Under the cover of night, a sudden downpour lashed the city. Streetlights flickered in the wet puddles, like shattered neon.
Avery clutched a thick stack of design blueprints as she ran through the rain. At 168 cm tall, she appeared slender and graceful. Her black pencil skirt clung tightly to her legs, outlining the smooth, straight lines of her calves. Her waist was so narrow it could be held with one hand, and under the streetlights, her fair skin looked like translucent porcelain. Cool raindrops slid over the hollow of her collarbone and down her slender arms.
Her long, slightly wavy hair stuck to her neck and cheeks, dripping with rain. Her small, delicate nose was tinged with red, and her long, curled eyelashes were soaked, sticking together and making her clear, almond-shaped eyes even more striking, reflecting the cold light of the rainy night with a hint of stubbornness.
Her beauty was not the kind that dazzled instantly but rather the cold, fragile resilience of someone unwilling to bow their head, even when drenched by the rain—like a sparrow still fighting to fly through a storm.
She shielded the blueprints in her arms, her knuckles turning white from her tight grip. This was her first independent project in the six months since she joined Gu Corporation. Whether she could continue working there, whether she could afford her mother's dialysis and treatment, all depended on this.
Avery was born into an ordinary working-class family. Her father died in a car accident during her second year of high school, leaving her mother to support the family alone. Two years ago, her mother was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure, requiring regular dialysis and expensive medication to survive.
After graduating from university, Avery chose not to stay in her small hometown. Instead, she came to this city alone, hoping to enter a top-tier company like Gu Corporation to earn a stable income so her mother could receive better treatment, no matter how hard it would be for herself.
She knew how difficult it was to survive in Gu Corporation's design department—a battlefield where backstabbing, project snatching, and harsh overtime were daily occurrences. But she had no right to complain about hardship. All she could do was grit her teeth and stand her ground.
"Ding—"
Her phone lit up with a message from the project manager on WeChat:
[There's a problem with the proposal. President Gu wants to see you. Immediately.]
Avery's breath caught, her pupils contracting slightly.
She took a deep breath, closed her umbrella, and ran back into the rain. The cold raindrops stung her face, making her shiver, but she simply pressed her lips together and rushed to the roadside to hail a cab.
Rain drummed against the car windows. A black Maybach sat quietly in front of the Gu Corporation building, its body shimmering under the rain.
The window slowly rolled down, revealing the man's cold, angular profile.
Lucien, twenty-eight years old, the sole heir to Gu Corporation. Powerful, indifferent, and taciturn, his domineering personality bordered on paranoia, yet in the industry, there was no one who dared defy him.
He stood close to 190 cm, with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, long legs straight and imposing. His suit was impeccably tailored, emphasizing his sharp, commanding presence. His short black hair was slightly damp, strands clinging to the sides of his long neck. His cold, fair skin highlighted his striking features—deep brow bones, slightly upturned eyes, and dark, unfathomable eyes like a stormy sea in the night.
His thin lips, when pressed together, carried a natural coldness and oppressive aura, making people hold their breath even when he said nothing.
His gaze paused for half a second on Avery's drenched, disheveled figure before falling on the blueprints she clutched tightly in her arms. His deep, low voice carried a hint of danger:
"Get in."
Avery's breath hitched slightly. Her soaked high heels made a soft click as she opened the door and got in.
The moment the door closed, the sound of the rain was shut out.
Inside the car, the scent of cold cedar and leather mixed in the air, making each breath feel stretched thin.
Lucien's gaze fell on the strands of hair sticking to Avery's collarbone, a dark, unreadable glint flashing in his eyes as he spoke in a cold, calm voice:
"You can't even take care of yourself. How am I supposed to believe you can handle this proposal?"
Avery hugged the blueprints close to her chest, raindrops hanging from her eyelashes, her cheeks flushed pink, eyes filled with both defiance and determination.
"President Gu, I will get it done."
Lucien's long fingers tapped slowly on the leather armrest, his dark eyes deep and cold, carrying a dangerous, scrutinizing gaze.
"Avery, remember, you have no choice."
Avery lifted her eyes to meet his. The lights from the rainy night streamed through the window, illuminating her wet, yet clear and stubborn eyes.
Lucien looked into those eyes, and something in his chest tightened abruptly.
The car drove toward Gu Corporation's headquarters as the rain washed over the city's night.
Avery didn't know that this night would completely change her fate.
Nor did she know that this cold, paranoid man would become the abyss she could never escape.