Chapter 3 Eyes of Steel, words of fire

They said Alexander Knight was a man you didn't meet you survived him.

Cold, ruthless, untouchable.

The kind of billionaire whose empire was built on silence and fear.

So why did it feel like his eyes weren't just watching me...

They were peeling me apart, piece by piece, as if he already knew my darkest secrets.

---

The First Look

The music swelled, violins soaring like crystal through champagne laughter. Women glittered like diamonds, men gleamed in pressed tuxedos, and the air was thick with power disguised as grace.

But none of it mattered.

Because across that glittering ballroom, Alexander Knight was watching me.

Steel-gray eyes. Hard. Still. Unforgiving.

Like the kind of storm you didn't see coming until it tore you apart.

My heart stuttered once, then twice. The last Elena Dawson would've looked away, feigned interest in the hors d'oeuvres, anything to avoid that piercing gaze. But not this Elena. Not the one who had already lived, died, and learned.

This time, I didn't look away.

I let him see me.

He didn't smile. Didn't blink. Just studied me like he was trying to decode something written beneath my skin. When he finally tilted his head, the smallest motion, it felt like a silent challenge.

Fine. I accepted.

I excused myself from my mother's side and began crossing the ballroom. Every step echoed, deliberate, as silk whispered around my ankles. I could feel his attention tighten, like a wire pulling taut between us.

When I stopped before him, the air shifted cool, sharp, heavy with awareness.

"Mr. Knight," I said, my tone perfectly polite.

His voice, when it came, was low, calm, devastatingly composed. "Elena Dawson."

He knew my name.

Something in my chest tightened. He shouldn't have not yet. But then again, men like him didn't stumble into things. They calculated them. They saw everything.

I should've been nervous. I was. But beneath that tremor, a dark thrill pulsed. This was the man I'd ignored in my last life. The man whose path I had never crossed deeply enough to understand.

Maybe fate was offering me a second chance for knowledge, for vengeance, for something else entirely.

---

A Dangerous Conversation

"You know me?" I asked lightly, masking my unease with a practiced smile.

"I make it a habit," he said, "to know every player worth noting in this city."

His eyes flicked from my face to my gown, to the champagne glass in my hand, then back again.

"And some who are not."

I should have bristled, but instead, a slow smirk touched my lips. At least he didn't pretend.

"And which am I, Mr. Knight?" I asked, arching a brow. "Worth noting, or not?"

He didn't answer right away. His silence stretched, deliberate. His gaze was the kind that made you want to fill it with excuses, explanations, anything to stop feeling stripped bare.

Finally, he said, "That depends on whether you plan to repeat your last mistake."

The world seemed to tilt. My breath hitched.

What did he just say?

Mistake.

The word struck me like a match against dry wood. My hand trembled, and I barely managed to set my glass down before it shattered.

He couldn't know. He couldn't possibly know. No one knew about the last time about Richard, about the betrayal, the ruin, the death.

And yet, his expression was unreadable, carved in ice. Like he did know. Like he saw through every layer I'd built to hide my past.

I forced a quiet laugh. "You speak as though you've been keeping track of my choices."

"I don't track," Alexander said simply. "I observe. And I remember."

The way he said it measured, quiet, final felt like a warning.

Before I could respond, the air shifted again, replaced by a voice I now loathed.

---

The Shadow of Richard

"Elena!"

Richard Hale.

Of course.

He was striding through the crowd with that same golden smile, hand raised in casual ownership. "I've been looking everywhere for you," he said, sliding an arm around my waist before I could step back.

I felt Alexander still beside me didn't need to look to know his eyes had gone colder.

"Mr. Knight," Richard greeted, extending his hand like a politician. "Richard Hale. We've met before, I think?"

Alexander's gaze flicked to the offered hand. No movement. No courtesy. Just silence.

Then, with the calm precision of a scalpel, he said, "Unlikely. I don't frequent gutters."

The words sliced the air.

Gasps rippled faintly from nearby guests who pretended not to eavesdrop. I nearly choked on my champagne, biting down a laugh.

Richard's smile faltered, tightening at the edges. "Charming as ever," he managed, dropping his hand. "Come, Elena, I'd like you to meet someone important."

The possessive tone grated.

In my first life, I would've gone obedient, eager to please, too naive to see the leash around my neck.

But not anymore.

I stepped neatly out of his arm, meeting his startled gaze. "I'm speaking with Mr. Knight," I said, voice even, polite but edged in steel. "I'll find you later."

The flicker of shock, then anger, in his eyes was exquisite.

He forced a brittle smile. "Of course." His gaze darted once more toward Alexander, an undercurrent of hostility there, before he retreated into the glittering sea of people.

Silence lingered between us.

"You dismissed him easily," Alexander said finally, tone unreadable.

"Shouldn't I?" I asked, trying for casual.

His gaze lingered on me, intense. "Few do. He's persuasive. Persistent."

"Poisonous," I muttered under my breath.

His expression barely shifted, but I caught the flicker in his eyes. He'd heard.

"You know him?" I asked, curious now.

"I know of him," Alexander replied. "And men like him. Men who think charm is power. Who think lies can buy loyalty."

My chest tightened. Every word felt aimed straight at my scars.

"I'm not so easily fooled," I said softly.

His eyes studied me. "We'll see."

---

The Dance

The orchestra changed tempo, the soft waltz blooming into something deeper, more sensual. Couples drifted onto the dance floor, laughter spilling around chandeliers and candlelight.

Then his hand extended toward me.

"Dance with me."

It wasn't a request. It was an order.

And I found myself obeying.

His palm was firm, calloused, grounding me as he led me to the floor. His other hand found my waist steady, commanding, yet careful. A contradiction wrapped in the scent of cedar and clean steel.

The first step was tentative. The second, smoother. By the third, we were one rhythm, one breath, one silent conversation woven between notes.

"You're different," he murmured.

"From what?" I asked, voice barely above the music.

"From who you pretend to be."

The words hit like a blade. My pulse quickened. "And who exactly do I pretend to be?"

His lips curved, a phantom of a smile. "The innocent. The naïve. The girl who doesn't know wolves when she sees them."

"I know wolves," I whispered. "I've been bitten by one."

His gaze flickered with something dark approval, maybe curiosity. "And what did you learn?"

"To bite back."

Our steps stilled for half a heartbeat, tension thrumming between us. Then, almost imperceptibly, his grip on my waist tightened. "Good."

The word vibrated through me, low and dangerous.

---

The music began to slow, the final note lingering in the air like a sigh. I tried to step back, to reclaim the distance I'd almost forgotten we lost.

But his hand stayed on mine. Firm. Unyielding.

Then, with a subtle lean, he lowered his head-close enough that his breath brushed my ear.

"Be careful, Elena," he murmured, his voice low enough only I could hear. "The last time you trusted the wrong man... you lost everything."

My entire body went cold.

I froze, staring up at him, but his expression was carved from marble smooth, distant, unreadable.

"How do you" I began.

But the music ended, applause rising like thunder around us. Alexander released my hand, his eyes locking with mine for one last searing moment.

Then he turned and walked away, leaving me standing in the golden light breathless, trembling, and burning with one question that refused to die.

How could he possibly know that?