Chapter two -Tangled Ties
822 Words
📖 The Billionaire’s Forbidden Game
Chapter Two – Tangled Ties
The Volkov Grand Hotel never slept. By the time Aria returned to the ballroom, the party was at full tilt champagne flutes clinking, violins weaving into laughter, the chandeliers burning brighter against the deepening night.
But beneath the glitter, the shadows of the Volkov family pressed in like invisible walls.
She had spent years trying to forget what it felt like to belong to this orbit. Emily, her best friend, was the only light in that darkness. But the Volkovs were more than old money and skyscrapers. They were power. Ruthless, unshakable, untouchable power.
And Damian was its most dangerous face.
“Finally!” Emily squealed, grabbing Aria’s wrist and dragging her back toward the crowd. “I thought you’d gotten lost. You must meet some of my father’s partners.”
Aria plastered on a smile, shaking hands, exchanging pleasantries. Her legal training saved her polished manners, controlled tone, eyes that never lingered too long. But all the while, she felt him.
Across the room. Watching.
Damian Volkov didn’t have to speak to command attention. Every gesture the way he leaned back in conversation, the way women tilted toward him like flowers seeking the sun reminded Aria of his charm, his poison.
And when his eyes caught hers, gray steel locking across the distance, her throat went dry.
It was inevitable.
The orchestra struck a softer note, couples gliding onto the floor. Emily disappeared into the crowd with a blond handsome Russian heir, leaving Aria dangerously exposed at the edge of the dance floor.
And Damian seized the moment.
He didn’t ask. He never asked.
His hand slid around her waist, pulling her into the current of the waltz before she could protest.
“Damian”
“Relax,” he murmured, his breath brushing her ear. “People are watching. Pretend you don’t hate me.”
“I don’t hate you,” she snapped, trying to keep her voice even as their bodies moved in perfect sync. “I just don’t trust you.”
His lips curved into a slow, wicked smile. “That’s fair. But you trust yourself even less around me, don’t you?”
She stumbled on the step, and his grip tightened, steadying her.
“Careful,” he whispered. “Wouldn’t want the whole ballroom to know you still tremble when I touch you.”
Her heart pounded. Every muscle screamed to push him away, but her body betrayed her matching his rhythm, fitting into his hold like it remembered him.
She hated him for it.
She hated herself more.
The waltz slowed, bodies pressing closer. Damian’s hand lingered low at her back, his thumb brushing dangerously close to the curve of her spine.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said, voice low, intimate despite the crowd.
“I came for Emily,” she reminded him.
“No.” His eyes bored into hers. “You came back because you couldn’t resist forever. You knew this city would drag you back to me.”
Aria’s breath caught. “You’re arrogant enough to believe that?”
“I’m arrogant enough to know it.”
For a moment, time bent. The music, the glitter, the crowd all of it fell away. It was just him, the boy she had once almost loved, the man who now threatened to unravel everything she had built.
And she hated how much she wanted him to kiss her.
The song ended, applause breaking the spell. Aria pulled back sharply, breaking free of his hold.
“This changes nothing,” she said through clenched teeth.
Damian only smirked. “Everything changes, Aria. Especially when you lie to yourself.”
Later, when the ballroom began to empty and Emily was drunk on champagne and joy, Aria slipped out again into the night air. She needed distance. Breathing room.
But Damian was already there, leaning against the hood of a sleek black car, cigarette glowing faintly in the dark.
“You keep running,” he said softly as she approached. “But you’re always circling back to me.”
She froze. “Stay out of my way, Damian. Whatever this is, whatever you think let it go.”
He flicked the cigarette away, his gaze burning through her defenses.
“You can fight me all you want. But deep down, you know the truth.”
“What truth?”
He stepped closer, so close she felt the heat radiating off him, smelled the smoke and whiskey clinging to his skin.
“That you were mine before you left.” His voice dropped, dangerous and intimate. “And you’re still mine now.”
Her pulse thundered. Her body screamed yes even as her mind shouted no.
So she did the only thing she could.
She turned, forcing herself into the back of a waiting cab, leaving him in the dark with his promise echoing in her ears.
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