First message
The bass beneath the club throbbed through the walls of Aydin’s private balcony while the city’s worst men drank, gambled, and pretended not to fear the name Malik.
Aydin barely paid attention to the conversation beside him, cigarette balanced between his fingers as one of his men spoke about shipments and money. His focus drifted lazily across the crowded club below out of habit more than interest— until it stopped completely.
He recognized her instantly— her face had taken up more space in his mind than he would like to admit.
Everything in him went still.
Three months hadn’t erased her. Not the memory of her in his sheets, not the way she’d looked at him too softly afterward, and definitely not the guilt he’d buried beneath work, violence, and long nights pretending he didn’t care. He’d left before sunrise for a reason. Men like him ruined things. He knew better than to stay.
But now she was here.
Walking through his club like she didn’t notice the armed guards or the dangerous men watching her pass. Like she only saw him.
Aydin slowly stood as she approached the balcony, dark eyes locked onto her the entire time. Something unfamiliar tightened in his chest the closer she got.
She stopped in front of him, nervous but determined.
“We need to talk.”
He studied her for a moment, contemplating, before speaking to the men behind him, not looking away once from that striking face, Leave us.