THE FILE

The city was silent beneath the weight of Adrian's thoughts. The last few days had felt like an endless stretch of uncertainty, each minute pulling him deeper into something he hadn't expected and didn't want to acknowledge.

He sat in his study, the thick leather chair creaking under his weight. The glow of his desk lamp was soft against the darkening room, casting long shadows across the floor.

The file was open before him. Lily's file.

The one Chloe had brought him.

It wasn't much, just a handful of pages, a series of facts stitched together from public records, temp agency notes, and the occasional scrap of information she had managed to dig up.

Still, it was enough.

Her degree in psychology was a surprise, and a dangerous one. Adrian's fingers hovered over the words, tracing the faint lines of ink.

A degree in psychology?

It didn't match the girl who'd delivered food to the hospital, her face hidden beneath the weight of too much grief. The girl who wandered the world like she was trying to disappear.

But it made sense. Of course it did. People like Lily, they didn't come from nowhere. They weren't just shaped by circumstances. They were born into those circumstances, molded by them in ways others couldn't always see.

Psychology.

It was a weapon, a shield, a window into a mind that Adrian wanted to understand but had no real clue how to navigate.

He turned the page slowly, reading her history. The cold facts, no direction and no job worth mentioning.

Her parents were gone. No siblings. No significant other.

Just Lily, all alone.

The silence in the room seemed to press against his chest. He felt a twinge of something, a sharp pang in his ribs. It was more than just curiosity now, more than just fascination.

He felt something else building beneath his ribs, an ache.

A need.

Adrian leaned back in his chair, staring at her resume again, running his fingers over the details, the simple, stark truth of it.

Lily Morgan, 22.

B.A. in Psychology.

No career path.

No roots.

No direction.

She was lost, completely lost.

Just like him.

And maybe that was what scared him. Because he saw too much of himself in her.

But unlike him, who had built his empire from the ground up, making himself untouchable, Lily had nothing. No plan. No safety net. No map to follow.

He had to admit it: he was drawn to her for reasons he couldn't yet untangle. And that was dangerous.

Adrian stood abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor as he crossed to the window. His reflection in the glass was like a dark shadow, a distorted figure in the dim light.

His pulse quickened.

His thoughts tangled.

There was a part of him that knew this wasn't just about curiosity anymore.

It was about control.

If he could give her something.

A job. A path.

He could pull her closer. Keep her in his orbit.

It wasn't about kindness.

It wasn't about saving her.

It was about possessing her.

A girl like Lily couldn't just float through life. She had to be anchored, grounded and controlled.

And maybe he was the one to do that. Maybe, just maybe he was the one who could give her a direction.

Adrian pulled his phone from his pocket, dialed Chloe's number without thinking.

It rang twice before she picked up.

"Sir?" Her voice was calm, businesslike, as always.

"I need you to arrange something," Adrian said, his voice clipped. "Find her. Give her a job."

Chloe's tone didn't change. "A job? Sir, you haven't mentioned her specifics since—"

"I know. But I'm giving her an entry-level position at WestCorp. No favoritism. She's to be treated like any other employee."

There was a brief pause on the line. Chloe was no fool. She knew what he was asking.

"Understood," she said, her voice unwavering. "I'll handle it."

He didn't give her any more instructions. He didn't need to.

Chloe knew exactly what he wanted.

Adrian hung up, his mind still churning with the decision. He stared down at the file in front of him, his finger grazing the edges of the paper.

She was going to be a part of his world. Whether she wanted it or not.

Adrian didn't do helplessness.

He didn't do uncertainty.

And Lily was both of those things in ways that unsettled him, that unsettled something deep inside him.

But he could fix it.

He could give her a purpose.

A direction.

She didn't have to know that she was playing right into his hands.

But she would. Eventually.

She'd realize it soon enough.

Adrian closed the file with a decisive snap, his fingers curling around the edges of the paper. He stood up again, crossing the room to the window.

His eyes drifted toward the lights of the city below, a thousand different lives unfolding in the dark.

But none of those lives mattered to him. Not right now.

Right now, there was only one thing that mattered.

Lily Morgan.

And the game was just beginning.