d herself to inhale, fighting th

nding it forward. She placed her small, co

ce. His grip was firm, inescapable. As he shook her hand, his thumb deliberately slid down

hitched audibly. She yanked her hand back as if she had ju

arely visible to anyone else, but his eyes gleamed with absol

m nervously into his spacious office, gesturing frantically towar

e room. He sat down in the leather chair, crossing one long

chair. She grabbed her plastic clipboard from the desk, clutching it tightly against her che

ering nervously about school polici

s piercing, dark gaze fixed solely on Elaine. His eyes tracked every micro-movement she made-the rapid

g sweat from his forehead. "Could you explai

owing sandpaper. She kept her eyes glued to h

started, her voice cracking slightly under the crushing weight of Damian's heavy scruti

ws on his knees, his broad shoulders enti

only for her despite the principal sitting right there. "

twist into a tight knot. She finally looked up, mee

nsive instincts kicking in. "He needs bounda

oned his suit jacket. "I will handle Colten's discipl

y. Damian walked out of the o

ly fled the office. She walked at a brisk, panicked pace down the

staff restroom and slammed it shut. She twiste

water tap full blast. She cupped her hands, splashing the

th terror. The man she had slept with was the most powerful parent in the school. If anyone found out, if

el and dried her face. Her re

the NDA. Either party can termina

ck burner phone. She had bought it at a bodega specifically for

small plastic keys as she

3 of NDA. Do not

by a cold, insidious dread. She knew, deep down, that a cheap piece of plastic and a legal document were flimsy shields against a man who owned half the city. He was a billionaire; he wouldn't risk a scandal, she told

oved it deep into the bottom of her

the final sch

g, dark shadows across the asphalt of the open-air parking lot. Most of t

skly toward her modest, second-hand H

personal phone-buzzed violently in her pocke

her brow furrowing in confusion. She looked a

essage from an

ecl

ulled her personal data in the thirty seconds since she sent that text. He didn't just find out. He already knew. He had known her real number, her identity, her workplace-everything-before he even walked into that principal's office. A sickening wave of vulnerability crashed over her. The NDA she h

revved nearby, a deep, gut

ad up, looking across

f the trees. It moved with lethal precision, stopping directly behind her sm

her car keys so tightly the jagged metal bit

of the SUV slowly rolled down

s face, but his dark eyes pinned her exactly where she stood. He radiated an aur