Bound By The Tycoon's Dark Love

"Great job on the settlement, Chloe. You completely destroyed them in there." A male colleague leaned in close, his breath smelling heavily of gin and tonic.

Chloe took a small sip of her iced martini. The freezing liquid slid down her throat, but it did nothing to ease the sudden tightness in her chest. The bass from the lounge's sound system thumped against her ribs. She took a polite half-step back, her professional smile firmly in place.

"Thanks, Mark. It was a team effort." she said, smoothly dodging his attempt to rest a hand on her waist.

The dim lights of the Manhattan lounge flickered to the beat of the music. The sudden, sharp crash of a dropped tray of glasses echoed through the lounge, sounding unnervingly like a gunshot. The noise sliced through Chloe's composure. Her lungs suddenly felt empty. The air in the room grew inexplicably thin. A cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck.

She instinctively looked up toward the second-floor VIP balconies. Her gaze cut through the shifting shadows of the dancing crowd below and slammed into a pair of eyes looking straight down at her.

Her heart missed a full beat. The blood drained from her face so fast she felt dizzy. Ten years of buried nightmares clawed their way up her throat.

Axel Sinclair stood by the glass railing. He was half-hidden in the shadows, but the sharp, aggressive lines of his jaw were unmistakable. He was casually flipping a silver windproof lighter open and closed. Snap. Snap. He looked down at her with a cold, predatory smirk that said she was already caught.

Chloe's breathing turned ragged. Her fingers trembled violently. The ice cubes in her glass clinked against the crystal, making a fragile, desperate sound.

She spun around so fast she collided with a passing waiter. She did not stop to apologize. She grabbed her leather handbag from the stool and stumbled toward the exit, pushing past the bodies in her way.

She shoved the heavy glass doors of the lounge open. The crisp Manhattan autumn wind hit her face, but it could not freeze the hot panic rushing through her veins.

Chloe stood on the corner of Fifth Avenue. She frantically waved her arm at the passing traffic, constantly looking over her shoulder at the lounge doors.

A yellow cab screeched to a halt in front of her. She yanked the door open and threw herself into the backseat.

"Brooklyn Heights. Now, please," she told the driver, her voice shaking.

The cab sped off into the neon-lit streets. Chloe gripped her phone so hard her knuckles turned completely white. Her stomach cramped. She kept telling herself it was just a coincidence. New York was a big city. He was just a ghost from the past.

The cab pulled up outside her upscale apartment building in Brooklyn Heights. She shoved a twenty-dollar bill at the driver and practically ran toward the brightly lit lobby.

She nodded to the familiar night doorman, trying to ground herself in the mundane reality of her everyday life.

She walked into the empty elevator and pressed the button for the twelfth floor. She watched the numbers climb, but her heart rate climbed faster.

The elevator doors dinged open. The hallway was lined with thick, sound-absorbing carpet. It was suffocatingly quiet.

Chloe dug into her bag for her keys. Her fingers, usually so steady when flipping through legal documents, fumbled with the keys. She tried to insert the key into the lock, but her hand shook so violently the metal scraped uselessly against the lock plate, the sound deafeningly loud in the silent hallway.

She took a deep breath and bent down to pick them up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of expensive, black handmade leather shoes.

Her brain went completely blank. Pure terror paralyzed her muscles. She slowly raised her head and met a pair of eyes as dark and deep as an abyss.

Axel leaned casually against the wall right next to her apartment door. He held an unlit cigarette between his long fingers. He blocked her only way inside.

Chloe scrambled backward. Her spine hit the opposite wall with a dull thud.

Axel stood up straight. His leather shoes made a faint brushing sound against the carpet as he took a slow step toward her. Then another.

The expensive smell of cedarwood cologne mixed with a hint of tobacco hit her face, instantly stealing whatever oxygen she had left.

Chloe opened her mouth to tell him to leave, but her dry throat only produced a pathetic, trembling gasp.

Axel reached out. His long, powerful fingers clamped around her jaw with absolute precision. He forced her head up so she had to look him in the eye.

The rough texture of his thumb against her skin sent a violent shudder down her spine. The humiliation burned in her chest, but the fear was louder.

He leaned down until his lips were right next to her ear. His hot breath brushed against her neck.

"The ten-year hide-and-seek is over, Chloe." he whispered. His voice was low, raspy, and dripping with a sick, possessive hunger.

She jerked her head to the side to break his grip. He immediately wrapped his other arm around her waist, pinning her in place.

Axel snatched the keys from her trembling hand. He slid the key into the lock with practiced ease. The lock clicked loudly. He pushed open the door to her only safe haven.