THE ARCHITECT OF BROKENHEARTS

CHAPTER 2: TheTerms of Surrender

My pulse hammered against the cage of his grip.

​For a fraction of a second, the polished, untouchable mask of "Elara the Fixer" slipped, and I was just a twenty-year-old girl again, staring up at the boy who used to sketch my face in the margins of his notebooks.

​But the man standing before me wasn't that boy. His jaw was locked, his dark eyes stripping away every layer of my carefully constructed disguise.

​I forced a cool, practiced smirk onto my lips. I stopped pulling against his hold, leaning in slightly instead. "Julian Vance. You flatter yourself. What makes you think I'm hiding from you?"

​His gaze flicked down to my lips, then back to my eyes. He didn't smile. "Because you're shivering, El. You always shiver when you lie."

​The childhood nickname felt like a physical blow. I masked the flinch by reaching up with my free hand, casually tracing the lapel of his tuxedo. "I'm working, Julian. And you are interfering with a very lucrative contract. If you'll excuse me—"

​I twisted my wrist sharply, a self-defense maneuver I had perfected years ago. It should have broken his grip instantly.

​He didn't even budge.

​Instead, he smoothly stepped forward, backing me up until my shoulders hit the heavy mahogany door of the study. He reached past my head, his knuckles brushing the shell of my ear, and pushed the brass lock.

​Click. The sound echoed like a gunshot in the quiet room.

​"Your contract is canceled," Julian said softly, his chest brushing against mine as he crowded my space. He reached into his own breast pocket and pulled out the fabricated burner phone I had been sent to plant. He had already found it.

​My breath hitched. He was steps ahead of me.

​"Who hired you?" he demanded, his voice dropping an octave. "Was it my father? Or Elias?"

​"Client confidentiality," I whispered, lifting my chin defiantly. "You know the rules of my game."

​"I don't care about your game," he fired back, the ice in his voice cracking for the first time, revealing a dangerous heat underneath. "I care about the fact that you vanished into thin air ten years ago, and now you show up to ruin my wedding. You owe me a conversation, Elara. And you aren't leaving this room until I get it."