Chapter 3 First stroke

Elena woke to the unfamiliar sound of silence-no dripping faucet, no shouting neighbors, no sirens wailing at 3 a.m. For a moment she forgot where she was. Then memory flooded back: the advance from Alexander Hale had hit her account yesterday. Fifty percent upfront-one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. She'd stared at the bank app for a full minute, convinced it was a glitch.

By noon she'd paid three months' rent in advance, cleared the overdue utilities, and sent a payment toward her mother's lingering medical debt. The rest she left untouched, terrified to spend it until the contract felt real.

Now, two days later, she stood in the cavernous executive lobby of Hale Enterprises at 7 a.m., the building still half-asleep. Security had let her in with a nod; Alexander's assistant had emailed a permanent access badge the night before.

The space was breathtaking. Forty-foot ceilings, polished concrete floors, and an entire wall of glass overlooking the East River. Natural light poured in, perfect for painting. Construction tarps still covered sections where the final touches were being added, but the bones of the building were stunning-cold, modern, masculine. Exactly like its owner.

She'd brought only the essentials today: a rolled blank canvas twelve feet wide, her paints, brushes, ladders, and drop cloths. The rest of her supplies would be delivered later. She wore old overalls splattered with years of color, hair twisted up in a messy bun, no makeup. This was her battlefield attire.

Elena unrolled the canvas against the largest blank wall, securing it with painter's tape. Her heart raced with a mix of excitement and nerves. This was the biggest surface she'd ever worked on. One mistake and it would cost thousands to replace.

She stepped back, studying the expanse of white. The theme had been swirling in her mind since signing the contract: fracture and rebirth. Shattered pieces reforming into something stronger. It felt dangerously personal, but it was the only truth she knew how to paint.

Music on-low, pulsing instrumentals through her wireless earbuds-she began.

The first stroke was always sacred. A wide brush loaded with deep indigo swept across the lower left corner, bold and unafraid. Then crimson bleeding into it, violent and passionate. She lost track of time, moving with the rhythm of the piece, layering texture with palette knives, flicking flecks of gold leaf that caught the morning light.

Hours blurred. Sweat beaded on her forehead. Her arms ached from reaching high on the ladder. But the wall was coming alive under her hands-dark chaos giving way to veins of light pushing through cracks.

She didn't hear the elevator arrive.

Didn't notice the footsteps until a prickle of awareness ran down her spine.

Elena turned, brush mid-air, and froze.

Alexander Hale stood ten feet away, hands in the pockets of a charcoal suit, watching her with undivided intensity. No tie today, top button undone, revealing a hint of tanned skin at his throat. He looked like he'd been there a while.

She pulled out her earbuds. "You're early."

"It's my building," he said, voice low, almost intimate in the vast space. His gaze flicked from her to the canvas and back. "I wanted to see you work."

Elena's stomach flipped. She'd specifically asked for no hovering. "I said I prefer to paint alone."

"You did." He didn't move closer, but didn't leave either. "I'm not interfering. Just observing."

She wiped her hands on a rag, suddenly self-conscious about the paint on her cheek, the strands of hair escaping her bun. "It's messy at this stage. Nothing to see yet."

"I disagree."

He stepped forward slowly, eyes on the canvas now. Up close, the piece was even more visceral-thick impasto ridges, drips frozen mid-fall, colors warring and blending. Alexander studied it like he studied boardroom opponents: thoroughly, searching for weakness and strength.

"It's violent," he said finally.

Elena bristled. "Art doesn't have to be pretty."

"No," he murmured. "It has to be honest. This is."

He turned to her, and the air shifted. "You're honest, Elena. Even covered in paint and glaring at me."

She laughed despite herself-a short, surprised sound. "I'm not glaring."

"Your eyes are." Amusement warmed his voice. "But you're also glowing. I've never seen anyone look so... alive."

Heat rose in her cheeks. She busied herself cleaning a brush to hide it. "Painting is the only time the noise in my head quiets down."

Alexander nodded like he understood more than he should. Silence stretched, not uncomfortable, but charged. He walked the length of the wall, taking in every detail.

Finally he spoke again. "The board meets on this floor next week. They'll see this in progress."

Elena's stomach dropped. "And?"

"They'll hate it." A faint smile. "Which means it's perfect."

She exhaled. "You're not like most corporate clients."

"No," he agreed. "Most corporate clients don't get paint permanently splashed across their chest and decide they want more."

The memory of their collision flashed between them-the rain, the ruined shirt, the spark. Elena looked away first.

"You kept it," she said quietly. "The shirt."

He didn't deny it. "Some stains are worth keeping."

Her pulse stuttered. Dangerous territory.

She cleared her throat. "I should get back to work."

Alexander inclined his head. "I'll leave you to it. But Elena?"

She met his gaze.

"I'll be back tomorrow. And the day after. Consider it part of the deal."

He walked toward the elevator, every step measured. Just before the doors opened, he paused.

"For the record," he said without turning, "you're breathtaking when you're lost in your art."

The doors closed.

Elena stood rooted to the spot, brush dripping indigo onto the drop cloth. Her skin tingled where his eyes had been.

She told herself it was nothing. Just a rich man's passing fascination with the struggling artist he'd hired.

But as she turned back to the canvas, her next stroke was bolder, deeper-crimson slashing through the dark like a confession.

Across the river, in his office thirty floors up, Alexander stared at the security feed he absolutely should not have been watching. The lobby camera showed her alone again, moving with that fierce grace, paint flying.

He closed the feed before temptation won.

Elena Vasquez was going to unravel him.

And he was going to let her.

One dangerous stroke at a time.