The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime, revealing a world Arielle Hayes didn't belong in.
Polished marble floors. Crystal lights that sparkled like they cost more than her mother's entire paycheck. A scent of cold citrus and money lingered in the air. This wasn't just an office building — this was a kingdom, and she was the invisible servant girl who had wandered into its heart.
She gripped the handle of her mop bucket tightly, trying to keep her steps quiet on the gleaming floors of Cross Enterprises. Her mother was supposed to take the night shift, but after collapsing with a fever that morning, it fell to Arielle.
Just mop. Just clean. No one would even see her. The office would be empty.
But fate had a twisted sense of humor.
"Hey! You—stop!"
She froze.
A voice — deep, sharp, commanding — sliced through the silence like a knife. She turned, slowly, and her breath caught.
There he was. Damien Cross.
The CEO himself. Towering. Immaculately dressed in a tailored navy suit. Dark hair swept back with ruthless precision. Cold grey eyes that narrowed as they met hers, flicking over her cheap clothes, her cleaning supplies, her wide, startled eyes.
"I don't allow unauthorized personnel on this floor," he said, voice colder than the building's central air. "Who are you?"
Arielle tried to speak, but her throat felt like it had dried into dust. "I—I'm just the cleaner. My mom's sick. I—"
He stepped closer.
She flinched.
"I don't care," he said, eyes locked onto hers. "Get out. Now."
Heat rushed to her cheeks, not from shame, but from the sheer arrogance radiating from him. Something inside her — something fierce and tired and done with being walked over — rose up.
"No," she said softly, chin lifting. "I'm here to work. I'm not trespassing. I'm just doing my job."
Damien blinked. Once. Twice. He hadn't expected defiance. Especially not from a cleaner's daughter.
A beat of silence stretched between them. Electricity crackled in the air.
She looked like no one he'd ever seen. Eyes full of fire, not fear. Lips pressed tight in stubborn pride. And in that instant, something shifted. Something dangerous.
He should've had her thrown out.
But instead… he turned, said nothing, and walked away.
Arielle stood still, heart pounding. She didn't understand what had just happened.
Neither did Damien.
But from that moment forward, he knew one thing.
She was a problem.
A temptation.
A spark in a world he'd long buried in ice.
And the most forbidden thing he'd ever wanted.