Naya sat at her kitchen table, heart pounding like a snare drum. The confrontation with Jun still echoed in her mind—the look in his eyes, the kiss that shouldn't have happened, and worst of all, the storm of guilt that followed. She wiped her face with trembling fingers, the silence of her apartment deafening.
Her phone buzzed.
> Message from: Unknown Number
"You don't know the man you love. Ask him about Zhang Holdings."
Her blood froze.
"Zhang Holdings?" she whispered aloud.
The name was unfamiliar. But her instincts screamed one thing: this was about Nian. Or rather, Zeyan Xu—the man with a life she clearly didn't fully know.
---
Jun sat in his suite, lights dimmed, a glass of scotch in hand. He stared at his phone, the glow of encrypted messages casting light across his face.
> Voice Note: "You're sure she'll follow the trail?" "She's curious now. Naya will dig. And once she sees the truth, she'll never trust Nian again."
Jun chuckled darkly. "Perfect."
His fingers moved to his photo gallery. A secret folder.
A photo of him and Nian from their extravagant days in Shanghai—Nian in a white silk shirt, top buttons open, Jun straddling him at the back of a limousine, champagne flutes between their fingers, and love in their eyes. The memory burned—beautiful and unforgiving.
But now? Now Jun wanted to burn it all down. Slowly.
---
Later that evening, Naya couldn't rest. She pulled out her laptop, keyed in Zhang Holdings. What she found made her throat dry.
A billionaire conglomerate. Based in Shanghai. Specialized in high-tech medical equipment. The CEO?
Nian Zeyan Xu.
Her vision blurred.
He'd never told her. Not once. She'd known he was well-off, yes, but this?
Nian was secretly the heir and CEO of Zhang Holdings, a man with international power—and he'd been walking around Juba and now Henan! as a humble surgeon?
Why?
She paced the room, anger and confusion twisting inside her. Her phone slipped from her fingers, and it buzzed again with a new message.
> "What else hasn't he told you, Naya?"
---
The next day, Jun found her at the hospital lounge. His presence was magnetic, a mix of silk and poison.
"You look like you didn't sleep," he said coolly.
"Not now, Jun."
But he leaned in, voice lower. "You looked up Zhang Holdings, didn't you?"
Her stomach flipped.
"You wanted me to find out," she spat. "Why?"
Jun's expression softened, oddly genuine. "Because you deserve the truth. I loved him once, Naya. But the Nian I knew… he's dangerous when cornered. You think you know his heart. I've seen what's buried beneath."
Naya's defenses trembled.
Jun stepped closer, the air between them electric with unspoken tension. His voice was barely a whisper now. "Don't let love blind you."
---
That night, Naya waited outside Nian's penthouse suite—invited but uncertain.
He opened the door, dressed casually, yet every inch of him screamed control and grace. He looked… powerful. Untouchable.
"Come in," he said.
Inside, the suite was nothing like she'd expected. Lavish. Expensive. It screamed CEO, not surgeon.
"You're the CEO of Zhang Holdings," she blurted. "Why did you lie to me?"
Nian's jaw flexed. "I didn't lie. I chose not to share."
"Why?"
"Because I wanted someone to love me for me, not my name, not my money. You were the first… the first person who made me feel human again."
Her heart twisted, but the betrayal still lingered.
"You should have told me."
"I was afraid," he admitted. "Afraid you'd run. Afraid you'd think everything between us was a game."
Tears welled in her eyes. "And Jun?"
He went still.
"That was a lifetime ago."
"But not forgotten."
Their eyes locked, the air charged. A dangerous silence.
And then—
---
Nian stepped forward, his fingers brushing her cheek.
"I only want you," he said, voice low and hoarse. "No lies. No walls."
Naya reached for him—and suddenly they were tangled in the heat of everything unsaid. She kissed him first, fierce and unrelenting, needing to feel the truth in his body.
Clothes were ripped, hands everywhere. The suite was chaos. Passion overtook them—on the sofa, against the marble wall, knocking over a lamp. Every kiss was both apology and possession.
"You're mine," he growled, lips at her throat. "Even when the world burns."
And Naya, breathless and lost in him, believed it.
---
Meanwhile, Jun sat on a rooftop, staring out at the night sky.
A new message buzzed.
> Unknown: "She's beginning to love him too much. Shall we start phase two?"
Jun's smile was razor-sharp. "Yes. Let's show them what it means to dance with the devil."