He was a man who could buy silence with a single glance.
Ethan Blackwood — the cold, calculating CEO of Blackwood Global — was known for three things: ruthless precision, zero tolerance for mistakes, and eyes as cold as winter steel. Love didn’t exist in his world — only control.

She was everything he wasn’t.
Clara Evans, a broke but spirited girl with a magnetic pull for chaos, was just trying to survive the city — juggling rent, odd jobs, and an overly dramatic cat that wasn’t even hers.

But fate had other plans.

One wrong delivery.
One dangerous file.
And suddenly, she finds herself caught in the orbit of the one man she swore she’d never cross paths with — the infamous CEO himself.

A misunderstanding leads to a contract neither of them expected.
He offers her security.
She offers him something he never knew he needed — a heart.

Between their battles, banter, and undeniable chemistry, a single question begins to stir:
What happens when a ruthless man learns how to feel?

The night split open with the sound of thunder.


Eleanor stood at the mansion gates, drenched and pale, her eyes wide with exhaustion and fear. Ethan ran to her, pulling her close as she stumbled.


She gripped his coat weakly. "She… she knows everything. Isabella and Marcus — they wanted to ruin you, Ethan. They planned everything — the misunderstanding, Clara's humiliation, even my kidnapping."


Ethan's blood ran cold. "Where is Marcus now?"


Eleanor's voice shook. "Gone. But Isabella — she's still here."


Clara's breath caught. "In the mansion?"


Eleanor nodded. "She doesn't know I escaped."


Moments later, the hall filled with footsteps and whispers. Isabella entered from the other side — her perfect composure faltering for the first time when she saw Eleanor alive.


"Eleanor," she breathed. "You're—alive."


Eleanor straightened weakly. "Surprised?"


The air between them grew tense — heavy with truth and fear.


Ethan's voice was cold steel. "You planned this?"


Isabella tried to smile, but her mask cracked. "Ethan, listen to me—"


"Don't," he snapped. "Not another lie."


For the first time, Isabella faltered — truly faltered — her calm slipping away. "You think she's innocent?" she hissed, pointing at Clara. "Everything fell apart because of her!"


"No," Ethan said firmly, his voice echoing through the hall. "Everything fell apart because of you."


Eleanor's trembling voice broke the silence. "You hurt everyone who loved you, Isabella. But the truth always comes back — just like I did."


Isabella's eyes glistened — not with remorse, but fury. "You'll regret this," she whispered. Then she turned and fled into the storm.


Ethan made a move to follow, but Clara caught his arm gently. "Let her go. The storm will finish what it started."


He looked at Clara — rain-soaked, trembling, but still there — and finally whispered, "Not this time."


For the first time in weeks, their eyes met not as strangers bound by contract — but as two people who had both been hurt by love, and might still learn to heal together.


Chapter 79 - The Storm Returns