chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Point of No Return

Lena had always thought she understood danger.

She had grown up knowing how to navigate the sharp edges of power, how to hold her head high even when the world wanted her on her knees. But Asher? He was something else entirely.

He wasn’t just danger. He was destruction. The kind that pulled you in, wrapped around you like a vice, and never let you go.

And yet, here she was, standing in the dim glow of his penthouse, his presence swallowing her whole.

Her pulse pounded in her throat as she watched him, the way his muscles were tense beneath his black dress shirt, the way his jaw clenched as if he were battling himself.

“Asher,” she whispered, barely recognizing her own voice.

His dark eyes snapped to hers.

Something flickered there—something raw, untamed, a fire burning so intensely she felt it from across the room.

He took a slow, deliberate step forward, his gaze locked onto her as if she was the only thing in the world that mattered.

“You shouldn’t have come here,” he murmured, his voice low and rough.

Lena swallowed, her throat dry. “You brought me here.”

A smirk ghosted over his lips, but it was gone in an instant. “And you didn’t resist.”

She hated that he was right. Hated that she had stepped into the lion’s den willingly, knowing she might never come out the same.

But the truth was, she didn’t want to leave.

She wanted to know what it felt like to be wanted—claimed—by him.

Asher closed the space between them in a heartbeat. One second he was standing a few feet away, the next, he was towering over her, his body radiating heat, his scent—spiced cologne and something darkly masculine—wrapping around her.

Lena’s breath caught as his fingers brushed against her arm, featherlight, sending a shiver racing through her.

“You should be afraid of me,” he murmured, his voice dangerously soft.

She tilted her chin up, refusing to cower. “I’m not.”

A muscle in his jaw ticked, his restraint hanging by a thread.

“You should be,” he said, his fingers tracing up her arm, across her collarbone, before finally cupping the side of her neck.

Lena’s heart pounded as his thumb brushed over her pulse, as if he could feel how wild it had become.

“You don’t understand what you’re doing to me,” Asher said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Lena swallowed hard, her skin burning beneath his touch. “Then show me.”

His eyes darkened, his grip tightening. “Don’t say things like that, princess.”

“Why?” she challenged, her breath hitching as his other hand found her waist, pulling her flush against him.

“Because I won’t hold back.”

She shivered at the promise in his words.

And she didn’t want him to.

She had spent her whole life being careful, being proper, playing the role she was expected to play.

But Asher? He made her want to break every rule.

Slowly, deliberately, she reached up, her fingers curling around his wrist, holding him there.

“I don’t want you to,” she whispered.

Something snapped.

In the next second, Asher crushed his lips against hers, his kiss fierce, demanding.

Lena gasped into his mouth, her fingers tangling in his hair as he deepened the kiss, claiming her in a way that left no room for doubt—no room for escape.

She was his.

And he would make sure she never forgot it.

His hands roamed over her body, rough and possessive, as if he was trying to memorize every curve, every inch of her.

Lena melted against him, her body responding to his touch in ways she had never known possible.

Asher growled against her lips, his grip tightening. “You’re driving me insane.”

Lena smiled against his mouth, her nails digging into his shoulders. “Good.”

He pulled back just enough to look at her, his eyes blazing with something dark and dangerous.

“You really don’t understand, do you?” he murmured, his fingers tracing down her spine, slow, torturous.

“Understand what?” she breathed, her mind hazy, her body trembling.

Asher leaned in, his lips brushing against her ear as he whispered, “That once I have you, I’ll never let you go.”

A shiver ran down her spine, not in fear, but in anticipation.

“Then don’t,” she whispered.