It wasn't supposed to happen.
Not the kiss.
Not the footage.
Not the goddamn leak.
But in Aurelia City, secrets are currency. And ours was worth a fortune.
It started with silence.
Not the kind that's peaceful — the kind that builds.
Between us. Around us. In every hallway we passed, every glance we held a beat too long. In every brushed shoulder, every exhale that tasted like things we couldn't say out loud.
He was becoming dangerous again.
Not because he could kill me.
But because he wouldn't.
And I think that terrified us both.
The night it happened, I had just finished confronting my father's chief of staff behind the South Wing elevator bank. My hand was still tingling from slapping Lila Harrow across the face. My pulse was still high from accusing a woman of poisoning me and not being told I was wrong.
The elevator dinged.
The doors opened.
And there he was.
Killian.
