CHAPTER 6: CRACKS IN STEEL
231 Words
It started small.
A look.
A pause.
A moment that lasted too long.
Elara hated it.
Hated how aware she was of him.
Hated how he watched her like he was trying to solve her.
Hated how—
“Stop thinking about him,” Nora said suddenly.
Elara blinked. “I’m not.”
“You are.”
“I’m not.”
“You just said ‘Adrian’ out loud five times while staring at your coffee.”
Elara froze.
“…I did not.”
“You did.”
Silence.
Then—
“Annoying,” Elara muttered.
Nora smirked. “You like him.”
Elara shot her a look. “I like control.”
“Same thing?”
“Not even close.”
But later that night—
Elara stood alone in her penthouse, city lights glowing beneath her.
And she thought about him.
His voice.
His eyes.
The way he said her name.
Frustration built inside her.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
She didn’t feel things.
Not like this.
Not anymore.
⸻
Across the city—
Adrian stood in his own penthouse, staring at nothing.
“You’re distracted,” his assistant said.
“I’m not.”
“You are.”
Silence.
Then Adrian exhaled slowly.
“Elara Vance,” he said.
A dangerous name.
A dangerous woman.
And for the first time in years—
Something felt out of his control.
- Writer
