Chapter 1 THE BAR AND THE STRANGER

Fiona Greystone had never believed silence could wound until that night. Her apartment smelled of cinnamon candles and betrayal. She stood frozen in the doorway, her gift bag falling from her hand as Damon's laugh carried from the bedroom low, intimate, wrong.

"Damon?" Her voice cracked.

A muffled gasp followed, then movement. Fiona pushed open the door and time fractured. Sheets tangled. Skin. Harper Quinn's perfume in the air, her best friend.

"Fiona, wait" Damon stumbled up, shame flooding his face.

"Don't," she cut in, trembling. "Just don't."

Harper pulled the sheet to her chest, eyes wide with guilt. Fiona's pulse roared in her ears. She wanted to scream, to demand answers, but all that came was a brittle laugh. "You could've at least changed the sheets first."

Damon reached for her. "It meant nothing"

The slap cracked through the air. "It meant everything," she whispered.

She walked out barefoot, mascara streaking, rain slicing the night as if the sky wept for her. Her car engine coughed to life, headlights slicing through wet streets. Her hands shook on the wheel, but her eyes were dry.

"No more tears," she muttered to herself. "Never again."

But even as she said it, her voice broke, and something in her heart unraveled completely.

The Velvet Lounge pulsed with low jazz and dim amber light. Fiona pushed through the door, the storm still clinging to her like perfume. She looked out of place among the silk dresses and tailored suits with damp hair, lipstick smudged, and soul cracked open.

The bartender gave her a sympathetic look. "Rough night?"

"Just keep them coming."

He slid her a bourbon, no questions asked. She swallowed it in one gulp, grimacing. "Another."

By her third, the room swayed. Men glanced her way, some with hunger, others with pity. She ignored them all until he appeared.

A tall man in a charcoal suit, posture regal, eyes cold and unreadable. He sat beside her without asking. The scent of cedar and smoke brushed against her senses.

"You look like you're trying to forget something worth remembering," he said quietly.

She turned, startled. "And you look like a man who thinks too much of himself."

He smiled faintly. "Maybe. But I'm not wrong."

She studied him, the sharp jawline, the watch that gleamed under the light. There was power in the way he spoke, danger wrapped in calm.

"Then buy me a drink," she challenged.

He lifted a finger. The bartender nodded instantly.

As the glass slid between them, his gaze never wavered. It was the kind of stare that could undo a person if they weren't careful.

Fiona took the drink, smirked, and whispered, "Careful, stranger. I bite."

"Good," he murmured. "So do I."

They moved to a corner booth, away from the noise. The jazz had turned softer, almost mournful.

"So," he said, studying her. "Who broke you?"

"Who says I'm broken?" she fired back.

He arched a brow. "You drink like a woman who's bleeding inside."

She looked down at her glass. "You talk like a man who thinks he knows pain."

"I do," he replied. His tone was flat, almost haunted.

"Lucky you," she muttered. "Mine has a name."

"Let me guess, Damon?"

Her eyes snapped to him. "How did you"

"Your phone lit up twice with his name. I turned it face down. You don't need ghosts tonight."

Her lips parted, a protest dying on her tongue. "That was presumptuous."

He shrugged. "So stop me."

Instead, she laughed softly. "You're impossible."

"And yet you're still here."

Their words tangled, each one more dangerous than the last. There was something about him that drew her closer even when her instincts screamed run.

"What's your name?" she asked.

He leaned in, voice low. "Does it matter?"

"Only if I plan to remember tonight."

"Then don't."

The air between them thickened.

She hesitated, breath shallow. "You're trouble, aren't you?"

"Only for people who lie to themselves," he said.

She met his gaze, defiance flickering. "Then maybe I deserve trouble."

He smiled then, slow and knowing. "You could stay angry or you could stay with me."

Rain still fell when they stepped out into the night. She didn't remember agreeing to go with him, only the warmth of his hand guiding hers.

The Covington Grand rose like a cathedral of glass and gold. Inside, everything smelled of money and restraint.

"Are you sure?" he asked as the elevator doors closed.

"No," she breathed. "But I don't care."

His lips curved. "Good answer."

The suite was vast, quiet, too clean for what followed. He poured her another drink. She took it, trembling, their fingers brushing. Electricity, sharp and reckless.

"You don't have to do this," he said, voice low.

"Neither do you."

He looked at her for a long moment before touching her cheek. "You're shaking."

"I don't do this," she confessed.

"I can tell."

Then he kissed her, it wasn't gentle nor was it rough.

It was the kiss of a man trying to forget, the kiss of a woman trying to feel alive again.

The city glowed outside the windows, a blurred constellation of secrets. The night folded around them, slow and inevitable.

Later, she lay against him, half-drunk, half-dreaming. "Tell me your name," she whispered.

He hesitated. "Don't ask who I am."

Her heart skipped. "Why?"

"Because you'll wish you hadn't."

Sunlight cut through the curtains, sharp and unforgiving. Fiona stirred, her head heavy. The sheets were cool beside her, he was gone.

She sat up slowly, every movement a reminder of last night's madness. Her dress lay on the chair, her shoes at odd angles near the door.

"God, what did I do?" she whispered.

The silence gave no answer.

She noticed the watch on the nightstand. Sleek. Silver. Engraved: P.H. Enterprises.

Her pulse stuttered. Everyone in Covington knew that name, the empire that owned half the skyline.

She stood, clutching the sheet. The echo of his voice replayed in her mind. Don't ask who I am.

She stared at the watch, realization dawning cold and slow.

"Preston Hale," she breathed. The name tasted like danger.

She pressed a hand to her lips, caught between disbelief and dread. "What have I done?"

The sound of a door clicking shut behind her snapped her back to the moment.

And in that fragile silence, Fiona knew her life had just collided with a man powerful enough to ruin it or save it.