The vampire in the corner office

A begining

Damon Cole was arrested within the hour, Elena's four-year-old case reopened by morning, the evidence from that single USB drive enough to unravel nine years of careful fraud.

The story made headlines — VOSS GLOBAL COO ARRESTED IN DEATH OF FORMER CEO'S WIFE — though the papers, mercifully, never learned the full truth about what exactly Adrian Voss was, or why Damon had feared him so much in that final confrontation.

Mia stood on the balcony of Adrian's house three weeks later, the necklace back around her neck where it belonged, watching the sun set slow and gold over a city that no longer felt like it was holding its breath.

She had expected the quiet to feel strange after everything. Instead, it felt peaceful.

There were still questions waiting for answers. There were legal statements to give, files to sort through, and a mother who had finally started telling Mia the truth about the secrets she'd carried for twenty years.

But none of it felt like something she had to face alone anymore.

"You're quiet," Adrian said, coming up beside her.

"Just thinking. My mom kept a secret for twenty years to keep me safe. Elena died trying to do the right thing. And somehow all of that led to me spilling coffee on your desk during my interview."

"You didn't spill coffee on my desk."

"I was building to it. Give me time."

She leaned into him, and he wrapped an arm around her without hesitation, cold and solid and safer than anything she'd known in years.

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

Mia looked down at the necklace resting against her skin.

"I almost gave this back," she admitted.

"I know."

"You knew?"

"I know you better than you think."

She smiled faintly. "That's either sweet or slightly terrifying."

"I'll let you decide."

She laughed under her breath.

"What happens now?"

"Now," Adrian said, "I stop being afraid of wanting things."

He turned her gently to face him, amber warm in his eyes instead of dangerous.

"Mia Bennett. I've lived two centuries certain that love was a debt I couldn't afford to owe again. You walked into my office and made me forget the interest rate."

"That's a terrible line."

"I've had two hundred years to work on my lines and that's still the best one I've got."

She laughed — really laughed, the kind that came from somewhere she'd thought Damon Cole's world of secrets and blood had nearly closed off for good — and when Adrian kissed her this time, there was no hesitation in it at all.

His hand rested gently against her cheek, and Mia realized she wasn't thinking about what could go wrong.

For once, she was simply there.

With him.

Somewhere below them, the city lights flickered on one by one, and for the first time in four years, the man in the corner office wasn't waiting for someone who wasn't coming.

She'd already arrived.

And neither of them intended to let go.

THE END