Chapter 2: Deep waters... run deep.

Chapter 2: Deep waters... run deep.

(The Devil doesn't need saving.)

My heart was punching my ribs like it wanted out.

I forced myself to turn, and there he was.

Damian Volkov.

He stood at the entrance of my cubicle like a shadow.. broad, controlled, and dangerous. 

His hazel eyes were colder up close, cutting into me.

I was trapped. No escape route. No room to breathe.

I swallowed, dropped my gaze to his suit black, silk, perfect. 

His tailored suit was well ironed , clinging to his tall frame. And that watch? Yeah. Probably worth my entire salary.

“ Mr. Volkov. I…I didn't hear you come in."

His gaze skimmed my name tag, then lifted back to my face like it was all a formality.

“ Answer the damn question, Miss Quinn. What. Did. You. Find?" 

The way he said it low, flat and deliberate, sent ice straight down my spine.

My brain went into overdrive. Lie or tell the truth?

Either could implicate me... Lying too early would be suicide.

I went with the truth. For now.

I picked up my notepad and gave it to him. Then I shifted the laptop slightly towards him.

I prayed my hands weren’t shaking as bad as my insides.

“Someone’s been moving money into offshore accounts,” I said. “And this contract here…” I pointed at the highlighted section, “has a loophole big enough to crash the company ”

His brows pulled together as he leaned in. Close. So close his cologne; musk and cherry, wrapped around me like smoke.

For one stupid second, I imagined leaning into that warmth. Imagined his fingers and lips trailing down my neck, muttering sweet nothings and grabbing my waist line.

Then reality hit me. Dammit Aurora!! He killed your father. Stop it.

I clenched my fists beneath the table.

“ How did you spot it?”

“ Ms. Gema gave me these files to analyze and audit and I noticed something wasn't adding up.”

His jaws tightened as his eyes scanned the screen before him.

“ And where's Gema?”

“Sir, it’s past closing hours. She’s at home.”

 “So aren’t you an employee too? Shouldn’t you be home?”

No smile. No warmth. Just a quiet cornering.

I said nothing. Because in this kind of conversation, silence was safer than stupidity.

“ What made you look deeper into this?”

“ I.. I was analyzing the whole files and somehow I noticed them. 

I began to connect the loose dots together and this is what I found.”

He tilted his head a little, studying me like something he couldn’t quite name.

“You dug pretty deep for someone who just started,” he said lightly, but the steel in his voice was unmistakable. 

“Almost like the sound of lightning striking.”

My pulse quickened. 

“Or someone who takes her job seriously,” I countered before my brain could stop my mouth.

His eyes flicked to mine. Dead calm. “We’ll see which one you are.”

The silence stretched between us for a while. Then he straightened slowly, hands sliding into his pockets, owning the air like it belonged to him.

“ You just saved this company $3.7 million, Miss Quinn. Possibly more.”

I held my breath as I stared at my screen again.

"Saved? This company? The same one I’d vowed to destroy?" I thought in my mind.

“I was just doing my job, sir.”

“On your first day. Impressive.”

He stared at me like he was solving a puzzle no one else could.

I stared back, pretending my knees weren’t screaming to buckle.

Could he know? Could he see past the fake name, the carefully built walls?

“See me in my office tomorrow. 8 a.m. sharp.”

My stomach sank. “Sir?”

“I hate reruns, Miss Quinn.”

“May I ask why… sir?”

That almost-smile slid across his lips. Slow. Sharp. Predatory. 

He leaned in just close enough to mess with my heartbeat.

“Let’s say I’m intrigued.”

He turned to leave, then paused at the door. 

“And Miss Quinn?” he said without looking back. “Keep that information safe. Some people would kill for it.”

Click. Click. Click.

His footsteps faded down the hall.

The second he was gone, the air rushed back into my lungs like I’d been drowning. His voice replayed in my head, and suddenly, the memory hit me.

A body floating in a pool that was stained with red water and no longer blue.

A clenched paper in a dead hand. My scream and dazed mind.

I squeezed my eyes shut, but the image didn’t fade.

I saved the files. Shut down the laptop. Grabbed my bag like it was my lifeline and sprinted for the elevator. My reflection in the polished steel doors stared back pale, shaky, not the girl who planned this revenge.

Everything would be fine. Everything had to be fine.

“Intrigued,” 

he had said. That single word echoed in my mind like a promise and a threat wrapped into one.

I pulled out my phone and ran a G****e search on Damian Volkov. I stared at his face, thosed eyes, those hazel eyes that seemed to fuel my hate and yet sucked me in.

I tried to remember,  the monster he was, the man I'd hated and sworn to destroy for the past five years of my life but all I could remember was his cold gaze.

The way he stared at me like he knew something, saw something. 

The elevator doors opened, and I stepped into the night air.

There were few cars in sight and I saw a car headlights beam in my direction.

I caught sight of him again, Damian as he stared back at me from the passenger seat. Ex

I turned abruptly and began to walk away, my mind racing through several thoughts and one thought at the center of it all.

Did he know the real me? And what wasn't he saying?

His car drove past me, as I stood underneath the street lamp, waiting for a taxi.

My phone pinged, as one approached me, and I got in. I gave the driver my destination and pulled the phone out of my bag.

It was a text message from an unknown number.

It was a brief but scary message. 

I froze as I read it.

"Don't play with fire, Aurora."