Chapter 4 Stolen Fires

Adrian Knight sat behind his mahogany desk, staring at contracts he couldn't read. Numbers blurred, sentences dissolved. For the first time in years, work his kingdom, his anchor felt meaningless.

All he could see was her.

Elena Hayes. The way her lips had trembled under his, the way she had looked at him with both fear and surrender. He pressed his palms against his eyes, exhaling sharply. This is madness. I'm married. I'm a Knight. I don't get to want what I can't have.

And yet, he did.

A knock at the door jolted him. His secretary poked her head in. "Mr. Knight, the Hayes account manager is here for the gallery transfer papers."

His chest tightened. Hayes. He knew it was coincidence - her last name wasn't uncommon - but the syllables alone were enough to drag him back to last night. He waved the secretary away. "Send it to Legal."

But when the door closed, Adrian pushed back from his desk. He needed air. He needed her.

Elena sat at her small kitchen table, staring into a cold cup of tea. The sunlight pouring through the window should have grounded her. Instead, it mocked her. How could the world look so normal when hers had been shattered overnight?

Her phone buzzed. A single message lit up the screen:

Adrian: We need to talk.

Her fingers hovered over the keypad. Every instinct screamed ignore it. She should never see him again. She had crossed a line, and there was no going back. But her heart, traitorous and reckless, typed two words before she could stop herself.

Elena: Where?

They met in the corner of a quiet café downtown, disguised by sunglasses and shadows. Adrian arrived first, sitting with his back to the wall. When Elena slipped inside, his entire body stiffened, then eased, as if the air had been returned to his lungs.

"You shouldn't have come," she whispered, sliding into the booth across from him.

"I couldn't stay away," he said simply.

Her chest tightened. "This isn't a fairytale, Adrian. You have a wife. A life. And I-" Her voice cracked. "I don't belong in it."

For a long moment, he said nothing. Then he leaned forward, his gaze burning. "Maybe you don't. But you belong with me."

Her breath caught. Those words were the most dangerous yet.

"Adrian..." she whispered, torn between the truth in his eyes and the chains of reality.

He reached across the table, covering her trembling hand with his. "I don't care what it costs me. Last night wasn't an accident. It was inevitable."

And despite herself, despite the warning bells in her head, Elena squeezed his hand back.

Across town, Cassandra Knight sipped champagne at Leo Harrington's penthouse. Floor-to-ceiling windows framed the city skyline, but Cassandra's gaze was locked on Leo.

He smirked, tossing a file onto the glass table between them. "You asked for her name. Her life. Everything. Well, darling, I deliver."

Cassandra's pulse quickened as she opened the file. A photograph slipped out - Elena Hayes, caught mid-smile, innocence and fire in her eyes.

"So this is the woman who thinks she can take my husband," Cassandra murmured.

Leo raised his glass. "And what shall we do with her?"

Cassandra's lips curved into a chilling smile. "We'll make sure she regrets ever stepping foot into my world."