Love in the Shadows

Chapter 2: Midnight encounter

That night, the hotel felt different.

Quieter, somehow, despite the muted movement of staff and the low hum of distant conversations that never quite reached the corridors. The higher floors of The Nocturne Crown were designed for discretion, for the kind of meetings that required privacy. Tonight at midnight was the best time to meet Adrian Virelle as her informants shared that he would finally be done with his activities and would head over to the exclusive VIP club to have a drink before heading back to his room.

Except Sera knew that this information would definitely be in the hands of Evan as well, with his keen network of informants. She had to make sure that Evan would not have a chance to meet with Adrian first.

She left her room half an hour before the clock struck midnight. Pausing outside Evan’s suite, her hand tightened slightly around her clutch before she forced herself to relax. Inside, a small vial rested exactly where she had placed it, containing a colorless, untraceable, and effective sleeping drug.

Just enough to ensure he would miss his window with Adrian Virelle.

The information had been precise.

Midnight. One hour. No second chances.

She knocked.

The door opened after a moment, and for the briefest second, something unreadable crossed Evan’s expression before it settled back into something controlled.

“Look who’s here,” he said, stepping aside to let her in, “So, what brings you here?”

Sera walked past him without hesitation. The familiar scent of him was making memories flood back, and she had to tell herself to stay focused on her move ahead, to take control of the larger game.

“I haven’t seen you for ages,” she replied, setting her clutch down as she took in the room. It was exactly what she expected. Minimal, refined, everything in its place. Just like him.

“So it is for a catch-up,” he mused.

“If you have time to spare me a moment,” she replied.

A quiet pause passed between them, and the air filled with something that felt too close to what they had once been.

Sera moved toward the table, reaching for a bottle of the finest red wine, and pouring two glasses of it as though it was her own to offer. With her quick hands, she had slipped the contents of the vial into the glass meant for Evan in less than a second.

“I thought we could talk before your meeting,” she said, pouring two glasses with steady hands.

“You know… Maybe strike a deal together for the Virelle family if they reject our individual offers later.”

Evan watched her the entire time, his gaze lingering just a fraction too long on the way she moved, as if he were trying to read something beneath the surface.

“You’ve never been that generous,” he said.

“Well, Adrian Virelle is not easy to convince.”

Evan took the glass of wine when she handed it to him, his fingers brushing hers briefly, just enough to make her lose her breath for a second, before she quickly regained her composure.

Sera sipped from her glass as she watched Evan drinking from his glass until it was empty, and he set the glass down. It was supposed to be a fast acting drug, and he should soon crash onto the floor in about a minute.

Yet after a minute, nothing happened.

The realization came slowly at first, then all at once, a sharp drop in her stomach that she couldn’t quite mask.

Evan stepped closer, closing the distance between them with a deliberate ease that made her pulse quickened despite herself.

“You should have known,” he said quietly, reaching up to brush a strand of hair back from her face, his touch light but impossibly familiar, “that I wouldn’t make it that easy for you.”

The scent reached her then. It was subtle, almost undetectable until it wasn’t. Evan had definitely mixed a sleeping drug into the perfume that he was wearing.

Her vision blurred at the edges, her balance shifting before she could correct it.

“You—” she started, but the word didn’t quite form.

“I expected you to try something,” he said, his voice softer now.

The room tilted.

Her knees gave way.

And the next thing she knew, she was in his arms.

He caught her easily, as though he had done it a thousand times before, as though some part of him had never forgotten how to hold her.

“You were supposed to be asleep,” she murmured, her voice unsteady in a way she hadn’t allowed in years.

Evan let out a quiet breath, his grip tightening just slightly as he steadied her.

“I took the antidote before you arrived.”

For a moment, neither of them moved.

Sera’s head rested against him, her fingers curling weakly against the fabric of his shirt, her body leaning into his in a way that felt instinctive and dangerous.

Wrong.

And yet— his hand didn’t let go.

“Sera,” he said, his tone low and unguarded now, as if something in him had slipped despite every effort to keep it contained.

Her eyes lifted to his, unfocused but searching, and whatever he saw there made something shift in his expression. Something that had nothing to do with strategy, or competition, or the deal waiting for him at midnight.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said, though there was no conviction in his statement.

Her lips parted slightly, her voice barely more than a breath.

“You won. You should go.”

And still—he didn’t let her go.