Just One Orgasm!

The first transfer was dated eighteen years ago. It was a relatively small amount.

Adrian studied it.

Then another followed, and the numbers grew. He opened the corresponding documents.

Dante had built everything carefully. Nothing was obvious, and no single transaction would have exposed him.

The Belmont funds moved through layers into Blackwood accounts, private investment firms, consultancy fees, property acquisitions, foreign accounts, and personal investments.

Adrian’s eyes narrowed. "This wasn’t impulsive."

Adrian scrolled.

The theft had been systematic, methodical, and patient.

Dante hadn’t simply stolen money. He had created an entire system designed to make the theft appear legitimate.

Adrian leaned back. "Who helped him?"

"We’re working on that."

"You should have started there."

"We did."

"And?"

"Several names are missing."

Adrian’s eyes narrowed. "Missing?"

"Records were deleted."

"By whom?"

"We don’t know."

Adrian stared at the screen.

Dante had not done this alone. But whoever helped him had protected him. Even after his supposed death.

Adrian opened another document.

This one contained Dante’s personal history.

His marriage, property, travel, medical records, and family. Adrian stopped when he saw Emilia’s name again.

Daughter: Emilia Hayes.

Age: Twenty-one.

His eyes remained on the screen. He saw the school icon showing Blackwood University.

Adrian leaned back slowly.

That was the part he hadn’t expected. It wasn’t merely that Emilia was Dante’s daughter.

She was studying at the very university connected to the investigation. A university whose finances had been manipulated by her father.

His hand went still over the trackpad.

The coincidence felt too perfect. Or too cruel. He began scrolling again.

He went through Emilia’s academic history.

Her scholarship records, her first university, her attendance, and her financial aid. There was nothing suspicious.

Everything was ordinary.

She was a student who studied. She had no signs of involvement.

Adrian opened another document with her mother’s name. He studied it, and there was nothing.

No unexplained transfers, no hidden accounts, and no connection to Dante’s financial network.

Adrian’s shoulders loosened slightly.

At least there was that.

His eyes moved to the date of Dante’s disappearance.

Emilia would have been ten then.

Eleven years believing her father was dead.

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

He imagined being ten and losing a parent. He had been there before. Except Dante hadn’t died.

He had simply disappeared. He had left his wife and daughter to mourn him while he protected himself.

Adrian’s expression darkened. That wasn’t just selfishness. That was cruelty.

Dante had allowed his own daughter to believe she had lost her father.

For what?

Money?

Freedom?

Protection?

Adrian looked away from the screen.

For the first time that night, anger replaced the coldness in his expression.

He hated men like Dante. Men who destroyed people and called it survival. Men who could look into their children’s eyes and still choose themselves.

Adrian looked toward the bedroom door.

He wondered how much of her life had been shaped by a lie she didn’t even know was a lie.

His eyes closed.

He hated this. He hated that her father had put her in the middle of something she had never chosen.

He hated that the investigation now had a face. Her face.

And he hated most of all that part of him had immediately begun thinking about how to protect her.

Adrian returned to the file.

There was another document attached.

DANTE HAYES — CURRENT STATUS

He opened it. The first paragraph contained only a few lines. He had been confirmed alive.

Adrian’s breathing slowed.

The second paragraph contained a photograph.

A recent photograph.

Dante looked older. His hair was shorter. His face had changed slightly, but it was unmistakably him.

He was photographed trying to quickly take a turn as he looked around suspiciously.

Adrian stared.

Christian spoke through the phone. "That’s the latest image we have."

"When?"

"Three months ago."

Adrian’s eyes tightened. "Where?"

"That’s the problem."

"Christian?"

"We have an approximate location."

"Where?"

"Switzerland."

Adrian stared at the photograph. "Approximate?" His fingers tightened around the edge of the desk. "Find out."

"We’re trying."

He clenched his jaw. "Try harder."

Christian sighed.

Adrian closed the photograph. "Whoever is protecting him has resources."

He looked at the clock. It was nearly midnight. Emilia was still asleep.

He imagined waking her, asking her about her father, and watching confusion appear on her face.

