C9 Loose control
ALARIC
I should have stayed away.
Every instinct in me screamed to keep my distance, to treat her like every other spoiled heiress who thought the world bent to her will. But Sydney Stallone wasn’t like every other woman. She was chaos wrapped in silk, fire wrapped in perfume. And the more I tried to ignore her, the more she pressed against the walls I had built.
I sat in my office, flipping through files that had nothing to do with business and everything to do with my investigation. Twenty-four years of dead ends. Twenty-four years of names, addresses, and transactions tied to Stallone Enterprises. All circling back to one unanswered question—who killed Sophia, and why?
But even with the papers spread across my desk, my mind wasn’t on Sophia’s murder. It was on Sydney.
The way she marched through the building this morning, chin high, every eye glued to her. The way she stopped in front of me, smiled like she already owned me, and demanded I call her Sydney.
I should’ve been irritated. I was irritated. But underneath it was something worse.
I almost smiled.
I almost gave in.
I cursed under my breath and shoved the file away. My reflection in the glass wall glared back at me, pale, controlled, a predator in a suit. I couldn’t afford this distraction.
Because the truth was… I was already losing control.
---
Sophia used to do the same thing. Walk into a room and command it without trying. Tilt her head, grin at me, dare me to challenge her.
Sydney had the same fire in her veins. The same spark in her eyes.
And it terrified me.
Because Sophia had been the only woman I hadn’t ruined with my curse. The only one I hadn’t drained. And Sydney—God help me—felt like fate trying to tempt me again.
But fate was cruel.
---
“Thinking too hard again?”
Maya’s voice broke through my thoughts. She slipped into my office, carrying a folder, her eyes sharp as ever.
I leaned back in my chair, composing myself. “What is it?”
She dropped the folder onto my desk. “Financials. But don’t pretend you were reading the files in front of you. You were brooding again.”
I gave her a look. “Do you have nothing better to do than watch me?”
Her lips quirked. “Watching you is my full-time job.” She paused, her gaze narrowing. “It’s her, isn’t it? Sydney.”
I said nothing.
“That’s a yes,” Maya said flatly, plopping into the chair opposite me. “You kissed her.”
My throat tightened. “I didn’t—”
“Please.” Maya rolled her eyes. “I can smell her perfume all over you.”
I froze.
Maya leaned forward, her voice dropping. “She’s dangerous, Alaric. Not because she knows what you are—because she doesn’t. But because she could be the one to break you. And if you break…”
Her eyes flicked, just briefly, to the files on my desk. To Sophia’s name.
I clenched my jaw. “I won’t let her close.”
Maya studied me for a long moment. “You already have.”
She stood, leaving me in silence again.
---
The next day in the office. We were at the conference room
The executives gathered, droning on about quarterly reports and new campaigns. I barely heard them. My focus narrowed on the head of the table.
Sydney.
She was pretending to listen, nodding occasionally, but her eyes kept flicking toward me. Testing me. Smirking when she caught me looking.
I hated that smirk.
I wanted to wipe it off her face.
I wanted to kiss it away.
Her laugh suddenly rang out, low and amused, as she whispered something to her PA. Every man in the room stiffened, desperate for her attention. And yet her eyes—green and sharp—kept locking on mine.
The air thickened.
And in that instant, I knew.
If I didn’t find a way to shut her out, she would destroy me.
Just like Sophia’s death had.
---
But as the meeting ended and she brushed past me, her perfume flooding my senses, she leaned in close—too close—and whispered:
“You’ll be mine, Alaric. Whether you like it or not.”
Then she walked away, her heels clicking like gunshots, leaving me standing in the wreckage of my own control.
I closed my eyes, gripping the table until it cracked beneath my hand.
Because part of me wanted her words to be true.
---
