The Billionaire Who Was Never Meant to Find Me

fé door jingled, soft

ne stiffen

ag

the cinnamon buns I'd pulled out only ten minutes ago. Everything was normal, except th

myself to

came an

didn'

n't look t

hy I chose

ead from the back. "The grinder's acti

me out steady, than

counter just as som

entered firs

st tig

office workers, older couples with newspaper habits. This man looked as if h

nce shift

hite shirt. Coat t

black

ure straight, confide

e blue, swept the café like t

d my gaz

noti

rememb

ook too

ce soft, polite, neutral, the tone tha

tion land

tayed

ked through me like he was assessin

rled under

nd expensive. Every syllable sounded like it came from

roast?" I reac

one you d

or maybe he wasn't. His expression didn't change, but t

to spill, trying not to let him

ollars,

Not titanium. Something rarer. T

ath hi

go

ood a

handed back his card. My finger

hot up

phys

mo

A cold voice deman

of hea

oo

let anyone close eno

rked

imperceptibly, noticing e

rning?"

o

ques

te

e," I wh

lieve me. I

believed anything that didn'

s told him

cepted the c

didn'

e facing the exit. The one where y

lse r

e this. They passed through, or they

were waiting

hey were

llowe

t here

st being

Work. B

d in. I took orders. Cleaned coun

e man

ked up every

n't watchin

watch

the quiet

inside, rough, angry, eyes wild like they'

som

mach d

Please,

s, different faces, different builds,

dat

cu

the back, startled

her. Their attent

the cu

towa

y, heart pounding so hard I

e frowned. "S

grunted. "Boss said she

o

o

no

he metal counter edge unti

till seated, slowl

gaze anywhere but o

ke I wasn't suffo

past the counter a

ou

led of alcohol

ked, describing features too close to mine. "She

re body

ir, please don't

d on the counter, mak

lionair

tly. Not

Delibe

ng whether a proble

noticed

k are you?"

dn't

n't ne

ce answere

ing calm, as if nothing about the

d only a

ng my view," h

ed. "Back off, rich b

finish the

wrist, twisted, and forced him to h

an sc

afé g

red my

aire shoved the kneeling one into hi

d as a blade. "Before you e

r feet, eyes wide, not wi

hispered. "He

almost

ckw

Black

pered in news snippets,

h a worldwide inv

could fi

enemies quietly

putation for un

cked towar

er," one hisse

m

lse s

other said, dr

slammed b

nt terrifyi

rs murmured. Someone asked i

ire, Damian, did

oked

had found somet

ing im

ing da

l the counter du

hurt?"

ofter now, but

" I ma

d. "Because I

on't

knew

ent, not

t," I wh

pped c

hreat

cons

lying,"

anic rising like s

eren't looking for someone,

e room cl

er. "Aria... do you kno

ed, but no wo

ened with sharp, u

now," he said. "While you c

l the

s the p

y wasn'

y wasn'

he kn

would

anything," I w

't blink. D

pped to something

d. "Real danger. And you'r

s pierc

akes me

, so quietly I b

y are you runni

n went

ew my

er to

lted. The a

ow

softly. "Finding people w

ees w

o

t

eone li

o could unco

"Please... sta

back, he closed th

I saw? Not

tighten

o where the men ha

ork for," he said, "isn

pau

either

but the café door

filled th

the men fr

orse. Mu

changed, cold, let

id quietly, "

dn't

the man standin

w the

voice tha

lo,

think you cou