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“It’s thorough,” I corrected. “I don’t leave anything to chance, Sutton. Not with investments, not with acquisitions, and certainly not with people who intrigue me.”

“Intrigue?” She let out a laugh that didn’t have a trace of humor in it. “Is that what you call this?”

I moved closer to her and I couldn’t help but enjoy the fact that neither one of us was backing down. “Call it whatever you like. But consider this: I could have destroyed you three years ago with a single phone call. Instead, I chose to study you. To learn everything there is to know about you.”

“To control me,” she shot back.

“To possess you,” I clarified. “There’s a difference.”

She turned toward the screen again, and I could see the calculations happening behind those brown eyes including her trying to figure out how she was going to get out of this situation. “How many others are there?” she asked quietly.

“Others?”

“How many other women have you stalked? Manipulated? Acquired?”

The smirk appeared on my face again. “You think this is a pattern for me? That I make a habit of this?”

“Don’t you?”

I moved into her space once more. “There are no others, Sutton. Just you.”

She looked up at me and I could see the mixture of disbelief and suspicion in her eyes. “Why me?”

“Because you’re extraordinary,” I said simply. “From the moment you derailed my acquisition, something no one had managed to do in over a decade, I knew you were different.”

“So you decided to own me?”

“I decided I needed to know everything about you. I decided you were mine later.”

Sutton stepped back, putting distance between us as she grabbed her jacket from the floor. “I’m not yours.”

“Your body has said otherwise,” I replied. “Multiple times including in the alleyway and just a few moments ago.”

Her eyes flashed with anger once more. “Don’t you dare use that against me.”

“The truth is rarely what people want to hear even when they say they do,” I said. “Your body responds to me because it recognizes what your mind refuses to acknowledge.”

Sutton’s jaw clenched and I could tell she was barely holding it together. “What you’ve done is illegal. This is harassment, invasion of privacy⁠—”

“And yet here you are, in my office, having just let me fuck you on my desk.” I moved to block her path to the door. “You came here today for a reason, Sutton. And I don’t think it was for a tour.”

Her eyes widened slightly. Bingo.

“Tell me why you’re really here,” I demanded.

“I told you⁠—”

“Don’t lie to me.” My voice dropped lower. “You’re not very good at it.”

She hesitated, and I could see her weighing her options. Finally, she spoke after several seconds. “Dana Liu called me,” she admitted. “She mentioned acquisition documents from two years ago. Documents that specifically named me so I wanted to know if it was true.”

So that’s what this was about. Liu had gotten closer than I’d anticipated. I’d have to deal with the ramifications of that later.

“And you thought you’d come here and what? Hack into my computer? Search my office?” I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re more reckless than I gave you credit for.”

“I needed to know if it was true and now I do.”

“Does the confirmation satisfy you?”