Burning For A Stranger

Chapter Nine: The Chase Begins

( Elena's POV )

The new job was supposed to be a clean slate.

I’d ironed my best blouse, tucked my curls into a neat bun, and reminded myself a thousand times that this was my chance. A steady paycheck, a way out of bartending shifts and overdue bills. Assistant to one of the city’s wealthiest investors? I could practically hear my dad’s voice saying, finally, mija, something respectable.

My stomach fluttered with nerves as I rode the elevator up to the fortieth floor, clutching my tote bag like it could anchor me.

“Fresh start,” I whispered under my breath.

“Fresh start.”

The lobby was glass and steel, cold and perfect. Everyone here walked like they belonged. I forced my shoulders back, heels clicking too loud against the marble as I followed the receptionist’s directions toward the boardroom.

I wasn’t prepared.

The moment I pushed through those double doors, my lungs forgot how to work.

Because he was there.

Dominic Vale.

The stranger I wasn’t supposed to see again. The man whose touch was still etched into my skin. The man I’d slipped away from without a name.

And now, he sat at the head of the table, sharp suit, colder eyes, commanding the room like he owned it because he did.

My world tilted.

I gripped the back of a leather chair, praying no one noticed the tremor in my hands. The investor I was supposed to be working under, Victor Lang, leaned in with his charming smile, oblivious.

“Ah, Elena. Perfect timing. Gentlemen, this is my new assistant,” he announced smoothly. “She’ll be handling schedules, correspondence… the usual.”

All eyes flicked toward me. But the only pair I could feel like knives pressed to my skin were Dominic’s.

Those gray eyes. Darker now. Harder.

He didn’t speak. Didn’t move. Just watched me, like he was peeling away every layer I’d tried to build between last night and today.

I forced myself to step forward, spine straight, voice steady. “Pleasure to meet you all.”

A lie.

Because there was nothing pleasurable about this.

I could practically hear my own pulse in my ears, and still I felt his stare burning into me. My throat tightened, but I didn’t look away.

If Dominic Vale thought I was going to crumble, he was wrong.

I wasn’t the girl who slipped out of his bed anymore.

Now I was his equal. His opponent. His problem.

The room buzzed with introductions, Victor leading the discussion, but I barely heard a word. Because Dominic’s silence was louder than anything.

And when the meeting adjourned, when the chairs scraped and papers shuffled, he finally spoke.

One word.

Low, deliberate, meant only for me.

“Elena.”

The sound of my name in his mouth was a warning and a promise.