The office was nearly silent by the time Amanda finished her work. The hum of printers had faded, the chatter of assistants long gone. Only the glow of the city lights spilled through the tall windows, painting the room in silver and shadow.
Amanda gathered her notes, intending to leave, when she noticed Greyson still at his desk. His jacket was draped over the back of his chair, his tie loosened, and his sleeves rolled up. He looked less like the untouchable billionaire and more like a man weighed down by the world.
"You're still here," Amanda said softly, surprised.
Greyson glanced up, his eyes tired but sharp. "So are you."
"I wanted to make sure everything was perfect for tomorrow," she admitted.
He leaned back, studying her. "Perfection again. You chase it like it's a prize."
Amanda hesitated. "Isn't that what you expect?"
Greyson's lips curved faintly, though it wasn't quite a smile. "I expect resilience. Perfection is a mask. Masks crack."
The words lingered in the air, heavier than she expected. Amanda set her notes down, curiosity overcoming her caution. "Do you ever take yours off?"
For a moment, Greyson didn't answer. He turned toward the window, the city sprawling beneath them like a kingdom of glass and steel. "When you build an empire, you don't get the luxury of weakness. People wait for cracks. They wait to exploit them."
Amanda stepped closer, her voice gentle. "That sounds... lonely."
Greyson's gaze shifted back to her, and in that instant, the distance between them felt smaller. "It is." His tone was quiet, almost vulnerable. "But loneliness is safer than betrayal."
Amanda's chest tightened. She wanted to say something, to bridge the gap between them, but the words caught in her throat. Instead, she simply met his gaze, letting the silence speak.
Greyson stood, moving toward the window. The city lights reflected in his eyes, a thousand stories flickering in the glass. "You're different, Amanda. You don't look at me the way they do. You don't see the billionaire. You see the man."
Her breath caught. "Maybe that's because I don't know the billionaire yet. Only the man who hired me."
Greyson's expression softened, just slightly. "Then maybe you'll be the first to know both."
The moment stretched, charged with something unspoken — a tension that was both dangerous and magnetic. Amanda felt it in the way his voice lowered, in the way his eyes lingered, in the way her pulse quickened.
Then, as if sensing the line they were about to cross, Greyson turned away. "Go home, Amanda. Tomorrow will come fast."
Amanda gathered her things, but as she left the office, she knew the night had changed something. Beneath Greyson Black's armor was a man who longed for connection, and against her better judgment, she was already falling into his orbit.