Page 23 of Sweet Venom

She shrugged, her kind smile still firmly in place. “That’s usually how it works, but if he says he’s working with you, then he’s working with you.”

I didn’t even have time to process what that meant before she was leading me to the elevator. We stepped in, and she pressed the button for the very last floor.

As the elevator doors closed, I felt my pulse quicken. The last floor? That had to be the top of the building. The big boss. Why would the head of the publishing house want to work with me?

The elevator started to ascend, and with each floor we passed, my nerves churned harder. Whatever was waiting for me at the top, I had a feeling it wasn’t what I expected.

The woman stopped in front of an enormous glass door, sleek and spotless, framed with polished steel. She turned to me with a warm smile that suddenly felt out of place. Leaning in slightly, she whispered, “Good luck,” and before I could ask what that was supposed to mean, she opened the door and ushered me inside, closing it behind me with a soft click.

Then I found myself alone.

I looked around the expansive office with walls of glass that stretched from floor to ceiling, offering a breathtaking view of the city skyline. But I barely noticed any of it because my eyes locked onto the figure standing near the windows with his back to me.

A familiar feeling rushed through my body as I fixed my gaze on the man. He was tall, like abnormally so, with jet-black hairslicked back without a strand out of place. He stood with his hands in his pockets, his broad shoulders relaxed in a way that felt almost dismissive.

The man’s dark aura reminded me of the only person who could make my entire body buzz with electricity just by being in my proximity.

But it couldn’t be… could it?

My heart slammed against my ribs, a frantic, uncontrollable rhythm that made my chest ache like many times before.What the hell is wrong with you, heart?This was absurd—I didn’t even know this man. But somehow, deep down, my body reacted like it did.

And then the man turned.

My breath caught, my heart stopped, and time seemed to stop.

No, no, no.

Azariel Solonik.

The cruel man who had haunted my dreams and nightmares since the day he had shattered my tiny, fragile heart in my favorite place in the world—his mother’s rose garden.

My heartless prince.

He was impossibly more striking now, if that was even possible, the years having sharpened his features into something cruelly beautiful. Dressed in dark gray slacks and a crisp white button-down shirt, he looked polished and untouchable—except for the tattoos. The intricate ink peeked from beneath the cuffs of his sleeves, curled up the column of his neck, and even marked the skin beneath his left eye. He had added more since the last time I had seen him. The one under his eye was new.

The ink made him look dangerous, but his expression… His expression was what truly froze me. He looked bored, disinterested, his icy gray eyes scanning me like I was nothingmore than a nuisance. I should have been used to it by now, yet I wasn’t. He still managed to make me feel small with just a glare.

Damn you, heartless prince.

“You’re late,” he said, his voice low and devoid of any warmth, cutting through the silence like a blade.

I couldn’t move, couldn’t speak.

I was so confused.

How was this happening?

What was going on?

Why was he here?

I was unable to process my thoughts, let alone form words. The longer he looked at me with those harsh beautiful gray eyes, the more I felt like the little girl who had stood before him offering her friendship and more, and he had stomped all over her heart.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

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