Chapter 1 - The Confession Behind the Locked Door
“I’m obsessed with you, Jasmine.”
The words hung in the tiny apartment with a force that seemed to knock all the air from the room.
Jasmine Cole stared at Derek Drake as though she had never seen him before.
Her employer.
The most feared businessman in Manhattan.
The man who never raised his voice because he never needed to.
The man whose employees obeyed a single look.
And now he was standing in the middle of her cramped apartment, admitting that he had been thinking about her.
Obsessing over her.
Wanting her.
Jasmine’s heart pounded so violently that she was certain he could hear it.
“Mr. Drake…”
“Derek.”
She swallowed.
“Derek, you can’t say things like that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re my boss.”
“That’s the only reason?”
She looked away.
“No.”
Derek noticed.
“Then what is the real reason?”
Jasmine wrapped his jacket tighter around herself.
“Because you’re you.”
His eyebrows pulled together.
“That makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense.”
She laughed nervously.
“You live in a penthouse. You have security everywhere. People listen when you speak. You can buy whatever you want. Everyone in Manhattan seems to know your name.”
“And you think that makes me incapable of wanting you?”
“I think it makes me incapable of understanding why you would.”
Derek stepped closer.
“You still don’t understand.”
“I’m trying.”
He looked at her for several silent seconds before finally saying, “Then let me make it simple.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
He unlocked it and placed it on the small kitchen table.
There were photographs.
Jasmine frowned.
“What is that?”
“You.”
Her stomach tightened.
The photos had been taken over the last several months.
Jasmine entering Drake Industries.
Jasmine leaving a coffee shop.
Jasmine carrying groceries.
Jasmine sitting on a bench outside the office during lunch.
But none had been taken by Derek.
There was something clinical about the images.
They had been captured from different distances.
Different angles.
Different days.
Jasmine looked up sharply.
“Who took these?”
“Not my people.”
Derek’s voice changed.
All warmth disappeared.
“I found out this afternoon.”
She looked down again.
The next photograph made her blood run cold.
It showed Jasmine standing on a subway platform.
Someone was watching her from across the tracks.
The person’s face was hidden beneath the shadow of a hood.
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
Derek took the phone back.
“You’re not the only one being watched.”
Jasmine’s lips parted.
“Then who is?”
“That’s what I intend to find out.”
Her fear rose.
“You think someone is following me?”
“I know someone is following you.”
Derek paused.
“And that’s why tonight scared me.”
She finally understood.
His anger outside the building had not been about her being late.
Not entirely.
He had been terrified someone had taken her.
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because every time I tell you there’s a problem, you assume it’s your responsibility.”
Jasmine stared at him.
“Because it is.”
“No.”
His answer was immediate.
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
He moved closer, lowering his voice.
“You became my responsibility the moment I realized I couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to you.”
Jasmine’s breath trembled.
“That isn’t healthy.”
“I didn’t claim it was.”
A small, bitter smile touched his lips.
“I’m not exactly famous for making healthy decisions.”
That sentence should have sounded like a joke.
Instead, it made Jasmine uneasy.
Because she had always suspected there was more to Derek Drake than corporate meetings, expensive suits, and ruthless negotiations.
His security was excessive.
His enemies were numerous.
People whispered when he walked into rooms.
Even powerful executives treated him differently.
She had never understood why.
Until now.
“Derek…”
He looked toward her.
“Who are you?”
The question changed everything.
For several seconds, Derek said nothing.
Then his expression hardened.
“You don’t want that answer.”
“I’m already standing in your private world.”
“No. You’re standing in your apartment.”
He glanced around.
“You have no idea what my world looks like.”
“Then tell me.”
He stepped toward the window and looked outside.
Two black SUVs were parked across the street.
Jasmine’s stomach dropped.
“You have people watching my building?”
“I have people protecting your building.”
“Same thing.”
“It’s not.”
“Derek…”
He turned.
“I own Drake Industries. That part is public.”
His eyes became colder.
“The rest is not.”
Jasmine waited.
“My family built an organization long before I inherited it.”
She frowned.
“What organization?”
Derek held her gaze.
“The kind that doesn’t appear in business magazines.”
Silence.
Then Jasmine whispered, “You’re saying…”
“Yes.”
“The Mafia?”
Derek didn't deny it.
Jasmine took a step backward.
The room seemed suddenly too small.
“You’re a Mafia boss?”
“Yes.”
She pressed a hand against her mouth.
The city outside continued moving as if nothing had changed.
Cars passed.
A siren sounded several blocks away.
Someone laughed in another apartment.
But Jasmine's entire understanding of the last six months had shattered.
The strange men near Derek’s office.
The impossible security.
The sudden disappearance of a vice president.
The executive who had resigned without explanation.
The night Derek arrived at the office with blood on his cuff and claimed he had cut himself opening a box.
All of it.
It made sense now.
“You lied to me.”
“I protected you.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“I know.”
Her eyes burned.
“Why would you hire someone like me?”
“Because I needed a secretary.”
She almost laughed.
“And because?”
Derek stared at her.
“And because I saw you.”
That answer was so simple it hurt.
“You were in an interview room with six other candidates. They were all trying to impress me.”
His voice softened.
“You were the only one who noticed the receptionist had been crying.”
Jasmine remembered.
“I asked her if she needed help.”
“You did.”
His mouth curved faintly.
“You didn’t care that I was watching.”
She looked down.
“I thought you were arrogant.”
“I am.”
Despite everything, a tiny smile slipped through Jasmine’s lips.
Derek saw it.
For the first time that night, the tension eased.
Then her phone rang.
Her mother.
Jasmine’s smile vanished.
Derek noticed immediately.
“You don’t have to answer.”
“I should.”
She answered.
“Hello, Mom?”
Nothing.
Then a man spoke.
“Hello, Jasmine.”
Her blood froze.
That wasn’t her mother’s voice.
“Who is this?”
The man chuckled.
“You should ask your boss.”
The line disconnected.
Jasmine stared at the phone.
Derek took one look at her expression.
“What did he say?”
She handed him the phone.
Derek’s eyes narrowed.
“When was your last conversation with your mother?”
“This afternoon.”
“What did she say?”
“That she needed the monthly payment early.”
“Did you send it?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Seven hundred.”
Derek looked at her.
“You normally send one thousand.”
“I had bills.”
He stared at the screen.
Then his expression changed.
Cold.
Deadly.
“Your mother didn’t make that call.”
Jasmine’s stomach twisted.
“What?”
“I just spoke to someone who knows exactly how to frighten you.”
He handed the phone back.
“Stay here.”
“What are you doing?”
“Making a call.”
“To whom?”
Derek’s jaw tightened.
“To the man who has been waiting for me to make one mistake.”
Before he reached the door, Jasmine caught his wrist.
“Derek.”
He looked back.
“What?”
“I’m scared.”
That one sentence stripped every layer of control from his face.
He turned immediately.
His hand covered hers.
“I know.”
He stepped closer.
“And I swear to you, nobody is going to take you from me.”
Jasmine looked into his eyes.
For once, he wasn’t speaking as a Mafia boss.
He was speaking as a man who had finally admitted he was terrified of losing the woman he loved.
But neither of them noticed the small red light blinking beneath the window across the street.
Someone was still watching.
May you like
Someone had just heard everything.
And that person knew exactly who Jasmine Cole really was.
