Chapter Two: A Dangerous Proximity

Zurich, Switzerland – 03:07 AM

The hotel room felt colder than it should. Rayna stood barefoot by the window, the silk robe clinging to her like second skin as the wind whispered through the cracked pane. In her hand was the flash drive, still warm from the terminal, like it carried more than just data.

Truth.

Betrayal.

Fire.

Everything had changed.

The agency that raised her, trained her, trusted her—had ordered the execution of her mother.

And the man who exposed it? The one she’d sworn to capture?

He made her skin burn just by breathing the same air.

Rayna’s fingers twitched at her side. She needed clarity. Control. A plan.

But when her encrypted phone buzzed, she knew it wouldn’t be either of those.

> **Unknown Caller**

> [Secure Line – 30-second timer]

She answered.

“I knew you’d look,” came his voice. Deep. Calm. Infuriatingly seductive.

“You planted it,” she snapped. “You knew I’d follow it.”

“I didn’t need to plant anything,” Lucien said. “I just opened the door. You walked in.”

“I should bring you in right now.”

“You won’t.”

Silence.

Rayna’s grip tightened.

"Because you need me," he said. "And you hate that more than anything."

She hated that it was true.

Then, a soft knock at the door.

Rayna turned slowly, heart thudding. “What the hell—?”

“I’m already here,” he said through the phone, just as the call ended.

She strode to the door, gun drawn instantly, and pulled it open.

Lucien stood there. Taller than she remembered. In a black coat, drenched from the night rain. His green eyes took in her form in one sweep, pausing briefly at the open robe and the black slip underneath.

Rayna didn’t flinch. “You’re insane.”

“You left your firewalls down,” he murmured, stepping in before she could argue.

“You broke into a government-secured safehouse.”

“I break into worse places for breakfast.”

He didn’t smile. He didn’t need to.

Rayna shut the door behind him, heart pounding too fast. Too loud.

“You don’t get to break in and flirt.”

Lucien turned to her, face inches from hers. “I’m not flirting.”

“What do you call this?”

“Warning you.”

He reached out, slowly, like he was giving her time to stop him. But she didn’t move.

His fingers brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. Soft. Controlled. Electric.

“You have no idea how deep this goes,” he said, voice like velvet danger. “If you knew the people sitting above your agency—pulling your strings—you’d burn the whole place down.”

“Then show me.”

Lucien’s gaze flicked to her lips.

“I already have. You just haven’t decided what to do with the match.”

Their breath mingled.

The silence wasn’t empty—it was charged. Waiting to snap.

Rayna’s hand still held the gun. But it was lowering. Slowly. Like gravity was pulling her into him.

“You should leave,” she whispered.

“I should,” he agreed, stepping closer. “But I won’t.”

And then it happened.

His mouth crashed into hers—hot, claiming, unrelenting.

Rayna didn’t think.

She dropped the gun to the floor and gripped his coat, yanking him closer as her back hit the wall.

The kiss was fire and fury, like every suppressed thought they’d ever had exploded at once. His hand found her jaw, the other gripping her waist like he owned it.

She pushed him back, eyes blazing. “This doesn’t change anything.”

Lucien smirked, his lips swollen, breath uneven.

“Not yet.”

But they both knew something had already shifted. A line crossed. A code broken.

He stepped back, retrieving something from his coat.

A second flash drive.

“I found the man who signed your mother’s order. Codename: *Warden*.”

Rayna’s breath caught.

“Where?”

He leaned in, lips barely grazing her ear.

“Paris. Three days. Come alone.”

And just like that, he was gone.