CHAPTER 0: PROLOGUE
Evelyn
Morning.
My head was splitting, as if someone had scraped all my memories out with a dull knife.
I rolled onto my stomach, keeping my eyes shut tight. My fingers trailed across the sheets. Smooth. Cold. Silk? I could’ve sworn I fell asleep on cotton...
Sleepily, I buried my nose in the pillowcase, taking a deep breath, searching for that familiar, soothing scent of home.
My lungs burned.
Ozone and frost-bitten pine. A piercing, almost terrifying freshness. The kind of scent that fills a forest a split second before a lightning strike. But Leo doesn’t smell like that...
My brain stumbled.
What? THAT IS NOT LEO'S SCENT?!?
The remnants of sleep vanished in a heartbeat.
Adrenaline surged through my veins like an electric shock. My eyes snapped open, and I jerked upright in bed.
This wasn’t my bedroom. Harsh lines, dark tones, heavy blackout curtains. And the clothes on me weren’t mine either—my body was drowning in an oversized black men’s t-shirt.
The lock clicked. And from the billows of steam, he stepped out.
Water traced the sharp, sculpted lines of his abs, disappearing beneath the edge of a white towel hanging so low on his hips it was borderline criminal. The breath hitched in my throat. But not because of his body. It was his eyes—ice-cold, mocking, and piercingly blue—watching me with an air of absolute superiority.
"Julian..." my voice trembled, breaking into a pathetic rasp. In a panic, I pulled the black silk comforter up to my chin, as if it could somehow protect me. "What am I doing here? What... what happened last night?"
He slowly dried his damp hair with a second towel, never breaking that predatory stare. The look of a hunter who had just cornered his prey.
A step.
Another step.
He stopped right at the edge of the bed. He smelled of damp heat and dominance.
"Do the math, Ev," his voice was low, velvety, carrying that mocking rasp that sent shivers down my spine. "You wake up in my bed. Wearing my shirt. I walk out of the shower naked."
He leaned in, planting his hands on the mattress on either side of me, trapping me. A single drop of water fell from his hair, landing on my collarbone like a drop of his venomous saliva.
"And now for the main question," Julian’s gaze dropped to my lips, and he smiled a smile that made my insides clench. "Do you think Leo is going to like the answer you come up with?"
