BUILDING SECURITY ACCESS LOG – 12:39 A.M.

Floor 40: Kir Lazarev [EXIT]

Floor 40: Lukas Lazarev [EXIT – unauthorized smoking detected]

Floor 40: Rae Everett [FROZEN IN PLACE]

I’m not sure how long I stand there after Lukas has gone before I snap back to my senses.

I look down at myself. Despite my best efforts, my blouse is still untucked and my hair is still an ungodly mess. The card he left in my hand feels like it weighs about a gazillion pounds.

What the hell just happened?

I replay the last hour in my head. Honestly, it’s a lot for a girl to process. Especially a girl whose brain has been reduced to lukewarm banana pudding by one hell of a bad day.

It all just happened so fast. One second, I was trying to remember whether the Tokyo office is thirteen or fourteen hours ahead of us here in New York; the next, Kir’s hands are on me, his mouth sealed to my neck, he’s purring filthy things that don’t belong in an office, my nipples are puckering out of sheer physical reaction to a man grinding himself into me, and even though I don’t think I feel that way about him, he’s still a gorgeous man, objectively speaking, and the longer I went without shoving him off, the closer he came and the more my stupid, virginal body wanted to just melt, melt, melt…

And then his father.

His father.

Appearing out of nowhere like smoke. Like a bad dream. As if the universe decided my birthday hadn’t been humiliating enough already, so why not throw a gorgeous, intimidating older man into the mix so I could embarrass myself in front of him?

I turn and rest my forehead against the window. The glass is icy to the touch and it fogs when I exhale. My reflection looks back at me: flushed cheeks high and pink, swollen lips, eyes stuck too wide.

I look like someone who just got caught doing something she shouldn’t.

Because I did.

Kind of.

Didn’t I?

God, I don’t know anymore.

My stomach churns. I can still feel the ghost of Kir’s fingers on my skin. My nostrils are still full of his cologne, cinnamon and fire. But even though I’m a muddle of a million things right now, I know it’s not really Kir that has me feeling so frazzled.

It’s a man of ice. It’s cigarette smoke and the memory of gray eyes that burned the way you get burned by the coldest water you’ve ever felt.

I shake myself out of it. Standing here mooning over what just happened isn’t going to change anything. It will probably just make things worse, in all likelihood.

I tuck my blouse back into the waistband of my skirt, try to do damage control on the wrinkles, and rearrange my hair into something slightly less disastrous.

Lukas’s card goes into my pocket. I’ll deal with that later. Or never. Preferably never.

My coat is hanging on the back of my chair. I grab it. My bag is under my desk where I left it this morning, back when I was just a sweet, naive summer child. I grab that, too.

The office is eerily quiet. It’s like walking through a forbidden graveyard as I head for the elevator. Even on the carpet, my foot strikes are loud enough to make me cringe.

I press the button to summon the elevator, step back to wait…

Then a hand flies out from the darkness to grab me by the elbow.

I scream and spin around.

It’s Kir. He’s ghostly in the shadows. His tie is gone now. His shirt is half-untucked. He looks like hell.

“Rae. Wait.”

“Jesus!” I yank my arm back. “You scared me.”

“I’m sorry. I just— I needed to talk to you.”

“Where did you even come from?”

He gestures vaguely toward the hallway, the one that leads to the back stairs. “I didn’t leave. I just… I couldn’t. Not without explaining.”

“Explaining what?”

He chews at his lip. “You talked to my father.”

“I, uh… Yeah?”

“What did he say to you?”

“Huh?

“After I left,” he snaps, like I’m being deliberately dense. “What did he say?”

“I don’t know.” I shake my head, still confused. “He offered me a job.”

His eyes bug out. “Did you accept?”

“Huh?”

Kir’s grip tightens on my wrist, hard enough to hurt. “Ow! Kir, let go.”

“Did. You. Accept?”

“I don’t know! He didn’t really give me a choice.”

“There’s always a choice, Rae.” Strangely enough, he sounds just like his dad when he says that.

But unlike Lukas, Kir’s eyes are wild and darting. This is nothing like the calm, controlled corporate titan I thought I worked for. This man knows something I don’t. “You can still say no. You can quit. Tomorrow. Tonight. Fuck, you could quit right now.”

“Quit?” I try to pull my arm free, but this time, he won’t let go. “I can’t just quit. I need this job.”

“You don’t understand.” He stoops closer. His breath is hot on my face. “My father isn’t… He’s not what you think he is.”

“I don’t think he’s anything. I just met him. I barely know him.”

“Exactly. And you should keep it that way.”

The elevator chimes as it arrives behind me. The doors open. Neither of us moves.

“Kir,” I say as panic rises in my chest, “you’re scaring me.”

He looks down at his hand on my wrist and his eyes widen. He almost seems surprised to find it there. He lets go.

“Sorry.” He runs his fingers through his hair again. It’s sticking up at strange angles now. “Fuck, sorry. Just…” He trails off.

“What is going on with you?” I ask.

He laughs bitterly. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

He doesn’t. Instead, he takes a step back. Then another. Putting distance between us like I’m the dangerous one.

“If you say yes,” he says, “when you go to the fiftieth floor, when you meet with him, just… be careful.”

“Careful of what?”

He glances around like Lukas might be in the vicinity. That’s almost funny—the thought that we could overlook a man that huge or that foreboding. “My father collects things he finds interesting, Rae.”

A sudden chill runs down my spine. “What does that mean?”

“It means what it means.” He’s retreating further now. Backing toward the shadows he came from. “I tried to warn you. Remember that.”

“Kir, wait⁠—”

But he doesn’t. He disappears, swallowed up by the darkness of the hallway. I hear his footsteps on the back stairs, fast and fading, then gone altogether.

The elevator doors start to close. I shove my hand between them just in time and step in.

As I do, I shiver. I don’t quite know why. I’ve done five years’ worth of rides up and down in this brightly lit box. This time feels different than all the others, though.

It feels like something’s changing.

I hit the button for the lobby. My reflection looks back at me from the mirrored walls. Gaunt-eyed, weary, and shook.

He collects things he finds interesting. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

Does that mean me?

Some content on the website is uploaded by users. If it infringes on your rights, please contact us.