CHAPTER 3
1126 Words
Zara’s POV
I didn’t sleep well that night.
Actually, that was an understatement.
I barely slept at all.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him.
Lucien Duro.
The way he looked at me like I was something he couldn’t figure out.
The way he said my name like it wasn’t just a name.
And worst of all… the way I said no and walked away like my life wasn’t just standing in front of a man the entire city seemed to revolve around.
I turned on my side and groaned into my pillow.
“This is ridiculous,” I whispered.
It was just one night.
One conversation.
One arrogant billionaire.
That should have been the end of it.
But my mind clearly didn’t agree.
Because the more I tried to forget him… the more I remembered.
And worse… I kept remembering the way the crowd went silent when someone said his name.
Like he wasn’t just important.
Like he was dangerous.
By morning, I forced myself out of bed and got ready for work.
Normal life.
That’s what I needed.
No billionaires.
No black cars.
No intense gray eyes that made me feel like I was being read too easily.
Just work.
Just routine.
Just me.
Evelyn was already in the kitchen when I walked out.
She looked up immediately.
“You look tired,” she said.
“I didn’t sleep,” I replied honestly.
She frowned slightly.
“Bad night?”
I hesitated.
“Just thinking too much.”
She studied me for a moment, then handed me a cup of tea.
“Drink this. And stop overthinking things you can’t control.”
I almost laughed.
If only it was that simple.
The office felt normal.
Too normal.
Emails.
Meetings.
Paperwork.
Everything exactly as it should be.
But my mind kept drifting.
At one point, I stared at my screen for almost five minutes without reading a single word.
“Zara?”
I blinked.
My coworker was looking at me.
“You okay? You’ve been zoning out.”
I forced a small smile.
“Yeah… just tired.”
But I wasn’t tired.
I was distracted.
And I hated it.
Because I couldn’t explain why a man I met once was taking up so much space in my head.
By lunchtime, I made the mistake of checking my phone.
No reason.
Just instinct.
No messages, no calls.
Nothing.
And somehow… I still checked twice like something might appear if I stared hard enough.
“What is wrong with me?” I muttered under my breath.
It was just a man. Just Lucien Duro.
But my body didn’t seem interested in listening to logic.
That evening, as I walked home, my thoughts replayed everything again.
The gala.
The champagne.
His voice.
“Get in.”
I stopped walking for a second.
The memory felt too clear.
Too close.
“No,” I whispered to myself, shaking my head slightly.
Like I could erase it.
Like I could undo the moment I met him.
But I couldn’t.
And instead of feeling relieved that I walked away…
I just felt restless.
Like I had stepped out of something I didn’t fully understand yet.
Something I probably should have been afraid of.
When I got home, Evelyn was sitting in the living room.
She looked up immediately.
“You’re doing it again,” she said.
I frowned.
“Doing what?”
“That face. Something happened.”
I dropped my bag and sighed.
“Nothing happened.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Zara.”
I hesitated.
Then slowly sat beside her.
“…I met someone.”
That got her attention.
She turned fully now.
“What kind of someone?”
I opened my mouth.
Closed it again.
Because how do you explain someone like Lucien Duro?
So I kept it simple.
“A man at a gala.”
Evelyn narrowed her eyes.
“Rich?”
“…Yes.”
She leaned back immediately.
“No.”
I blinked.
“No what?”
“No rich men.”
I almost smiled.
“This one was different.”
She gave me a look.
“They are always ‘different’ at first.”
I sighed.
“I didn’t say I like him.”
But even as I said it…
My chest tightened slightly.
Because that wasn’t entirely true.
And that made me uncomfortable.
Lucien’s POV
I didn’t usually think about women after leaving them.
That wasn’t how I worked.
But Zara Montgomery stayed in my mind longer than expected.
Not because she was easy to impress.
But because she wasn’t.
She looked at me like my name didn’t mean anything to her.
That was rare.
And rare things usually didn’t stay unnoticed in my world.
I sat in my office later that night, staring at documents I hadn’t read in minutes.
Jaden noticed immediately.
“You’re distracted,” he said.
I didn’t look up.
“No.”
He smirked.
“That sounded like a lie.”
I finally looked at him.
“Find anything yet?”
“About the girl?”
“Yes.”
Jaden dropped a file on my desk.
“Zara Montgomery. Twenty-four. Works in marketing. Lives in a small apartment downtown. No criminal record. No connections to anyone important.”
He paused slightly.
“Completely normal.”
Normal.
The word didn’t sit right.
Because nothing about her felt normal.
The way she stood her ground.
The way she didn’t smile to impress.
The way she said no without hesitation.
That wasn’t normal in my world.
That was… dangerous in a different way.
Jaden watched me carefully.
“So what now?”
I leaned back slowly.
And for the first time that night…
I smiled.
“Now I see her again.”
Jaden sighed.
“I knew you were going to say that.”
But I wasn’t finished.
My fingers tapped lightly against the table.
“She thinks she can walk away.”
I glanced toward the window.
City lights stretched across the dark skyline.
“Let’s see how long that lasts.”
Zara’s POV
Lucien’s words stayed in my head longer than they should have.
“Let’s see how long that lasts.”
I didn’t know why it unsettled me.
But it did.
Because it didn’t sound like a promise.
It sounded like a decision.
Later that night, I stood in front of the mirror.
Same face.
Same life.
Same everything.
But something felt slightly off.
Like I had stepped into a story without realizing it.
I touched my chest lightly and exhaled.
“It’s nothing,” I whispered.
But even as I said it…
I didn’t believe it.
Because somewhere deep down…
It felt like something had already started moving.
And I was no longer standing outside it..
- Writer
