MY HUSBAND OWNS HALF THE CITY

Morning After

Sunlight shone through unfamiliar curtains.

Lila Hartley's eyes opened slowly, her head pounding with a dull, persistent ache. The ceiling above her was plain white, water-stained in one corner, nothing like the hand-painted silk panels in her bedroom at the Hartley estate. 

Where was she?

She tried to sit up, and her entire body protested. Every muscle felt like it had been wrung out and left to dry. Her mouth was cotton-dry, her thoughts sluggish and fragmented. The last clear memory she had was leaving the charity gala, her driver pulling over because of what he thought was engine trouble, and then—

Nothing. A terrifying blank space where hours should have been.

Her gaze drifted to the floor. Women's clothing lay scattered across cheap laminate—her Chanel blouse, torn at the collar. Her skirt, twisted inside-out. Underwear she didn't remember removing.

The sinking feeling started in her stomach and spread like ice water through her veins.

No. No, no, no.

With trembling hands, Lila pulled back the thin hotel comforter. Her worst fear materialized in an instant: she was completely naked. Her pale skin was marked with bruises—her wrists, her collarbone, her thighs. Intimate evidence of something she couldn't remember. And between her legs, a sharp, persistent ache that confirmed what her mind refused to accept.

Lila Hartley, eldest daughter of the Hartley family, one of Meridian city's most prominent households, had been—

The door opened.

A young man walked in carrying a plastic bag, his expression neutral. He wore the same plain dark clothes from last night—last night?—and looked infuriatingly calm.

Lila didn't think. Her hand found the water glass on the nightstand and she hurled it with all her strength.

"You pervert!"

He dodged, and the glass shattered against the doorframe.

"Rapist!" Her voice cracked with fury and humiliation. "I'm calling the police right now. You're going to prison, you bastard! Do you have any idea who I am?"

The man's jaw tightened. "You need to calm down and think—"

"Think? THINK?" Lila's laugh was half-sob. "I wake up naked in a cheap hotel with a stranger, and you want me to think? You violated me! You—"

"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have survived last night."

His voice was quiet, but something in his tone made her pause. Not guilt,not defensiveness. Just a flat statement of fact.

"Bullshit," she spat, but uncertainty crept into her anger. "You're just making excuses."

"Then call the police."

Lila's hand shot to the nightstand, searching for her phone. It was there, screen cracked but functional. Her finger hovered over the emergency dial.

"Go ahead," he said, watching her. "But think very carefully about what you remember from last night first."

She wanted to press the button. She wanted to see this smug bastard dragged away in handcuffs. But his words nagged at her. What did she remember?

The driver, the stop. Then... nothing. A complete void.

"I remember enough," she lied.

Kai watched her finger move toward the dial button. For a moment, he considered letting her do it. Let the police sort it out. He'd saved her life, surely that counted for something.

But Master Donovan's voice echoed in his mind: "Stay discreet. Your identity must remain hidden until the time is right. Legal entanglements will complicate everything."

He cursed under his breath. The last thing he needed was police involvement before he'd even begun his mission.

"Wait—" he started, but her finger was already pressing down.

He moved on instinct. In two strides, he was beside the bed. His hand caught her wrist as she tried to complete the call, his other hand sending the phone skittering across the floor.

"Get off—"

He pinned her to the bed, his weight keeping her immobile but his touch surprisingly careful, avoiding her injuries. Up close, she could see his face clearly for the first time. Young, maybe mid-twenties. Sharp features that might have been handsome if they weren't currently set in an expression of extreme annoyance.

"Listen to me carefully," he said, his voice low and urgent. "Last night, three men kidnapped you. They drugged you with a compound aphrodisiac, a lethal one. They took you to some ruins on the east side to assault and kill you. I intervened. The drug would have killed you within two hours if it wasn't... neutralized."

Lila stopped struggling. "That's insane. Why would anyone—"

"The ringleader had a scar across his left eye. Gold tooth, front right. He was wearing a leather jacket with a snake patch on the back. The other two, one had a metal pipe, stocky build, tattoo of a scorpion on his neck. The third one wore brass knuckles and kept calling you 'the Hartley girl.' They said someone paid them to take you."

The details hit her like physical blows. Too specific, too accurate. She could almost see them in her mind—shadowy figures from the blank space in her memory.

"How do you..." Her voice faltered.

"Because I was there. Because I stopped them." His dark eyes bored into hers. "And because that drug would have cooked you from the inside out if someone hadn't acted. There was only one way to clear it from your system fast enough."

Understanding dawned, horrible and complete. Her face burned with a humiliation that had nothing to do with anger now.

He released her and stood up, running a hand through his hair in what looked like frustration. From his pocket, he pulled out a crisp white business card and held it out to her.

"I took advantage of you, even if it was to save your life. I'll take full responsibility." His tone was formal now. "I just arrived in Meridian city and have things to handle first. But if you encounter any trouble, contact my deputy. The man on that card."

Lila snatched it, more to have something to do with her hands than anything else. She glanced at the name printed in elegant script:

Vincent Shaw

CEO, Zenith corporation.

She almost laughed. Vincent Shaw—everyone in Meridian City knew that name. The mysterious tycoon who'd built Zenith corporation from nothing into one of the city's largest enterprises. Her own father, William Hartley, had tried for years to secure a meeting with the man. Even the mayor treated Vincent with deference.

And this boy—this plainly dressed, poor-looking young man who probably couldn't afford a decent suit, was claiming to know him personally?

"Are you serious right now?" Lila's earlier fury returned, now mixed with disbelief. "You saved me, I'll give you that. You're clearly skilled in combat. But you expect me to believe you have Vincent on speed dial? What, did you pull his business card out of a trash can?"

The man's expression didn't change. "Believe what you want."

"I will." Lila stood, wrapping the sheet around herself with as much dignity as she could muster. She walked to the trash bin and dropped the business card in with exaggerated precision. "Thanks for the laugh."

She gathered her torn clothes, holding them against her chest as she moved toward the door. The man simply watched her go, his face unreadable.

Lila yanked the door open and stepped into the dingy hotel hallway. But three steps out, reality hit her. Her clothes were ruined. Her phone was cracked. She had no memory of how she got here, which meant she had no idea where "here" even was. And if what he said was true—if someone had paid to have her kidnapped—

She turned around and marched back into the room.

The man was still standing there, looking faintly puzzled by her return.

Lila pointed a finger at his chest, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper. "Listen carefully, hero. If you breathe one word about what happened between us—to anyone, ever, I will make your life a living hell. I don't care how well you fight. I don't care who you claim to know. The Hartley family has resources you can't imagine. Understood?"

He blinked at her. Once. Twice.

Then his mouth opened slightly, as if he wanted to speak but couldn't find words.

Lila didn't wait for a response. She turned on her heel and left, the sheet trailing behind her like a tattered cape.

Behind her, Kai Walker stood in the middle of the cheap hotel room, absolutely speechless.