Izzy_Star_3112

✦ SYNOPSIS ✦

Title: His Cunning Smile

Zayden Vale is everything the world worships—powerful, wealthy, and devastatingly charming. His easy smile fools the public, but those who work under him know the truth. Beneath the kindness lies a calculating mind, a heart made of stone, and a narcissist who believes no one is worth his time. Nicknamed “The Fox,” Zayden destroys competitors with a smile on his face and never lets anyone close enough to touch him.

Elara Blake is the daughter no one sees. The youngest in a family that only values power and image, she’s spent her life being ignored—shipped to distant schools, kept out of the spotlight, and treated like a placeholder. When her family needs a favor from Zayden Vale, they send her—not out of trust, but because she’s expendable.

But Zayden sees her. Not for what she can offer, but for the flicker in her eyes—the quiet fire, the silent defiance. She doesn’t worship him like others do. In fact, she challenges him without saying a word.

To him, she becomes a game.
To her, he becomes a danger she never saw coming.

What begins as a strategic alliance turns into a tangled web of secrets, manipulation, and desires neither of them expected.
And when a narcissist falls in love… he doesn’t fall.
He claims.

His Cunning Smile

The city outside her window pulsed with distant sounds—honking cars, the low murmur of nightlife, the occasional echo of laughter from pedestrians passing by.

But inside Elara's bedroom, it was still.

She lay on her side, dressed in a silky nightdress the color of moonlight, her arm tucked under her head as she stared at the ceiling. The light from her phone illuminated the soft features of her face—cheeks flushed from the warm shower, lips slightly parted in thought, brows gently furrowed.

Her hair spilled over her pillow like ink, and between her fingers was the photo strip she swore earlier she would throw away.

She'd pulled it from her bag the moment she got home, tucked it under her pillow like it meant something. Now, in the still of night, she held it again—studying the images for the fifth, maybe sixth time.

> That smirk. That stupid lean-in. That accidental smile on her own face.

She flipped the photos over, thinking maybe they'd disappear if she stared long enough. But all she saw was him.

His voice still echoed in her ears—

"The dreams have gotten... specific."

Groaning, Elara tossed the photo strip onto the nightstand and rolled over, pulling the blanket up to her chin. Her mind wasn't quiet—it raced, spinning in circles around everything he had said, everything she had felt.

> "No," she whispered to the darkness. "I'm just tired. That's all."

As if answering her denial, her phone buzzed beside her.

She blinked, sat up, and reached for it. Unknown Number.

She didn't need to guess who it was.

Slowly, she swiped to answer. "…Hello?"

His voice was silk and sleep, low and amused.

She sank back against her pillows. "What do you want, Zayden?"

> "To hear your voice again. Is that so terrible?"

"Why are you calling me at midnight?"

> "Because I was thinking about you. And I figured, if I couldn't sleep, why should you?"

She groaned, but there was no real venom in it. "You're ridiculous."

> "You're adorable when you're annoyed."

> "I'm not flirting. I'm stating facts. You annoyed me all day and somehow made it feel like the best day I've had in years."

Then—softly, quieter than she intended, "...It wasn't awful."

> "Yet here you are. Still on the phone."

Elara didn't answer. Her fingers curled into the blanket. She wasn't sure what she wanted to say.

> "I meant it, Elara. I'm not playing with you."

He'd never said something like that before. Not without that usual teasing edge.

> "You're different," he added. "And I don't know what to do with that yet."

She exhaled slowly, the weight of his words settling in her chest.

And this time, when she curled under the covers, she didn't feel so alone.

Chapter 28: Confessions in the Dark