Ownership of the heart

The morning sun didn't just peek through Aria's bedroom curtains; it stabbed at her eyes with the vengeful force of a thousand needles.

Aria groaned, burying her face into her pillow. Her head felt like it had been used as a practice drum for a heavy metal band, and her mouth tasted like she'd spent the night licking old pennies. Memories of the "Blue Moon Lounge" came back in jagged, terrifying fragments: Maya's neon-pink sequins, the smell of expensive gin, and...

The Heater Guy.

Aria sat up so fast the world tilted at a forty-five-degree angle. "Oh, no," she whispered, clutching her forehead. "I did it. I actually did it."

She remembered a lap. A very firm, very warm lap. She remembered poking a jawline that felt like carved marble. She remembered calling a man who looked like he could command a private army a "meanie."

"Aria? You awake? Or should I start planning the funeral for your dignity?"

Maya walked in, already dressed for work, holding two cups of coffee and looking suspiciously energetic. Leo was right behind her, leaning against the doorframe with an expression of pure, unadulterated shock.

"How much did I do?" Aria croaked, reaching for the coffee. "On a scale of 'mildly embarrassing' to 'need to move to a different continent'?"

"You passed 'different continent' somewhere around the time you sat on that guy's lap and told him he was loud," Leo said, his voice unusually high-pitched. "Aria, do you have any idea who that was?"

"He's a lawyer? Or a VP? He works for Blackwood," Aria said, waving a hand dismissively. "He's the heater guy from the elevator. He's nice. He's... quiet."

"Quiet?" Maya shrieked, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Aria, that wasn't a VP. We Googled him. Well, Leo Googled him while I was trying to make sure the security guards didn't tackle you."

"And?"

Leo walked over and dropped his phone onto her lap. It was a Wikipedia page. At the top was a grainy, high-res photo of the man from the bar. He was wearing a tuxedo, looking cold, lethal, and devastatingly handsome.

KILLIAN BLACKWOOD. CEO OF BLACKWOOD GLOBAL. KING OF THE-

The rest of the text blurred. Aria's heart stopped. Then it did a backflip. Then it stopped again.

"That's him," she whispered, her face turning a ghostly shade of white. "That's the elevator guy. That's the guy who let me drool on him for four hours. That's the guy... I just sat on."

"Bingo," Leo said. "You didn't just insult the CEO, Aria. You treated a trillionaire like a sofa."

"I have to resign," Aria said, throwing the covers off. "I have to move. I have to change my name to Brenda and start a new life as a goat farmer in the mountains."

"Wait!" Maya grabbed her arm. "Check your phone. You got a notification a few minutes ago. I think your bank is glitching."Aria fumbled for her phone on the nightstand. Her screen flickered to life. A notification from her banking app was sitting there, mocking her.

[New Transaction: +$1,000,000,000.00]

Aria stared. She blinked. She rubbed her eyes and stared again. "It... it says I have a billion dollars."

"It's not a glitch," Leo whispered, pointing at the transaction details. "Read the note."

Aria's thumb trembled as she tapped the screen.

Sender: Blackwood Private Trust Message: Settlement for 'emotional trauma' and 'elevator negligence.' Keep the dental plan. Please stop calling me a robot. - K.B.

The silence in the room was deafening. Aria looked at the screen, then at her friends, then back at the screen. A billion dollars. One followed by nine zeros."He... he paid me," Aria whispered. "I told him I'd milk him for billions, and he just... he just gave it to me?"

"Aria," Maya said, her voice trembling with excitement. "You aren't a manager anymore. You're... you're a billionaire."

"No," Aria said, a sudden spark of her usual fire returning through the hangover. "I'm a target. He thinks he can just throw money at me so I'll stop insulting him? He thinks he can buy my silence after he let me think he was just some guy?"

"Uh, for a billion dollars? Yes?" Leo said. "I would let him throw a brick at my head for a billion dollars."

Aria stood up, her jaw set. "No. This is 'fuck you' money. He thinks he's winning. He thinks he's in control."

...........

Aria's bravado lasted exactly until the elevator doors opened on the 50th floor.

The air up here didn't just smell like money; it felt heavy, vibrating with a power she couldn't explain. The walls were dark obsidian, the floors a polished white marble that reflected her nervous face. By the time she reached the massive, double oak doors with the gold 'B' engraved on them, her knees felt like jelly.

You have a billion dollars, Aria. You're practically his peer now. Don't faint, she told herself.

She knocked. It was a small, pathetic sound.

"Come in," a voice rumbled from inside. It wasn't a question; it was a command that seemed to pull her forward.

Aria pushed the door open. Killian was standing by a floor-to-ceiling window, his back to her. The city looked like a toy set beneath his feet. He didn't turn around immediately, and the silence stretched until Aria felt like she was going to scream.

"Mr. Blackwood," she started, her voice sounding far more high-pitched than she wanted.

He turned. Slow. Deliberate. He looked even more imposing than he had in the bar. "Miss Vance. I expected you thirty minutes ago."

Aria fumbled with her bag, pulling out her phone. "The money. The billion dollars. You... you can't do that."

Killian tilted his head, his blue eyes tracking the way she was trembling. "The transaction was successful. The funds are yours."

"It's too much!" Aria took a brave step forward, though she felt like a rabbit walking into a wolf's den.

"Last year, a machine fell on a floor manager's leg and nearly broke it in three places. The company gave him five hundred thousand dollars. I got stuck in a lift and had a sniffle. Why am I worth a billion?"

Killian moved then. He didn't walk; he glided, closing the distance between them until he was looming over her, a wall of sandalwood and expensive wool.

"Because," he whispered, his voice dropping into that dangerous, honey-thick register. "His leg was just a leg. You... you called me a 'robot.' You told me I run on cold batteries."

Aria's face went up in flames. "I was... I was delirious. The fever-""And in the lounge?" Killian stepped closer, forcing her to take a step back until her heels hit his mahogany desk. He leaned down, his face inches from hers, a predatory smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You sat on my lap in front of my board of directors. You told me I was 'loud.' You told me I should be the boss because the actual CEO is a 'meanie.'"

"I was JUSTICE-ATED!" Aria squeaked, trying to duck under his arm.

Killian blocked her path, his hand slamming onto the desk beside her head. He didn't touch her, but the heat radiating off him was overwhelming. He was cornering her, his eyes flashing with that strange, golden light again.

"You said you were going to milk me for billions, Aria," he murmured, his breath hot against her ear. "I'm simply making the process easier for you. I don't like to be kept waiting.

"Aria's heart was drumming against her ribs. She looked at his lips, then back at his eyes, and panicked. "I-I have to go. I have... filing. In the archives. Very important filing!"

She dove under his other arm, her heart in her throat. Killian didn't chase her; he just turned and watched her scramble toward the door, his hands slipping casually into his pockets.

"The archives are on the twentieth floor, Aria!" he called out, his voice full of dark amusement. "Don't get stuck in the elevator on your way down!"

Aria didn't look back. She sprinted out of the office, past a grinning Jax, and didn't stop until she was back in the safety of her cubicle, her face so red she looked like a tomato.