Caught in His Web

Ava’s POV

I swallowed back my frustration, pulling away as Orion’s smug smirk stayed firmly in place. The infuriating arrogance, the way he looked at me like he could see right through every carefully built wall I’d put up—I hated it. And the worst part? He was right.

The door clicked shut, and I felt a rush of relief, glad the junior associate hadn’t lingered long enough to see the weakness on my face. I was already berating myself, feeling the hot shame creep up my cheeks. I’d let him get too close. I’d let him pull me into his gravity, again, and just like that, I’d lost the upper hand.

Orion’s words lingered in the air, taunting me. “It was for you.” They rang in my ears, irritatingly close, too intimate, too assured. I clenched my fists, my nails digging into my palms. I shouldn’t have let him get that close. I shouldn’t have let myself feel anything.

As I turned sharply to leave the boardroom, my mind flickered back to last night, to the sound that had seeped through the walls of his suite, haunting me in the silence. The memory hit me like a punch in the gut. I’d barely been able to sleep, haunted by the soft, breathy sounds echoing in the hall. The unmistakable sound of Chloe’s moans, and Orion’s low, rough voice mixed with hers, whispered through my mind like a poison.

I’d lain there, gritting my teeth in the dark, torn between wanting to drown out the sound and the perverse compulsion to listen. He was in there, only a few feet away, with her—and every sound, every shift of her voice, had twisted the knife deeper. The idea of him above her, of his hands tracing her curves, of her gasping his name with that same smug satisfaction—I couldn’t bear it. Fury pulsed through me, raw and relentless.

How dare he? And why the hell did it even matter to me?

I shook my head, banishing the thought as I stepped toward the hallway. But as soon as I tried to shake the images loose, they rushed back with even sharper clarity. The thought of him touching her, of those hands that had just been on me pressed to her skin, burned in my mind. I took a shaky breath, feeling the anger simmer dangerously close to the surface. I couldn’t let him see it—I couldn’t let him know that he’d managed to get under my skin.

“Leaving so soon?” His voice, cool and unbothered, chased me out of the boardroom. The nerve of him, the calm amusement that threaded his words, only fueled the fire. I paused but didn’t turn around, my hand hovering over the doorknob, every muscle tense.

I gritted my teeth, barely keeping my voice steady. “I have work to do.”

Orion’s footsteps echoed behind me as he approached, each step deliberate. “You seem… unsettled, Ava.” His words held a hint of mock concern, and I could practically feel the smirk behind them. “Should I be worried?”

Without thinking, I spun around, my control slipping. “You should worry, Orion,” I said, my voice sharp, every word dripping with venom. “Because I’m not one of your toys, and I’m certainly not someone you can manipulate on a whim.”

He arched a brow, his amusement only deepening. “Manipulate? You give yourself too much credit. If I wanted to manipulate you, Ava, you’d know it.” His gaze lingered on me, intense and unyielding. “But if that’s what you’re afraid of…” He took a step closer, his voice lowering. “Maybe it’s because you don’t trust yourself.”

The words hit me harder than they should have, my pulse quickening against my will. I hated the truth in his gaze, hated the way he saw through my defenses, stripping me down to my raw, furious core. My heart hammered in my chest, each beat loud and accusing, and I forced myself to step back, to put distance between us.

Orion’s eyes followed my retreat, a glint of satisfaction flashing there. “That’s what I thought.”

My lips parted, a retort on the tip of my tongue, but the words wouldn’t come. Instead, I was left in silence, my gaze locked with his, both of us caught in the charged tension that refused to break.

He took another step forward, his expression darkening as his gaze traveled over my face, down to my parted lips. It felt as though he was peeling back every layer of composure I’d clung to, his eyes full of challenge and something far more dangerous.

“What do you want from me?” I forced out, my voice low and strained.

His gaze softened for the briefest moment, but it was enough to send my heart racing, to pull me into the intensity of his presence. “What I want…” His fingers reached out, brushing a stray strand of hair from my cheek, his touch lingering far longer than necessary. “Is for you to stop pretending. Admit that you’re a gold digger and hand over everything to me.”

I sucked in a breath, my heart hammering. He was too close, too intense, and the air between us felt suffocating. The rational part of me screamed to push him away, to tell him to keep his hands off me. But I couldn’t move.

He just insulted me, called me a gold digger and yet my mind was clouded with his mere presence?

My mind screamed, a tumult of anger, desire, and defiance. I hated that he had this effect on me, that he could read me so easily, see the cracks I’d tried so hard to keep hidden. And yet, as he leaned in, his gaze locked on mine, I felt my resolve slipping, my heart racing as my body betrayed me.

But just as I was about to lose myself, the faint creak of the door behind us made me freeze.

I whipped around, pulse thundering, my heart lodged in my throat as I saw Chloe standing there, her gaze flicking between us, her expression unreadable.

The silence was thick, heavy with unspoken words, and I could feel Orion’s eyes on me, waiting for my reaction. Chloe’s presence jolted me back to reality, grounding me in the mess I’d just been pulled into, and a part of me felt trapped, cornered with nowhere to run.