And somewhere across the ballroom,
Rain noticed Daisy.
Laughing with two men he didn't recognize. Smiling. Leaning in. Looking comfortable.
His jaw tightened.
A muscle in his cheek ticked.
Every instinct in him pulsed mine, even though he had no right to think it yet.
He started walking toward her - steady, ready to pull her away without a single explanation.
"Rain!"
Adam stepped right into his path.
Rain swallowed his irritation and stopped. "Yes Uncle?"
"Come here, there's someone I want you to meet." Adam brought over a sharply dressed guest. "Rain, meet Mr. X. A big name in the tech sector."
The men shook hands.
And that conversation, painfully long, began.
Business partnerships. Expansion. Logistics. Global markets.
Rain was present physically, but mentally...
He was somewhere else.
Every few seconds, his eyes flicked over Adam's shoulder, trying to find Daisy again.
Still smiling with that stranger. Still laughing. Still acting like he didn't exist.
A foreign burn crawled through his chest.
"If you're interested, I'd like to invite you to a business dinner.." Mr. X began.
Rain forced a polite smile. "We'll discuss details later."
He scanned the ballroom again.
Empty.
The spot where Daisy was ... gone.
His heart dropped. Where the hell did she go? And with who?
"Mr. Rain?" Mr. X called his attention back.
Rain shifted his focus again, reluctantly, returning to the conversation he had no intention of engaging in. But beneath the polite facade, fury simmered.
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On the dance floor,
"Zain, stop," Lara whispered urgently. "People are calling us a couple. This is ridiculous."
Zain spun her smoothly again, not letting go of her waist for even a second.
"It's been just two minutes," he murmured, eyes locked on hers with an annoyingly confident smile. "Let them talk."
"Zain!"
"Besides," he lowered his voice, leaning closer, "are they wrong?"
Lara froze.
"That's enough," she warned.
He only smirked.
"Aren't we a great couple, little rabbit, fire and water?"
Her glare could've burned down the ballroom, but it didn't change a thing. He kept dancing with her like he owned the moment… and maybe her too.
And the whole ballroom watched.
Two men losing their minds over two women.
One openly.
One silently.
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Daisy, standing near the swimming pool, had no idea Rain was anywhere in the building, let alone watching her earlier.
She wasn't flirting on purpose. She wasn't trying to provoke anybody.
She was simply… having fun.
And of course she attracted attention.
Her dress hugged her curves perfectly. Her hair flowed beautifully. And her laugh, bright and careless, turned heads without effort.
Daisy was still laughing at something the man beside her said when a sudden shadow swallowed the space between them
Rain.