When we pulled back, the world felt quieter.
“Tell me your name,” I said.
She studied me for a long second.
“Elle.”
A lie. But a good one. It was a lie I respected because I knew the reason behind it.
I nodded. “Nikolai.”
Also a lie. Her eyes flickered knowingly. She didn’t believe me, which means she knew how this game was played. Tonight wasn’t about truth. It was about choice.
“My house is ten minutes from here,” I said evenly.
She didn’t look shocked and didn’t even pretend to consider. Her eyes didn’t widen as if I had said something that might have offended her. She was a woman who was sure about what she wanted, and she wasn’t shy about pursuing it.
“Are you always this direct, Nikolai?”
“Yes, Elle.”
“And do you always get what you want?”
“Eventually.”
A small pause.
“And if I say no?”
“I walk away.”
“And if I say yes?”
My gaze dropped briefly to her mouth before returning to her eyes.
“Then we stop pretending that this is just a dance.”
The music swelled again, louder this time. Her pulse fluttered beneath my fingers.
And then she smiled.
“Yes.”
Chapter 3 - Elisse
“This feels like a reckless thing to do.” I didn’t say it to stop myself. I said it because I liked the way it sounded between us.
Nikolai, because that was the name he’d given me and the one I’d chosen to believe for tonight, didn’t slow as we stepped out into the warm Miami night. His hand remained at the small of my back, steady, guiding but not forcing.
“Reckless implies regret,” he said calmly. “Do you regret it? Because if you do, we can turn around right now and forget everything.”
“No.” The answer came too easily. The way he kept giving me an option to leave whenever I wished made me feel safer. He could very easily just be manipulating me into believing him, but I no longer cared. I wanted to do this, and nothing was going to stop me now.
A sleek black car waited at the curb, the engine already running. Of course it did. He opened the door for me without flourish, without performance. Just quiet efficiency. I could see how he was used to controlling every situation and every room he walked into. That was exactly what made him attractive to me.
I slid inside at once, the soft leather warm underneath me.
As the car pulled away from the estate, the mansion’s lights fading behind tinted windows, a strange awareness settled over me. I was leaving with a man whose real name I didn’t know. Whose history I hadn’t asked for. Whose intentions existed somewhere between dangerous and deliberate. A manwho could very well be kidnapping me right now, and I might be running into a trap. And yet, I felt safe.
