Marked by His Shadows

The city never slept-but tonight, it felt like it was holding its breath.

From the rooftop of the towering Vale Corporation building, Lila Moore looked down at the glittering chaos of midnight Manhattan. Taxi horns, neon lights, the faint thump of a bassline from a nightclub blocks away-it all blurred into white noise. She clutched her coat tighter around her, but it wasn't the wind that chilled her to the bone.

It was the feeling that something was watching.

Not from the streets below.

From the shadows themselves.

She had followed clues across three states, piecing together her mother's final months like a broken mirror-shards of journals, newspaper clippings, and one name scrawled in red ink over and over again: Adrian Vale.

A name that opened doors-and shut mouths. A billionaire recluse with no social presence, no public image, and no trace of a personal life. People spoke of him like a myth, as if he didn't quite belong in the real world. As if he existed in the space between truth and nightmare.

Now here she was.

Standing on the edge of his empire.

Challenging a ghost.

Her hand trembled as she reached for the silver chain around her neck and pulled the pendant free. Inside was the final thing her mother had given her-a small torn page from an old book, covered in strange symbols. She still didn't know what it meant. Only that the night her mother died, she had whispered a single sentence before the light left her eyes:

"Don't let him find you."

But Lila had come anyway.

Because two days ago, a strange mark had appeared on her collarbone. Pale at first, almost invisible. Then it began to burn. To glow. As if it were responding to something-or someone.

The moment she stepped foot in New York, it flared to life.

And now... it pulsed.

She could feel it responding to the building beneath her feet.

To him.

A sudden gust of wind sent her hair whipping across her face-and then, behind her, the faint click of a rooftop door opening.

Lila turned, every muscle locking into place.

He stepped out of the shadows like he owned them.

Tall. Immaculate. His dark suit molded perfectly to a body built from quiet power. And those eyes-sharp, silver-gray like stormclouds over ice-landed on her with the weight of a predator.

Adrian Vale.

The name didn't do him justice. He was beautiful in the way a thunderstorm was-cold, wild, and capable of destruction.

"You're trespassing," he said, voice low and smooth.

Lila's heart hammered, but her voice held. "You're exactly what I expected."

"And you're not what I expected at all."

He came closer, unhurried, each step deliberate. "I don't like uninvited guests, Miss..."

"Moore," she answered. "Lila Moore."

His gaze sharpened. "Moore."

Her chin lifted. "My mother's name was Helena Moore. Maybe you knew her."

"I don't know anyone by that name."

"She knew you. She wrote about you. She died afraid of you."

Something flickered across his face-almost too quick to catch. But it was there. A ghost of memory. Guilt? Recognition?

Then his gaze dropped to her exposed collarbone.

To the mark.

Lila inhaled sharply as it flared-faint, but unmistakable. A crescent of light etched into her skin, glowing as he looked at it. It felt warm. Alive.

"She had this too," Lila whispered. "Only hers never glowed. Not like mine does when I'm near you."

Adrian stepped closer. "That's not possible."

"I didn't ask if it was."

His hand shot out and caught her wrist before she could move. Not hard. But with enough force to let her know escape was impossible.

His eyes glowed faintly now.

Silver.

Not natural. Not human.

"That mark," he said quietly, "belongs to me."

"What?"

"No one else could brand you with that. It's old magic. Ancient. Blood-bound. Only I can mark someone like this. And I haven't touched you."

"Then explain it."

He didn't answer.

Because he couldn't.

Instead, his hand rose, fingers hovering just above the glowing symbol. The moment he got close, the mark pulsed again-hot and insistent-and Lila gasped as a sensation shot through her chest like fire and ice at once.

"It's responding to you," she said.

"No," he replied. "It's claiming you."

Lila jerked away, stumbling back. "No. I don't belong to anyone."

Adrian's gaze followed her. And for a split second, something vulnerable cracked through his carefully guarded exterior.

"That's what you think."