Midnight With The CEO

"I've told you this a hundred times - I don't know what you're talking about." Lina kept her voice even. "And I've also told you we can just get a divorce. There's no reason for us to keep doing this to each other."

She meant it. She'd even mapped it out in her head - how they could both walk away cleanly, live separate lives, be better off. Simple.

Julian laughed. Not a warm laugh.

"Your father came to me on his knees, Lina. Begged me to marry you and wipe out every debt your family owed." He let go of her wrist and stepped back, looking her over like she was something he'd bought at a discount. "Nobody told me what I was getting. Now the debt's paid and you want out? Keep dreaming." He turned toward the closet, done with the conversation. "I'll divorce you when I feel like it. Not a day sooner."

About half an hour later, a dress landed on the bed beside her.

"Wear that tonight. We have a business dinner." He didn't look at her when he said it. "Look the part. My dear wife."

---

He didn't tell her where they were going or who they were meeting. They rode in silence the whole way there, and that was fine with Lina. In public, Julian transformed - charming, polished, the picture of a successful man with a happy marriage. She'd learned to match his energy without thinking twice about it. It cost her nothing, and it kept the peace.

Besides, on the nights he was in a good mood playing the devoted husband, he usually didn't come home afterward. And that suited her just fine.

It had been different once - briefly. Before the wedding, Julian had been attentive, even sweet. Then they'd gone in for a routine medical checkup, and something in the results had shifted everything. He'd never been the same after that. And he'd never let her forget it.

"We're meeting Damian Cross tonight," Julian said as they pulled up to the restaurant. His voice went flat and businesslike. "He runs Cross Conglomerate. I'm trying to lock in a subcontract. You know what to do."

"Of course." Lina straightened her dress. "Smile, look happy, make you look good."

The blankness in her tone clearly annoyed him. He said nothing.

---

They arrived at Illuminate Restaurant just before seven and were shown to a private dining room. Their guest hadn't arrived yet, and Lina felt a headache coming on, so she slipped out to the restroom.

When she came back twenty minutes later and pushed open the door, there was a man already seated at the head of the table.

Julian was talking - or trying to. The man across from him wasn't giving much back.

Lina took him in quickly. Dark suit, relaxed posture, the kind of stillness that came not from having nothing to say but from not feeling the need to say it. He was turning a lighter over slowly in his fingers, not quite paying attention - until she walked in.

Then he looked up.

"Lina, come sit down." Julian shifted smoothly into his public persona. "This is Damian Cross. Damian, my wife - Lina Hart."

Something moved across Damian's face. Quiet. Controlled. His eyes stayed on her for just a second longer than necessary, and then the corner of his mouth lifted.

He set the lighter down.

"Mrs. Kane." His voice was low, unhurried, with just enough warmth in it to be dangerous. "Small world."

Lina blinked. *Small world?* She'd never met this man before in her life - had she?

She covered the moment smoothly, picked up her glass and drank as an apology for being late. Then, sensing the tension sitting thick between the two men, she reached for the bottle and turned to Damian.

"Let me pour you one."

He tilted his head slightly, watching her. "You're doing that yourself, Mrs. Kane?"

"Do you mind?"

A beat of silence. Then Damian picked up his glass and drank - unhurried, easy, like he had all the time in the world.

By the end of the meal, the deal was done.

---

Julian excused himself to find the server and handle the bill, leaving Lina and Damian alone in the private room.

The quiet that settled between them was a different kind - heavier, more deliberate. Damian leaned back in his chair, completely at ease, watching her with that calm, unreadable expression.

"You really don't recognize me?" he said finally. His voice was low. Almost amused.

Lina frowned. "Should I?"

He didn't answer right away. Instead he stood - unhurried - and closed the distance between them and hugged her from behind. When he spoke again, his voice had dropped to just above a whisper.

"Think harder."