The sleek black car hummed softly as it sliced through the quiet streets, the city lights casting fleeting reflections on its tinted windows. Inside, Niklaus Hathaway sat with his usual air of calculated detachment, his fingers gliding over his tablet as he skimmed through documents he had neglected all day.
The screen's cool glow illuminated the sharp angles of his face—his chiseled jaw tight, his lips pressed into a firm line.
A muscle ticked in his cheek as his eyes flicked over another uninspiring report. Everything had been tedious today. The meetings. The calls. Even the dinner with an executive whose presence he barely tolerated. But his mind wasn't entirely on work, was it?
It was on her.
Hermia Blackwood.
She had been a complication from the moment he laid eyes on her. An interesting one. A reckless one. And now, an unavoidable one.
