AFTER THE BILLIONAIRE'S REVENGE

"Name?"

"Noah Graves."

The receptionist's pen froze midair. She blinked, almost as if she'd misheard him. "Graves, as in?"

"Yes." Noah's voice was calm but firm. "As in that Graves."

Her smile faltered. He was used to that reaction. For years, the name carried the stain of betrayal. The scandal that destroyed his family still whispered through corporate circles like a ghost that refused to die.

She cleared her throat and gestured toward the elevator. "Mr. Blackstone is expecting you. Top floor."

Noah nodded, his fingers tightening around the strap of his bag. The lobby of Blackstone Tech was nothing like he remembered from the papers or the rumors. It was sleek, silent, and painfully modern, glass walls, chrome pillars, everything polished until it gleamed. It looked like success built on the bones of the past.

He took the elevator up, the soft hum of machinery drowning out his racing thoughts. He hadn't seen Adrian Blackstone in nine years. Not since the night everything fell apart, when the press accused his brother Ethan of leaking Blackstone's confidential data, when their fathers turned enemies overnight, and when Adrian stopped answering his calls.

Nine years. And now here he was, walking straight into his world again.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal a quiet hallway lined with black glass. Adrian's name was etched in silver on a single door at the end. Noah walked toward it, steady steps masking the storm in his chest.

He paused, took a breath, then knocked.

"Come in," came the voice.

That voice.

It hit him instantly, deep, smooth, a tone that could cut or soothe depending on the mood. He opened the door, and there he was.

Adrian Blackstone.

Sitting behind his massive desk, he looked like a man carved out of marble, impeccably dressed in a dark suit, his black hair slightly tousled, his face older but sharper. The boy Noah once loved had turned into a man who carried power like armor.

Their eyes met.

For a moment, time forgot to move.

"Noah Graves," Adrian said finally, his lips curving, not quite a smile. "I didn't believe it when HR told me you applied. Thought it was some kind of sick joke."

Noah forced himself to stay composed. "It's not."

Adrian stood, buttoning his jacket. "You came back to the company your family destroyed?"

"My family didn't destroy it."

Adrian's eyes darkened. "Your brother's leak cost my father his life."

"And Ethan paid for something he didn't do," Noah said quietly. "You of all people should know that."

The silence between them burned. Adrian's gaze flicked over Noah-his military-cut hair, the faint scar near his jaw, the exhaustion in his eyes.

"You look different," Adrian murmured, circling the desk like a predator. "Harder. Colder."

"Life does that," Noah replied.

Adrian smirked faintly. "And yet, you still came here. Why?"

"I need a job," Noah said simply.

"There are thousands of companies in New York."

"Only one where I can make a difference."

Adrian's