LOVE DIDN'T ASK FOR PERMISSION

Chapter one

Paris, 9:03 a.m.

The morning crowd was restless at Café Aurelia. Trays clinked, espresso machines hissed, and footsteps echoed across the marble floor. Arianna Moretti balanced a silver tray with one hand and Leo's tiny schoolbag over her shoulder.

She was running late. Again.

"Excusez-moi!" she whispered, slipping through the sea of patrons. Her curly hair was pinned up in a messy bun, a tired smile glued to her lips.

Just one more table, she told herself. One more, and then she could drop Leo at school and clock in for her night job.

But fate had a cruel sense of humor.

A tall man in a dark Armani suit strode in, eyes locked on his phone. Arianna turned the corner.

CRASH.

Cappuccino met couture.

Hot coffee drenched the man's chest and expensive tie. Arianna gasped, frozen in place.

He looked up, slow and venomous. Jet black hair. Ice-blue eyes. Rage coiled in every sharp line of his face.

"Do you even know how to walk?" he snapped in a crisp Italian accent.

Arianna swallowed hard. "I'm so sorry, sir. I-"

He held up a hand. "Don't speak. You've ruined a ten-thousand-euro suit. Do you know who I am?"

She didn't.

But Paris did.

Dante Romano. Billionaire. Oil tycoon. Cold-blooded CEO. The man who could bankrupt your soul with one look.

The café manager rushed over. "Monsieur Romano! I sincerely apologize. She's new. She-"

"Fire her," Dante said flatly.

Arianna's knees buckled.

"Please," she whispered, eyes darting to the schoolbag Leo had dropped nearby. "I need this job."

Dante's gaze flickered to the cartoon bag. A child.

He turned away.

Hours later, drenched in rain, Arianna clocked in for her night shift-at Romano Industries.

And guess who walked past her with a scowl?