Chapter 2 Paris at Midnight

Meera's POV

I should have said no.

Even as I stood in the glass-and-steel luxury terminal at London City Airport, I kept telling myself that. Ordinary women didn't step onto private jets with billionaires after only one conversation. Sensible women didn't. But I don't feel ordinary around Damien Cross, and I wasn't sure I wanted to be sensible either.

The jet gleamed on the runway like something pulled from a dream, white and sleek, with the Cross Enterprises insignia near its tail, a silent declaration of ownership.

Inside, luxury hit me in waves, cream leather seats that swallowed you whole, walnut trim polished to a reflective sheen, champagne chilling in crystal buckets, and subtle lighting that made the cabin glow like a sanctuary. The air even smelled expensive: crisp, floral, with a whisper of leather.

The flight attendant who greeted me had the kind of beauty that belonged on magazine covers, but her smile faltered when her eyes flicked to Damien. Not fear exactly, but difference laced with caution. I felt it again when she turned to me; a faint flicker of pity, as though she knew I was stepping into a game I didn't understand.

Damien's hand touched the small of my back, guiding me up the stairs. His palm was warm, steady, almost possessive. The contact should have unsettled me, but instead it anchored me. It was as though the entire world could tilt, and that hand would hold me steady.

"Paris," he murmured, his voice smoother than the champagne flute the attendant pressed into my hand. "The only city that knows how to seduce properly."

I let out a laugh that caught in my throat. "And you take all your first dates to Paris?"

His mouth curved, dangerous and knowing. "Only the ones worth remembering."

The jet surged forward, rising into the sky with a hum so soft it was almost theatrical. Below us, London shrank into a sprawl of blinking lights and rivers of headlights. I tried to act casual, but inside, adrenaline surged. I had never even flown business class before, and now I was sipping Dom Pérignon at thirty thousand feet, sitting beside a man who commanded silence and obedience with a glance.

Damien reclined in his seat, jacket unbuttoned, tie loosened yet he looked no less in control. His eyes never wandered; they stayed fixed on me, studying me in a way that was both thrilling and unnerving. He asked questions men rarely asked: about my work, my family, my ambitions, my childhood. His curiosity was sharp, probing, as though every answer was another piece of a puzzle he was determined to solve.

I heard myself confessing things I hadn't told anyone outside my closest circle, the pressure of being one of the few women of color at my law firm, the constant battle of proving I belonged in rooms that weren't built for me.

He listened. Really listened. And when he said, "You don't just belong, Meera. You shine," his voice carried such certainty that for a moment, I believed him more than I believed myself.

We drifted into lighter conversations, books, films, and the kind of music he played when working late. His tastes were eclectic, sharp edges softened by surprising warmth. One moment he was quoting Marcus Aurelius, the next confessing a weakness for old jazz vinyls.

At one point, turbulence jolted the cabin. My glass wobbled. Damien caught it before a drop spilled, his hand brushing mine, lingering just long enough to leave my pulse racing. He smiled, faint and private, as though my reaction pleased him.

By the time we landed, my head was light from wine and conversation. Paris glowed beneath us, golden veins of light threading through darkened streets.

A black Bentley waited on the tarmac, engine purring like a beast in restraint. The driver opened the door with silent precision, and within seconds, we were gliding through Paris.

I pressed my forehead against the window, watching the city blur past, lamplit boulevards, shuttered bakeries, balconies draped in flowers even in the night. It was cinematic, intoxicating.

"First time in Paris?" Damien asked, his gaze catching my reflection in the glass.

"Yes," I admitted, suddenly self-conscious.

He leaned closer, voice low. "Then let me ruin you for all other cities."

The car slowed in front of a rooftop restaurant that looked closed to the public. But when Damien stepped out, staff appeared as though conjured by his presence. We were ushered inside, through a gilded elevator and onto a terrace that overlooked the Seine.

It was like stepping into a dream. White linen tables, candles flickering despite the wind, strings of golden lights casting everything in a glow that seemed pulled from a movie set. And there, dominating the horizon, the Eiffel Tower shimmered like liquid fire.

Every table was empty. Reserved. For us.

Dinner was an assault of decadence; oysters arranged on beds of ice, truffle risotto rich enough to make me dizzy, wine that tasted of earth and velvet. The waiters moved silently, never interrupting, as though trained to anticipate Damien's smallest need.

He spoke of business like it was war, hostile takeovers, competitors as enemies, negotiation strategies like battle tactics. His metaphors were sharp, violent, yet his tone was calm, almost playful. And then, in the next breath, he would soften, asking about my favorite childhood memory, or the book that had shaped me most.

"What's the one thing you're most afraid of?" he asked suddenly, halfway through dessert.

The question startled me. I set my fork down. "Failing," I admitted quietly. "Proving everyone who doubted me right."

For a heartbeat, his expression stilled. Then he nodded, eyes unreadable. "Fear is useful. It sharpens you. But it should never own you."

There was something in his gaze then, a flicker of darkness, as though he carried his own failures like ghosts. It unsettled me and yet drew me closer.

Later, when the plates were cleared and the candles had burned low, I stepped to the terrace edge.

Paris sprawled beneath us, endless and alive.

That's when I heard it.

Damien, a few feet behind me, speaking into his phone. His tone was clipped, precise, stripped of the charm he'd worn like armor all evening. And the language, not English. Not French. Something harsher, quicker. Words rolled off his tongue with the fluency of someone who had lived them.

I froze. The sound was sharp, commanding, carrying a weight that didn't belong to Damien Cross, billionaire darling of the London elite. It belonged to someone else entirely.

I pressed myself against the railing, heart hammering, straining to catch the words. They tumbled too fast, but fragments lodged in my mind names, numbers, something that sounded like orders.

He wasn't sweet-talking a lover or closing a business deal. He was... different.

When he hung up, I barely managed to turn back to the skyline, feigning fascination with the city lights. My pulse thundered in my ears.

"Cold?"

I jumped. He was beside me, slipping his jacket around my shoulders before I could answer. His cologne wrapped around me, he smells like smoke and spice, intoxicating.

"You didn't have to..."

"I wanted to." His smile was easy, practiced, the perfect billionaire mask. But now, I couldn't unhear the other voice.

The warmth of his coat should have steadied me. Instead, unease coiled tighter.

"Paris suits you," he said, leaning close, his lips brushing my ear.

I smiled faintly, but inside, something darker stirred. Attraction tangled with suspicion, desire with dread.

Because for the first time since I had met Damien Cross, I wondered if he was exactly who he claimed to be.