The night before the interview, the air in Carley's bedroom felt thick and suffocating.
She paced the length of her rug, her bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. She wore a pair of old, thin silk pajamas, the thin straps slipping down her shoulder as she held her phone tight against her ear.
"I just don't understand him!" Carley hissed into the receiver, her voice vibrating with pent-up rage. "He is a complete control freak. A hypocrite! He forces me to stay in this house, traps me here with my parents, and then he doesn't even sleep here!"
"Classic toxic ex behavior," Clara's voice crackled through the phone. "He can't have you, so he wants to make sure no one else can, and he wants you miserable while he does it."
Carley rubbed her chest, trying to ease the tight, anxious knot behind her sternum. The room felt too small. The walls were pressing in.
She needed air.
Carley pushed her bedroom door open and stepped out onto the second-floor landing. The hallway was dark, illuminated only by the moonlight spilling through the large window at the end of the corridor.
She leaned her elbows against the heavy wooden railing, looking down into the cavernous, empty foyer.
"I just need tomorrow to go well," Carley said, her voice echoing slightly in the massive space. "If I get this job at Vance Group, I can sign a lease. I can pack my bags and walk out of here, and I will never have to look at his arrogant, cold face again."
Downstairs, the heavy front door opened. There was no sound. The hinges had been oiled perfectly.
A man stepped into the foyer.
Barron.
He froze. His head snapped up.
Carley didn't see him. She was staring at the chandelier, her knuckles white as she gripped her phone. "I hate him, Clara. I really do."
Barron's dark eyes locked onto her. The air in the foyer instantly plummeted to freezing.
Carley felt a sudden, violent chill crawl up the back of her neck. The hairs on her arms stood up. It was a physical warning, an instinct screaming at her.
She looked down.
Her breath vanished from her lungs.
Barron was standing at the bottom of the grand staircase. He was entirely in black, blending into the shadows like a predator. His face was a mask of absolute, terrifying stillness. But his eyes-his eyes were burning with a dark, violent intensity that pinned her to the spot.
He had heard everything.
Carley's brain short-circuited. Her fingers went limp, and the phone nearly slipped from her grasp.
"Carley? Hello? Are you there?" Clara's tiny voice squeaked from the speaker.
Carley scrambled to hit the end button, her thumb shaking so badly she missed it twice. She finally cut the call. The silence that followed was deafening.
Barron's gaze didn't stay on her face. Slowly, deliberately, his eyes dragged downward.
Carley suddenly realized what she was wearing. The thin silk pajamas clung to her curves. The hallway light behind her made the fabric nearly translucent.
Her face exploded with heat. A wave of intense, burning humiliation washed over her. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, taking a frantic step back from the railing.
Barron's jaw clenched. The muscle in his cheek ticked.
"Talking behind someone's back," Barron's voice sliced through the dark. It was low, rough, and dripping with ice. "It's a filthy habit, Carley."
He took a step up the stairs.
His leather shoe hit the wood with a heavy, deliberate thud.
Carley's heart slammed against her ribs. She wanted to run back to her room, but her legs refused to move. She was paralyzed by the sheer force of his presence.
He took another step. Then another.
He was walking up the stairs slowly, his eyes never leaving hers. The physical distance between them closed, and with every inch, the air grew thinner.
He reached the landing. He didn't stop until he was standing less than two feet away from her. He towered over her, his broad chest blocking out the moonlight.
Carley had to tilt her head back to look at him. She was trembling. She could smell the cold night air on his skin and the dark, spicy scent of his cologne.
Barron looked down at her. His eyes swept over her bare shoulders, the thin straps of her pajamas, and the way her arms were wrapped defensively around her own body. His upper lip curled in a sneer of pure disgust.
"Is this how you walk around the house now?" His voice was a harsh, degrading whisper. "Is this the new standard you picked up during your four years abroad?"
The insult felt like a physical slap across the face.
Tears of hot, stinging humiliation sprang to Carley's eyes. She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. The fear vanished, replaced by a sudden, blinding fury.
She dropped her arms and stood up straight, forcing herself not to shrink away from him.
"What I wear in the hallway outside my bedroom is none of your business, Mr. Newton," she spat, her voice shaking with rage.
Barron's eyes darkened to pitch black. His left hand twitched, his fingers curling inward as if fighting the urge to grab her. He stared at her for three agonizing seconds.
Then, the corner of his mouth lifted in a cold, empty smirk.
He didn't say another word. He stepped around her, his shoulder brushing violently against hers. The contact sent a shock of static electricity straight into her bones.
He walked down the hall and opened the door to his bedroom. He walked in and shut the door behind him.
The click of the latch sounded like a gunshot.
Carley stood frozen in the hallway, her chest heaving, her skin burning from the ghost of his touch and the acid of his words.
