The sound of the double oak doors splintering under Ace Kane’s boot was still echoing through the executive floor when Willow finally reached the threshold. She had sprinted from her desk with the frantic desperation of a prey animal, her movements so uncoordinated in her panic that she had sent one of her silver high heels flying down the corridor. She stood there now, breathless and disheveled, one stockinged foot pressing against the cold marble, staring in absolute horror at the wreckage of the entrance.
But her presence was a mere afterthought to Ace Kane. As he stepped over the ruined wood and into the inner sanctum of Skyline Dynamics, he spared her only a fleeting, mischievous glance. He offered a slow, deliberate wink—a gesture of playful provocation that felt like a localized el
