Livia tried to escape him the rest of the day.
She buried herself in meetings, avoided the upper floor where Valen's office loomed like a threat, and kept her phone face-down so she wouldn't have to see his name.
But Valen Lark was not a man who allowed distance.
When she stepped into the elevator that evening—exhausted, tense—the doors slid open to reveal him standing inside. Alone.
Her breath stilled.
He didn't smile. Didn't move. Just watched her with that unreadable, dark intensity that made her skin prickle.
"Are you coming in," he asked quietly, "or are you running again?"
His voice was calm, but something in it tugged at her—danger wrapped in silk.
Livia stepped inside. The doors closed.
Silence pressed between them, hot and thick.
He spoke first. "You've been avoiding me."
"I've been working," she corrected sharply.
Valen leaned slightly against the elevator wall, eyes locked on her. "You're lying."
She stiffened. "You don't get to tell me what I'm feeling."
"No," he agreed softly. "But I can see it."
He turned his head, studying her the way someone studies a problem they intend to conquer.
"You're afraid of what's happening between us."
Her pulse jumped. "There is nothing happening between us."
A slow exhale. Almost a laugh. "Livia, denial looks terrible on you."
The elevator suddenly jolted to a stop—lights flickering, then fading to the emergency glow. She gasped; he didn't move an inch.
"Relax," he murmured. "Power outage. Happens often in this building."
But he didn't step away. He stepped closer. Close enough that her heartbeat grew loud in her ears.
"You want the contract," Valen said quietly. "And I want control."
His gaze dropped briefly to her lips before returning to her eyes.
"We're enemies, Livia. But this… whatever this is—"
His voice deepened, low and magnetic.
"Neither of us can pretend it isn't there."
She felt the heat rising in her chest—fear, frustration, and something darker.
For one brief second, Livia wondered if the real danger wasn't being trapped in the elevator with him…
…but being trapped with the truth he forced her to face.