Chapter 3 First Impressions

Aiden's POV

Aiden strode out of the coffee shop, his grip tightening around the disposable cup in his hand. The warmth seeped into his palm, but it did little to temper the fire raging inside of him. Chaos. Disorder. A psychopath on the security team. He had built his empire on control, precision, and an unrelenting demand for perfection-and the past twenty-four hours had been anything but.

And then there was her.

That girl in the blue cardigan with the wide, nervous eyes and that defiant laugh. He couldn't quite put his finger on why she unsettled him so much. Most people were terrified of him, their eyes dropping to the floor or their voices stumbling over apologies. But she had looked him dead in the eye and called him out for staring, her voice wavering yet brave.

Brave. Aiden clenched his jaw. Bravery was dangerous. It invited chaos, and chaos was something he couldn't afford to let into his carefully structured world.

He reached his black car, which was parked with military precision at the curb. His driver, an older man named Frank who had been with him for years, raised a questioning eyebrow. "Rough morning?" Frank asked, always more perceptive than Aiden liked.

Aiden sighed. "You could say that."

Frank's gaze flicked to the coffee shop, where Nevaeh was still sitting in the window. She was staring at her drink, her cheeks flushed with what Aiden assumed was residual embarrassment from their exchange. For some reason, the sight of her looking so vulnerable made him pause.

"New business associate?" Frank asked, ever curious.

Aiden frowned. "No. Just... an inconvenience." He slid into the back seat, annoyed with himself for even looking twice. People were supposed to be insignificant, just like the numbers and reports he manipulated every day. But this girl had a way of making herself impossible to ignore.

---

Nevaeh tried to shake off the encounter, but her hands wouldn't stop shaking. Her coffee had gone cold, but she kept taking tiny sips, hoping it would somehow wash away the feeling of Aiden Klein's eyes piercing into her soul.

Distinctive laugh. She cringed. What did that even mean? She was supposed to be preparing for her first day of university, not reliving her humiliation with Seattle's most unreachable bachelor. She groaned and buried her face in her hands, silently cursing herself for engaging with him in the first place.

"Hey, you okay?" a bright, sassy voice pulled her out of her self-pity.

Nevaeh looked up to find a girl with fiery red hair and a mischievous grin leaning over her table. She wore a leather jacket and ripped jeans, and her confidence practically oozed from every pore. The girl slid into the seat across from Nevaeh, uninvited but somehow making it look completely natural.

"You look like someone just canceled Christmas," the girl said, tilting her head. "Or like you just ran into a ghost. Which is it?"

Nevaeh blinked, caught off guard. "Uh, neither. Just... had a weird morning."

The girl's eyes lit up. "Weird, huh? I like weird. I'm Sasha, by the way." She extended a hand, her grin widening. "Let me guess. You're new around here?"

Nevaeh shook Sasha's hand, her own grip still a little weak. "Yeah, first day. I'm Nevaeh."

"Nevaeh," Sasha repeated, savoring the sound of the name. "Pretty. Welcome to Seattle, where billionaires apparently think they own the sidewalks. I saw Mr. Tall, Dark, and Grumpy over there talking to you. You survive the encounter?"

Nevaeh couldn't help but laugh, the tension in her chest loosening slightly. "Barely. Do you... know him?"

Sasha snorted. "Know him? Honey, Aiden Klein is Seattle's very own urban legend. Rich, ruthless, and probably incapable of smiling without breaking something. People say he's still bitter about the fiancée who left him at the altar. But, you know, that's just gossip." She leaned in conspiratorially. "Rumor has it he's also a robot. Never seen him eat or drink anything except black coffee. What do you think?"

Nevaeh couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. Sasha's humor was infectious, and it felt good to laugh again, even if only for a moment. "He definitely seems... intense," she admitted.

"Intense?" Sasha's eyes widened in mock horror. "That's the understatement of the year. But hey, I'm glad you're not traumatized. You look like you could use a proper introduction to this city." She stood up, grabbing Nevaeh's hand and pulling her to her feet. "Come on. Let me show you around. We can forget about grumpy billionaires for a while."

Nevaeh hesitated, but Sasha's enthusiasm was hard to resist. Besides, she desperately needed a distraction. "Sure," she said, a nervous laugh escaping her. "Why not?"

Aiden watched from the back seat of his car as Nevaeh left the coffee shop, pulled along by the fiery redhead. He didn't realize he was scowling until Frank glanced at him in the rearview mirror.

"Something bothering you, sir?" Frank asked, always careful not to push too hard.

Aiden didn't respond immediately. He didn't like how unsettled he felt, or how he couldn't shake the sound of Nevaeh's laughter from his head. She was just some girl, a nobody in his world. But the way she had looked at him, first with defiance and then with vulnerability... it had stirred something he didn't want to acknowledge.

"Nothing," he finally said, his voice clipped. "Just get me to the office."

Frank pulled away from the curb, and Aiden tried to bury his thoughts in the mental to-do list he carried everywhere. Meetings, contracts, negotiations. Things he could control. Things that didn't involve blue-eyed girls with distinctive laughs.

But as the city blurred past his window, Aiden couldn't help but wonder why it felt like he'd just stepped into the beginning of something he wasn't prepared for.