The private elevator to the thirty-fourth floor required a keycard.
I didn't have one.
I stood there for a full minute like an idiot, dripping peppermint tea on Italian marble, before a black-suited security guard appeared out of nowhere and silently swiped his card for me.
The doors closed. Smooth jazz started playing.
I wanted to throw up.
Thirty-four floors. Thirty-four seconds too many to imagine every possible way this could go wrong.
He knows.
He knows about the baby.
He's going to fire me.
Or worse, he's going to demand I get rid of it.
My hand instinctively went to my still-flat stomach. The tiny life inside me fluttered (or maybe that was just panic). Either way, something fierce flared in my chest.
No.
He doesn't get to decide anything for us.
The elevator dinged. The doors slid open directly into a private lobby the size of my entire apartment. Floor-to-ceiling windows, black marble, one massive obsidian desk with no one behind it.
And him.
Noctis Lysander stood at the window, hands in his pockets, city sprawling beneath him like he owned it. He probably did.
He didn't turn around when I stepped out.
"Close the door," he said.
I did. The click sounded final.
Silence stretched until I couldn't take it anymore.
"Look, Mr. Lysander, whatever you think—"
He spun so fast I flinched.
Golden eyes pinned me in place. "You left."
Two words. Low. Dangerous.
I swallowed. "It was a one-night stand. People leave. That's how it works."
He stalked forward, slow, deliberate. "You left before I woke up. Before I could give you my name. Before I could make you breakfast." Another step. "Before I could ask you to stay."
My back hit the elevator doors. Nowhere to run.
"I didn't think you'd want me to stay," I whispered. "You left a black card, not a phone number."
A muscle ticked in his jaw. "I left you the only card that matters. Every door in this city opens with it. Including mine."
He stopped inches away. Close enough that I had to crane my neck. Close enough that his scent wrapped around me like it had that night—cedar, winter, something dark and addictive.
His gaze dropped to my stomach, then back to my face.
"You're pregnant."
Not a question.
I lifted my chin. "Yes."
"Mine."
My heart slammed against my ribs. "Biologically, maybe. That doesn't give you rights—"
His hand shot out—not to grab me, but to gently, reverently rest against my stomach. Warmth spread from his palm like liquid sunlight.
The second his skin touched me, something inside me snapped into place. A golden thread I couldn't see but could suddenly feel, tugging hard behind my ribs.
His eyes widened. Pupils blown wide, gold bleeding into black.
"Fuck," he breathed, voice shaking for the first time. "I knew it that night. I felt it. But this… you're carrying my pup."
Pup. Not baby. Pup.
I tried to step back; the doors wouldn't let me.
"Listen, I don't know what kind of role-play kink you're into, but—"
He dropped to his knees.
Actually dropped. The most powerful man I'd ever met sank to the marble floor in a three-thousand-dollar suit and pressed his forehead to my stomach like he was praying.
The golden thread pulled tighter. Tears burned my eyes for no reason.
"I'm sorry," he whispered against my shirt. "I scared you that morning. I had to leave—urgent pack business. I thought I'd find you with the card. I looked everywhere."
Pack business. What the hell was he talking about?
His hands slid to my hips, holding me like I was made of glass.
"Stay," he said, voice rough. "Stay with me. Let me take care of you both."
I laughed—wet, broken, hysterical. "You don't even know my favorite color."
"Silver," he answered instantly. "Like the dress you wore when you let me ruin you."
My breath hitched.
He rose slowly, towering over me again, but his eyes weren't cold anymore. They were terrified.
"I'm trying not to be a monster here, Tanya." My name in his mouth sounded like a vow. "But if you walk away again, I will burn this city down to find you. So please… don't make me into that man."
The elevator dinged behind me, doors trying to open against my back.
I realized my hands were clutching his lapels like I was drowning.
I should say no.
I should run.
I should protect my baby from whatever insane world this man clearly lived in.
Instead I heard myself ask, "Do you have peppermint tea on this floor?"
His smile was small, stunned, and the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen.
"I'll have the entire city stripped of it by noon."