He could ask her questions. He could manipulate the conversation. He could find out everything, and he could use her.

The thought entered his mind before he could stop it.

Just for a second. Emilia could lead him to Dante. He could use her as a bait.

Adrian went completely still. The thought disgusted him, and he closed his eyes.

He had used people before. He understood leverage, he understood pressure, and he understood how easily emotional attachments could become weapons.

But Emilia wasn’t a weapon.

She was the girl who had fallen asleep on his shoulder during a helicopter ride because she was exhausted.

She was the person who had trusted him enough to fall asleep in his bed. And she was innocent.

Completely innocent.

Dante’s blood ran through her veins, but his crimes did not.

Adrian opened his eyes. He looked at the photograph again, then he looked toward the door.

The contrast made his chest tighten.

He could use her. He could, and perhaps the old Adrian would have. However, the man sitting in this room wasn’t entirely the man he’d been before her.

That realization irritated him more than anything.

She had changed something in him. She had simply entered his life and made certain choices harder.

Adrian closed the file.

He sat in silence.

The laptop continued humming quietly, and the room seemed colder now. He looked down at his hands.

This was the liability.

Not Emilia’s connection to Dante, but his feelings for her. He had spent years making decisions without allowing emotion to interfere.

He had built his life around control, distance, and discipline. Now one woman had made him question whether control was worth keeping.

He stood, and crossed the study. He opened the door, but the corridor was dark.

He walked quietly toward his bedroom.

When he opened the door, the room was almost completely dark. Moonlight entered through the windows. Emilia was asleep. Exactly where he’d left her.

Her face was turned slightly toward his side of the bed with one hand rested beneath her cheek.

Adrian stood in the doorway.

For a long moment, he simply watched her.

Then his eyes moved toward the jade-green bedding. His bed, his room, and his private life. All of which he had allowed her into.

He walked toward her.

She shifted slightly. Her brows pulled together for a moment.

Adrian stopped, then her face relaxed again.

He reached down and carefully pulled the blanket higher around her shoulder.

She murmured something, but he couldn’t make it out. He stood there silently.

Dante Gomez Hayes was alive.

He didn’t know what he was going to do yet, but he knew one thing. He would find Dante, and he would uncover every person involved.

He would get back what had been stolen. But he would not turn Emilia into a path leading to her father.

Adrian looked down at her.

His expression softened. "None of this is your fault."

She didn’t hear him. She continued sleeping. He brushed one loose strand of hair away from her forehead, then he straightened.

For a moment, he considered staying.

Instead, he walked back toward the door.

His hand reached the handle, and he abruptly stopped. Behind him, Emilia moved again.

Her voice was barely audible. "Adrian..."

He turned.

She was still asleep.

He walked back to the bed, and sat on the edge. His fingers found hers beneath the blanket.

She instinctively curled them around his. Even asleep. Adrian stared at their joined hands. He didn’t know what tomorrow would bring.

He didn’t know how many people had been involved. He didn’t know why Dante had disappeared. He didn’t know who was protecting him. He didn’t know whether Dante knew his daughter was studying at Blackwood.

And he certainly didn’t know what would happen when Dante discovered that Adrian Ashford Belmont was involved with her.

But that last thought was enough to make something cold settle inside him.

Adrian looked toward the window.

The estate remained silent.

Somewhere beyond those walls, Dante Hayes was alive. And somewhere inside those same walls, his daughter slept peacefully beside the man who had every reason to hate him.

Adrian squeezed Emilia’s hand once. Then he whispered the only promise he was certain he could keep.

"I won’t let him hurt you."

He released her hand carefully, and he stood.

The investigation would continue.

Dante would be found, and the truth would come out. But Emilia would remain outside of it.

Even if protecting her meant making the investigation infinitely harder.

Even if it meant fighting every instinct that told him she was the easiest path to the man he wanted.

Adrian returned to the study.

He closed the door softly behind him.

The laptop screen was still waiting. Dante’s photograph remained frozen on the display.

Adrian sat down. His eyes hardened. "Let’s find you."

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