CHAPTER ONE

The bass thumped through the club, and Elena took another sip of champagne, letting the bubbles sting her tongue while she watched strangers lose themselves beneath the flashing lights.

Her dress was shorter than anything she normally wore, the smooth silk skimming her body with every step she took dancing. The small mask covering her eyes was almost pointless. Anyone who actually knew her would recognize her in seconds, but tonight, she didn't care.

She wasn't supposed to be here. In less than two weeks, she'd be standing beside Adrian, smiling for family photos and celebrating the future they'd spent years planning together. His engagement ring caught the light every time she lifted her glass.

Maybe that was why she'd accepted her friend's invitation. Keeping up the image of perfection had become exhausting.

For one night, she wanted to disappear into a room where nobody expected anything from her. No polite smiles, wedding talks, or pretending everything in her life was exactly the way she'd always wanted it. She rested against the bar and let her eyes wander through the crowd without really looking at anyone.

Then she saw him. A tall, broad-shouldered man leaning against the marble bar as though he owned the place. He was older than any man she'd ever been drawn to. His gaze met hers through his mask, and her lips parted.

He didn’t smile at her. He just tilted his head slightly, like he was deciding something about her, then he pushed off the bar and started walking straight toward her.

Elena should have looked away, Instead, she held his gaze. Her fingers tightened around her champagne glass. This was ridiculous. she's engaged. A sensible woman would have turned back to her drink before he ever reached her.

She stayed exactly where she was. When he stopped in front of her, the music was still pounding around them, but suddenly, it felt much farther, and her pulse was already racing.“You’re drinking alone,” he said. His voice was too calm for the rate at which her pulse had started going.

Elena tightened her grip on her glass. “Maybe I wanted to.”

“Or maybe,” he said, leaning in just enough that his breath brushed her ear, “you were waiting for me.”

Her stomach dipped. “I don’t even know your name.”

“That’s the point,” he murmured. "You don't need to. You won't forget me either way." His hand brushed her hip lightly, and every instinct told her to step away from him, but she didn't.

The ring on her finger suddenly felt impossible to ignore.

She curled her hand around her glass, hiding it from view, but the guilt was harder to hide. Adrian trusted her completely. He was probably at home, already talking to his mother about seating arrangements and guest lists, never imagining she was standing in a nightclub exchanging smiles with a man.

She should end the conversation. She knew that, so why did walking away suddenly feel like the hardest thing she'd done all night?

He took her silence as an invitation. His fingers closed around her wrist, guiding her from the lounge, down the hallway, and into an elevator. The mirrored doors slid shut, leaving them alone. "You're shaking already," he murmured, studying her.

Elena let out a nervous breath that almost sounded like a laugh. “Maybe I should go back.”

“Maybe you should beg me not to stop what I'm about to do to you” He said, his hand trailing her thighs, slowly finding it ways in between her legs.

Her breath hitched. The air between them thickened as he pressed her against the wall, the cool glass shocking against her back. " You're fucking beautiful "His mouth crashed onto hers, teeth grazing her lower lip before sucking it hard enough to make her moan.

“God, you taste sweet,” he growled. “Tell me you’re not some good girl I’m about to ruin tonight "

Her pulse stuttered. “I’m engaged.”

That made him pause only a second, he stared at the ring in her finger, then his hand slid down, gripping her thigh, dragging it up around his hip. “Even better.”

The filthy thrill slammed through her, shame and desire tangling until she couldn’t tell them apart. His tongue slid into her mouth, deep and demanding, and she let him take everything.

The hotel room door slammed behind them, and he shoved her against it, lips trailing down her throat. His teeth scraped her skin, his tongue soothed after, marking her in places only she would know, places her fiancée had never discovered.

“Say you want this” he demanded, fingers sliding under her dress, knuckles brushing the lace between her thighs.

Elena gasped, already wet, already aching. “I want this.”

“Say it louder.”

“I want it, please ”

“Good girl.”

Her panties were gone with a sharp tug, ripped and tossed aside. He spread her thighs with his knee, fingers finding her slick heat, circling, teasing, and making her writhe.

“Fuck! You’re soaked for me,” he murmured against her ear. “Bet your fiancé’s never had you like this. Bet he’s soft and careful, the kind who asks permission to touch what’s already his.”

Her moan was answer enough.

“Look at you,” he went on, voice dark and cruel as he slid two fingers inside her tightness, thrusting slow strokes that made her hips buck. “Dripping all over my hand, you love it. You love being ruined by a stranger.”

“Please,” Elena begged, not even sure what she was asking for.

“Please what?” He curved his fingers, finding the spot that made her cry out. “Say it. Tell me exactly what you want from me.”

“I want your cock inside me.”

The growl that tore from his chest was pure animal. In a blink, he had her spun around, bent over the edge of the bed, her dress bunched up around her waist. The sound of his zipper lowered the air itself, and then he was there, hot and hard, pressing against her soaked entrance.

“You sure?” His hand tangled in her hair, yanking her head back so she could feel his mouth at her ear. “Last chance to walk away.”

Elena pushed her bare ass back against him. “Don’t you dare stop.”

His laugh was rough and dangerous. Then he slammed into her, and her world broke apart.

Elena cried out, her knuckles white as she grabbed the sheets and her body split wide open by the force of his thickness. He set a brutal rhythm, his hips snapping against hers, one hand fisted in her hair, the other gripping her waist so tight she knew she’d see bruises in the morning.

“Mine,” he rasped, thrust after thrust. “Even if just for tonight. You’re mine.”

“Yes,” she gasped, lost in the rhythm, lost in him and his punishing thrust. “Yours, I'm yours "

The words sent him over the edge. He fucked her harder, his words were hot and dirty against her ear, promises of what he’d do to her if she were his, what he wanted, how he’d take again and again until she could barely walk.

Elena sobbed from the intensity, from the way her body clenched tight around him and shattering in waves she couldn’t control. Soon he followed, slamming deep one last time with a groan that vibrated through her spine. They collapsed in a tangled heap, sweat-slick and breathless, her body trembling with the aftermath.

Silence settled over the room. Only then did the weight of what she'd done begin to sink in. Adrian's face flashed through her mind. The diamond was still on her finger, gleaming like an accusation and guilt settled heavily in her chest.

Elena scrambled from the bed, snatched up her dress, and pulled it over unsteady limbs, the man made no move to stop her. He simply lay back against the pillows, watching her with an unreadable expression. "You'll think of me every time your fiancé touches you," he said quietly.

Elena froze. "I still don't even know who you are," she whispered.

A slow smile spread across his face. "You will, very soon,