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Chapter 63 - Special Chapter 2

Lucas – Six Months Before the Wedding

My club in New York pulsed with life, just like it did every night. The air was thick with sweat, perfume, and the scent of overpriced cocktails. Bodies swayed on the dance floor, lost in the rhythm, in the blur of lights and lust, as if tomorrow didn't exist—or at least didn't matter. People were laughing, grinding, making mistakes they'd regret in the morning. It was chaos. Beautiful, expensive, self-destructive chaos.

From the privacy of the VIP balcony, I nursed a glass of aged whiskey, watching the scene below like a king surveying his kingdom. The bass thumped beneath my feet, but I barely noticed. My thoughts, as they had been more often lately, were tangled in the messy, magnetic image of one woman.

Hannah.

That spitfire. That beautiful hurricane of a woman who had somehow become the thorn in my pride.

I ran a hand through my long black hair, pulled into a loose ponytail, and exhaled slowly. She'd been chasing me—God, how she fought to win me over. And I… well, I didn't mind the game. I craved her, desired her, but a relationship? That was another thing entirely. I preferred the unpredictability, the no-strings thrill of our open arrangement.

She seemed to enjoy it too—or so I believed.

"Boss!"

I didn't even flinch at Sebastian's voice behind me, though he sounded like he'd just sprinted through a battlefield.

I turned, arching an eyebrow. "What?"

He braced a hand on his knee, breathless. "Hannah's here. Said she came to have fun."

"So?" I asked, keeping my voice flat even as something inside me twisted. I hated that reaction. That stupid, possessive ache.

Sebastian straightened, glancing at me warily. "I thought there was something between you two."

I narrowed my eyes.

He hesitated, then pushed on. "She's already drunk. She's dancing with some hot Latino guy like she's trying to forget you even exist. I tried to stop her, but she said she wants to erase you from her life."

The words dug under my skin, sharp and unexpected.

I clenched my glass a little tighter. So… she was slipping away. Just like that?

No.No woman walked away from me. Especially not when I still wanted her. And I wanted her more than I wanted to admit, even to myself.

"Where is she?" I asked, voice low and edged with steel.

Sebastian swallowed. "Darkened area near the purple couches."

I shoved the half-empty whiskey glass into his hands and adjusted my white dress shirt, the top few buttons undone to expose a slice of chest. Without another word, I descended the stairs, my gaze slicing through the crowd like a blade.

I spotted her instantly.

Hannah.

She stood out like wildfire in the middle of smoke. Her long dark hair tumbled over her shoulders as she moved in that barely-there black mini, her red lips curved into a smirk that should've been illegal. She looked like every man's fantasy and every woman's warning.

And that bastard was touching her. Hands on her hips. Too close. Too familiar.

She was mine—even if I never said it out loud.

With a flick of my fingers, I signaled the guards. As the guy laughed and leaned in, they moved in behind him, grabbing him by the shoulders and yanking him away like garbage on collection day.

Hannah spun, fury flashing in her eyes as she noticed me. Her mouth parted in disbelief.

"Don't let him back in," I told security coldly. "He needs to learn not to touch something that doesn't belong to him."

She stormed toward me, a blazing storm wrapped in red lipstick and rage. She slapped my chest hard enough to sting, her eyes burning into mine.

"What the hell is your problem?" she snapped. "You don't want me, remember? You keep playing your little games, and I'm done. I opened my heart to you, and you just keep throwing it back in my face! I'm done humiliating myself!"

I stared at her, jaw clenched, trying not to show how her words struck like knives.

"There are other men who want to be with me," she went on, her voice shaking with fury. "Real men."

"In this club?" I said with a cold, cynical smile. "They just want to fuck you."

"At least they want something," she shot back. "You won't even sleep with me."

She looked up at me, raw, vulnerable, and so damn furious.

"Do you really feel nothing for me, Lucas? Nothing at all?"

The lights spun around us. Music roared. But for a moment, the chaos faded. It was just the two of us in the eye of the storm.

I drank her in—those fiery eyes, those perfect lips—and felt the desire coil in my gut, powerful and wild. I wanted her. I wanted her so badly it hurt.

I stepped closer, my voice a whisper. "I've been holding it in for too long."

Then I grabbed her by the waist, pulled her against me, and kissed her like I'd been starving for years. She gasped in surprise, then melted into me, kissing me back with just as much hunger.

By the time I pulled away, she looked breathless and dizzy, her eyes glassy with want.

I didn't wait.

I took her hand, led her up the stairs without a word, past the velvet ropes and into my private office. The second the door clicked shut behind us, I claimed her lips again, guiding her toward my desk, heart pounding like a war drum.

She pulled back just long enough to whisper, "So… does this mean you actually have feelings for me, you bastard?"

I met her gaze and smiled, dark and slow.

"Yeah," I murmured. "I think it does."

I grabbed her chin, tilting her face up to mine, locking eyes with her. My gaze burned into hers—wild, desperate, electric.

"I don't know how you did it," I murmured, my voice raw, almost trembling with restraint. "But I've been losing my damn mind over you for a long time. And after what I saw tonight… I can't stand the thought of you with someone else. I can't breathe at the idea of another man touching you."

I leaned closer, my forehead almost brushing hers. My fingers tightened on her jaw, not enough to hurt—just enough to keep her anchored to me, to this moment.

"You're mine, Hannah. You hear me? Mine. And I'll be damned if I let another man lay his dirty hands on you."

For a second, I saw her inhale—surprised, maybe—but then that wicked little smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. I hated how much I loved that look on her.

She leaned in, lips brushing the shell of my ear.

"Then you'd better agree to be with me," she whispered, her voice soft and dangerous. "Because if you don't, I'll leave… and let someone else make me feel wanted."

And then—she bit my ear.

My pulse erupted. The sensation shot through me like lightning. My blood boiled, rage and lust fusing into something monstrous. I felt like a beast barely leashed, ready to tear through anyone who dared touch what was mine.

She wouldn't escape me now.Not after this.Not ever.

Because I wouldn't allow it.

She tilts her head back as I kiss her neck, moving lower and lower. My hands roam her sexy body as I unbutton her tight dress, pleasuring myself with every part of her body. She moans in pleasure as I squeeze her breasts. Biting her lip, she unbuttons my shirt, begging me to do everything I want to her tonight.

She doesn't have to tell me that. As I said before, I intend to devour her entire.

She's mine, mine alone. And I just realized that if I hadn't gone there, if Sebastian hadn't told me, I could have lost her that night, and I would never forgive myself for that.

She is the only woman I desire. The perfect woman, every feature of whom is my type.

Her sweet moans fill my ears with pleasure as I fuck her on the desk.

I won't deny that it was one of my fantasies, and I didn't do it with any other woman, since they were worthless payday loans.

Hannah is finally mine. Now and forever.

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