Sera didn’t say anything. She didn’t glance at him like she’d done it on purpose. She looked out the window, steady and composed, as if her own body wasn’t a weaponshe carried.
But she had toknow.
She was gorgeous in a way that wasn’t cultivated. She didn’t dress like she was asking for attention. She dressed like she expected to be taken seriously.And people still looked.
Alaric had noticed the first time she’d walked into a meeting and half the room forgot what they were doing. He’d also noticed the way she never used it. Never leaned on it. Never manipulated.Warm and kind and generous-hearted, yes.Also sharp ashell.
His house rose out of the darkness behind a discreet gate. Modern. Minimal. Designed to disappear rather than impress. Privacy over warmth. Security over comfort.
When he brought people here, it was never personal. Tonight was no different. Until itwas.
The system recognized his car and the metal gate slid back without a sound. Alaric drove the long private stretch up to the house, the modern structure rising out of the dark like a refusal to becozy.
Sera glanced at it once. Justonce.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s exactly what I expected,” shesaid.
“And whatdid you expect?”
She hesitated, then answered honestly. “Something beautiful that doesn’t invite anyone in.”
Alaric’s mouth tightened. That was too accurate to be comfortable.He pulled into the garage and cut the engine. Silence dropped around them.For a moment, neither moved.They could’ve stayed in the car. They could’ve pretended the shift in atmosphere wasn’treal.
Sera unbuckled first.
Alaric followed, and the spell broke.
He led her inside without commentary, through clean lines and quiet rooms that held no personal clutter. The house didn’t tell stories. It guarded them.When they reached the secure office door, Alaric keyed in the code and pressed his palm to the biometric reader. The lock clickedopen.
Sera’s gaze flicked to his hand, then back to hisface.
“Last chance,” he said, tone neutral.
“To do what?” she asked.
“To tell me if you’re not comfortable being here.”
Sera’s eyes softened, warmth steady behind her professionalism. “I’mcomfortable being here,” she said quietly. “I just know exactly what kind of risk I’m taking.”
He held her gaze for a beat, then nodded once and stepped aside.”Then we work.” The data didn’t leave her possession, and he didn’t allow copies. That rule had been carved into him since the very beginning of Severin Holdings.
The secure office hummed to life around them. No wireless signals. No external connections. Just hard lines, locked cabinets, and systems that answered only to physical presence. The room smelled faintly of clean metal and lemonoil.
Sera rolled up her sleeves and settled in like she belonged there.
They worked.
Hours slipped past unnoticed.At first, it was clean. Screens. Commands. Quiet conversation that stayed strictly inside the problem. Sera seated herself at the second workstation, posture straight, shoulders relaxed, fingers moving with speed. Alaric watched the first few sequences run, the system responding the way it always did when someone competent touchedit.
Competence was the first spark of attraction, sharp and unexpected,the moment he realized he trusted her mind before he ever noticed herbody.
It shouldn’t have been.
Alaric had built his life on not being moved by things that didn’t matter. Work mattered. Control mattered. Outcome mattered.
Sera mattered in a way that didn’t fit neatly inside any category he liked.
