Ilay’s POV
I have a feeling that Emily and I…
Fuck.
I don’t even understand what I’m feeling. This redheaded woman… I was only going to have a fling with her, a brief distraction from the monotonous, polished world I inhabit. But now, her face is the constant backdrop to my thoughts. The memory of that night in Hawaii—the taste of her, the sound of her laugh, the way she looked at me not with sycophantic awe, but with a fiery, defiant challenge—it’s branded into me.
It has never happened before. No woman has ever lingered like this, a ghost in my boardrooms and a phantom in my penthouse.
“Sir, I think you should watch this.”
My secretary’s voice cut through the turmoil. His tone was carefully neutral, but I caught the underlying tension. He handed me a tablet. On the screen, a headl
