The rooftop was never meant to be part of her first day.
Aria Sarmiento pressed the stack of documents to her chest, trying to stop her hands from shaking as she searched for the right office door. The Velasco Empire Headquarters was a maze of glass walls, silent hallways, and strict faces. She didn't belong here at least that's what everyone's stare kept telling her.
But fate had a cruel sense of humor.
A sudden gust of wind blew the papers from her hands, scattering them across the executive floor. "No, no, no—" Aria chased after them, one sheet after another, until the last piece of paper slid beneath a door marked:
PRIVATE ACCESS — CEO ONLY
Before she could think twice, she pushed it open.
And walked straight into danger.
The door didn't lead to an office… but to the rooftop.
Two men stood there one she immediately recognized from company photos, and another whose face was hidden under the dim lights.
Lucien Alaric Velasco.
The infamous CEO.
Cold.
Powerful.
Untouchable.
Even from a distance, his presence stole the air from her lungs. He wasn't reading reports. He wasn't on the phone. He was facing the stranger with a glare sharp enough to cut steel.
Aria froze behind the door, breath held.
The stranger spoke first, voice dripping with threat.
"We know your weakness, Velasco. Hindi ka forever safe."
Lucien didn't flinch.
"Touch anything that's mine," he said quietly, "and you won't live long enough to regret it."
Something dark flickered in the stranger's eyes.
Something dangerous.
Aria knew she should leave slowly, quietly, unnoticed.
But her heel scratched against the floor.
Both men turned.
Her heart stopped.
Lucien's cold, storm rey eyes locked onto hers.
The wind blew his hair slightly, but his expression didn't move an inch calm yet deadly, as if calculating a thousand possibilities in a single second.
The stranger smirked.
"Looks like someone heard us."
Fear coiled tightly around Aria's throat.
She opened her mouth to apologize, to explain, but no sound came out.
Lucien took a step toward her.
Then another.
And when he finally stood in front of her, towering, unreading, he picked up the fallen paper at her feet. Slowly, deliberately.
He handed it to her.
His voice was low, controlled, but something dangerous hid underneath it.
"What exactly did you hear, Miss…?"
"Ar-Aria," she whispered. "Aria Sarmiento."
Lucien's gaze flickered just once as if the name meant something.
Then, with a voice soft enough to be a warning, he leaned in.
"Aria… For your sake, forget everything."
Her heartbeat pounded loudly in her ears.
But the worst part wasn't the threat.
It was the unspoken truth she felt in her bones:
This man this cold, impossible man
would become the most dangerous thing that ever happened to her.
And she had just stepped into a world she was never meant to enter.
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