Chapter 3 SHADOW AND SILK

The gala was a sea of excess that Elena was only meant to navigate from the shoreline.

For the three days leading up to the Vane Foundation Gala, the building had been a hive of frantic activity. Elena had seen Julian only in passing-glimpses of him through glass partitions, surrounded by men in charcoal suits. He looked like a king preparing for a siege, his expression unreadable, his eyes never straying toward the girl with the mop.

Yet, every night when she reached his desk, she found a small sign that he knew she had been there. A single peppermint sitting on a coaster. A window left cracked so she could feel the evening breeze. He wasn't speaking to her with words, but the atmosphere in the office felt like a low-voltage wire, humming beneath her feet.

On the night of the event, the atrium was transformed. Thousands of white orchids hung from the ceiling, their scent so thick it was almost cloying. Elena was assigned to the "Rapid Response" team-meaning she stayed out of sight until someone dropped a canapé or spilled a drink.

She stood in the service corridor, watching through the crack of a door. The music was a lush, sweeping orchestral arrangement that made her feel smaller than usual.

Then, she saw him.

Julian was standing near the center of the room, holding a glass of scotch he hadn't touched. He looked devastating. The black velvet of his dinner jacket caught the light, and his hair was brushed back, exposing the sharp, aristocratic lines of his face. He was talking to a woman in a gown of shimmering silver, but his posture was stiff. He looked bored. He looked... lonely.

Elena shifted her weight, and her bucket made a tiny, plastic clink.

Across the crowded room, through a forest of tuxedoes and silk gowns, Julian's head snapped toward the service door. It was an animal instinct. He didn't see her-she was hidden in the dark-but he felt the shift in the air. His eyes narrowed, searching the shadows, ignoring the woman speaking to him.

Elena backed away, her heart thumping against her ribs like a trapped bird.

An hour later, the "Rapid Response" call came.

A waiter had clipped the corner of a table near the VIP lounge. Red wine-a vintage Bordeaux-had bloomed across the white marble like a bloodstain.

Elena stepped out, her head bowed, her navy jumpsuit a jarring bruise against the elegance of the room. She felt the weight of a hundred gazes, none of them seeing her as a human, only as a tool. She knelt, her movements efficient, spraying the stone and dabbing at the deep red liquid.

"Watch the shoes, dear," a woman laughed, pulling her satin hem away. "That's more expensive than your year."

Elena didn't look up. She focused on the rhythm of her work. Clean. Wipe. Disappear.

But then, the air around her changed. The temperature seemed to rise, and the scent of expensive cedarwood and cold rain cut through the orchids. A pair of hand-stitched leather shoes appeared in her peripheral vision. They didn't move away. They stopped inches from her hand.

"That's enough," a voice said.

It was Julian. His voice wasn't loud, but it had a gravity that pulled the attention of everyone nearby.

Elena looked up, her pulse jumping. He was looking down at her, his expression a mask of controlled intensity. He wasn't helping her up-that would be too much, too soon-but he was standing over her, a silent, towering shield against the whispers of the crowd.

"I have to finish the stain, Mr. Vane," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the cello.

"The marble can wait," he said. He didn't reach for her, but he shifted his body, blocking the view of the woman who had insulted her. It was a subtle, powerful act of protection.

Julian leaned down, ostensibly to check the progress of the cleaning. But as he hovered over her, the distance between them vanished. Elena could feel the heat radiating from him. She could see the pulse thrumming in his neck, just above his stiff white collar.

His hand came down, resting on the edge of the table she was cleaning. His fingers were so close to hers that if she moved an inch, she would touch him.

"You shouldn't be out here," he murmured, his eyes fixed on the red stain, though he was clearly speaking only to her.

"It's my job," she replied, her breath hitching as he leaned a fraction closer.

"I don't like them looking at you," he said. His voice was a low, rough vibration that made the hair on her arms stand up. "I don't like the way they don't see you."

For a long, agonizing second, the gala around them faded. There was only the scent of his skin, the heat of his presence, and the dangerous, magnetic pull of a man who was looking at a cleaner as if she were the only thing in the room worth noticing.

His thumb moved, just a ghost of a gesture, dragging slowly across the polished wood of the table toward her hand. It didn't make contact, but the tension was so thick it felt like a physical touch.

"Julian?" The woman in silver appeared behind him, her voice sharp with suspicion. "Is there a problem?"

Julian didn't flinch. He took a slow, deliberate breath, his eyes lingering on Elena's face for one heartbeat too long before he finally straightened up. The cold air rushed back in, making Elena shiver.

"No problem, Claire," Julian said, his voice turning back to ice. "Just ensuring the staff has what they need."

He turned to walk away, but as he did, his hand brushed against Elena's shoulder-a brief, searing contact that felt like a brand. It wasn't an accident.

Elena stayed on the floor long after he left, her hand trembling as she wiped the last of the wine. She wasn't thinking about the red stain. She was thinking about the way he had said I don't like them looking at you.

The burn was getting hotter, and the silence was getting harder to keep.