my body works in a way that only he knows.

I could feel the game unraveling between us — a slow, deliberate dance in which every glance, every surreptitious touch, had a warning implicit in it.

By the time dinner was finished, my heartbeat was throbbing in my throat. I vowed that I would slip out unnoticed, escape before I did something I would regret. But I should have known better.

He was waiting already.

He was waiting for me and I do not have a way out, unless of course I’d opt for a full blown scene where all dirty linens will be brought and washed in public.

I had just stepped into the quiet hallway outside the dining room when his voice cut through the air — low, controlled… deadly.

"One last time."

Three words.

Spoken like an order. Like a proposition shrouded in darkness.

My body stiffened — my hand tightening at my side, my heart breaking into something fragile and desperate. I didn't turn around right away. I was afraid that if I did… I wouldn't survive the look in his eyes.

But I could feel him behind me.

Close.

Too close.

His presence was gravity, impossible to resist. I could hear the soft tick of his controlled breathing, feel the heat of his gaze scraping down the bared curve of my neck.

I should have said no.

I should have reminded him of who he was — of who I was.

But the words died inside me.

Because some secrets didn't stay buried.

Some temptations didn't get cold.

Slowly… deliberately… I turned.

And there he was.

Gabriel — the man I should hate, the man I should be afraid of — standing in the shadows as though he were a part of them.

His eyes met mine — dark, inscrutable — and yet burning with something so primitive it managed to steal the air from my lungs.

"This is wrong." I whispered — to myself rather than him.

A gentle, knowing smile curled his lips — the kind that had my knees wanting to buckle.

"I never said I'd play fair, Maya."

My name was foreboding from his mouth — idolizing and slashing in the same instance.

I hadn't realized I was holding my breath until he stepped closer — slow, tolerant — his restraint subtle but crushing. He didn't touch me. He had no need to. His nearness wrapped around me like silk and steel at once.

My heart thudded against my ribs, my body paralyzed on the floor like prey caught in a hunter's snare.

I hated the power he had over me.

I hated how much he knew he had that power over me.

I hated even more how much I wanted to surrender to it.

Silence stretched between us — thick, tense, charged.

And then… I stepped.

Towards him.

Into the danger.

Into the arms of the one man I had no business craving.

I didn't look back.

I couldn't.

Because I already knew — once I followed him into the darkness…

There would be no turning back.