001 | The Billion Dollar Cash
The lobby of the Grand Atrium Hotel was not a place for people like Gisella Rahardjo. It was a place for people who wore watches that cost more than her apartment. Gisel clutched her portfolio, her heart hammering against her ribs. She was twenty minutes late for the meeting that was supposed to save her freelance career.
"Move, move, move," she whispered to herself, weaving through the clusters of wealthy tourists.
She didn't see the security team. She didn't see the man in the charcoal suit walking with the aura of a king. She was too busy looking at her phone, checking the floor number.
Her sneaker caught on the edge of a marble pedestal.
Time slowed down. Gisel’s arms flailed. Her portfolio flew open, sending her charcoal sketches sliding across the floor. But that wasn't the sound that stopped everyone's heart.
CRASH.
A massive, crystalline vase—a centerpiece that looked like it belonged in a museum—shattered into a million jagged pieces. Gisel hit the floor hard, her palms stinging from the impact.
Silence fell over the lobby. It was the kind of silence that preceded a storm.
"Do you have any idea what you just broke?"
The voice was low, smooth, and colder than the air conditioning. Gisel looked up. Standing over her was Adrian Dirgantara. He was taller than he looked on the news, and his eyes were a piercing, unforgiving grey.
"I... I’m so sorry," Gisel stammered, scrambling to her knees. She reached out instinctively to pick up a piece of glass, but a sharp edge sliced her finger. "It was an accident. I’ll pay for it."
Adrian looked at the blood on her finger, then at the wreckage. He didn't offer a hand. He didn't even blink. "You’ll pay for it? That vase was a custom commission from a glass artist in Venice. It’s worth four billion rupiah."
Gisel’s breath hitched. Four billion. She didn't even have four million in her bank account. "I... I can work it out. I’m an illustrator. I have—"
"You have nothing," Adrian interrupted, his gaze sweeping over her faded cardigan and messy hair. "You are a distraction. And in my world, distractions are expensive."
Gisel felt a surge of heat in her cheeks. The fear was still there, but his arrogance was starting to sting more than her cut finger. She stood up, dusting off her jeans. "I said I’d pay. You don't have to talk to me like I'm trash. I made a mistake, not a crime."
The assistants behind Adrian gasped. Nobody talked back to the CEO of Dirgantara Group.
Adrian took a step forward, invading her personal space. He smelled like expensive woodsmoke and power. He leaned down, his face inches from hers. "A mistake is dropping your coffee, Miss...?"
"Gisel," she spat out.
"Miss Gisel. This was a liability. And I don't let liabilities walk away." He turned to his assistant, Candra, without breaking eye contact with her. "Candra, take her ID. Don't let her leave until we have her address. I want a full background check on my desk by tonight."
"Wait!" Gisel cried as Candra stepped forward. "You can’t just hold me here!"
Adrian paused at the private elevator, his back to her. "I can do whatever I want. You broke my property. Now, you’re in my debt. And trust me, I always collect."
The elevator doors chimed and closed, swallowing him whole. Gisel stood in the middle of the lobby, surrounded by broken glass and the ruins of her best sketches. She had come here to find a job, but she had found a nightmare instead.
Her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a notification from her bank: Balance: Rp 450.000.
She looked at the glittering shards on the floor. She wasn't just in trouble. She was owned.
