Chapter 4 - THE GLASS TOWER
The penthouse on the forty-fifth floor of the Meridian Tower felt less like a home and more like a fortress made of glass, steel, and shadow. High above the rain-slicked streets of Seattle, the city looked like a vast grid of neon orange and red lights bleeding into the fog.
Naomi stood in the center of the massive living room, her damp shoes sinking into the thick grey rug. Minimalist art hung on the concrete walls, and a single, long marble counter separated the kitchen from the rest of the open floor space. It was pristine, imposing, and completely devoid of personal warmth.
Daniel walked in behind her, setting a warm cashmere throw blanket over her shoulders. He pulled a crystal decanter from a shelf and poured two fingers of amber whiskey into a tumbler, handing it to her with a steady hand.
“Drink this,” he said softly. “It will help with the shock.”
Naomi took the glass, her fingers brushing against his tattooed knuckles. She took a small sip, feeling the alcohol burn a warm path down her throat.
“I can’t stay here forever, Daniel,” she said, looking up at him through her lashes. “I have a job. I have a family in Tacoma.”
“My men are stationed outside your mother’s house right now,” Daniel replied instantly, standing close enough that she could feel the heat radiating from his chest. “No one will touch her. And as for your job, I have already arranged for private transport to drop you at Harborview’s private entrance and pick you up directly from the bay.”
Naomi frowned, setting the tumbler down on the marble counter. “You arranged that in ten minutes?”
Daniel’s eyes flickered slightly, but his composure remained unreadable. “I have resources, Naomi. When someone I care about is threatened, I leave nothing to chance.”
Someone I care about.
The words hung between them, heavy with unspoken weight. In the span of three weeks, this dangerous, cold-blooded man who ruled the city’s shipping docks had placed her at the center of his universe. He looked at her not with the casual interest of a wealthy suitor, but with a deep, consuming intensity that bordered on worship.
He reached out, his long fingers gently tucking a strand of dark hair behind her ear. His touch was remarkably gentle for a man whose hands had choked a rival in a dark alley fortnight ago.
“You don't look at me the way other people do,” Daniel whispered, stepping closer until his boots brushed the toes of her shoes. “Other people look at me and see a criminal. A monster. A man who takes whatever he wants.”
“And what do I see?” Naomi asked, her voice barely above a breath, refusing to look away from his piercing stare.
“You see a man who is terrified,” Daniel admitted, his voice dropping into a raw, vulnerable confession that stunned her. “You saw right through me in that alley. You knew I was lonely. You knew I was isolated.”
He leaned down, resting his forehead against hers, taking a deep, shuddering breath of her scent.
“I have everything this city can buy, Naomi,” he murmured, his hands gently framing her waist. “Land, power, money, fear. But I have never had anyone look me in the eye and stay. Seventeen people walked out of that door because they saw the darkness around me and ran. Don't leave me.”
It was a brilliant, tragic performance—a combination of raw vulnerability and high-stakes protection that would have made any woman fall hopelessly in love with him.
And Naomi did feel her heart ache for him. She felt the powerful, magnetic pull of his pain, the desire to heal a man who believed he was unlovable.
But as she rested her hands against his chest, feeling the heavy, rhythmic thud of his heartbeat beneath his custom suit, her eye caught something reflecting in the glass wall behind him.
May you like
Directly across the street, parked in the shadowed alleyway three floors down, was the same black SUV that had sat outside her apartment. And sitting in the driver’s seat, casually lighting a cigarette in the glow of the dashboard, was the tall man in the heavy coat who had chased her into the Fairmont.
He wasn't watching the tower for enemies. He was waiting for orders.
