Adonis: The Cost of a Billionaire's Heart: Sneak Peek

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SIMORA CAMPBELL

With my box of belongings balanced against my hip, I walked to the elevator, keeping my back straight and my steps measured. Only when the doors closed did I allow my shoulders to slump in defeat and my breath hitch. The elevator descended silently, and I stared at my blurry reflection in the polished doors, as anxiety seeped in. How am I going to tell Mason we might have to move from the only home he’s ever known? How in the hell am I gonna pay for his asthma medicine without insurance?

The tears came, hot and angry, spilling down my cheeks like a wild waterfall before I could stop them. I wiped them away furiously, but they kept coming. All my hard work, of rushing home to my son only to finish reports after he was asleep, of skipping lunch to save money for his birthday presents and Christmas—all gone because I wasn’t able to be in two places at once.

The elevator slowed to a halt at the sixteenth floor, and I quickly turned away, hoping whoever entered wouldn’t notice my meltdown. The doors slid open, and through my peripheral vision, I saw a tall figure step in. My heart stopped dead in my chest when I realized who it was.

Adonis Holland stood beside me, close enough for me to smell his expensive cologne. He didn’t acknowledge me, staring straight ahead as the doors closed. How in the hell did he get from my floor down here that fast? I frantically wiped my face, praying he would continue to treat me as invisible as I wanted to feel. But of course, he didn’t.

“You alright?” His voice was deep, with a slight rasp that caught me off guard.

“I’m fine,” I replied automatically, my voice betraying me with a slight crack.

That should’ve been the end of it. But to my horror, he reached out to jab the emergency stop button with his thumb. The elevator jerked to a halt, and I stumbled slightly, my box nearly slipping from my grasp.

“What are you—”

“You’re crying,” he stated matter-of-factly, “in my elevator.”

His elevator. Of course, a man like him would think he owned everything, even the space people went to cry in fucking peace.

“I apologize if my human emotions are inconveniencing you,” I snapped, immediately regretting it. Insulting the CEO who just indirectly fired me probably wasn’t the wisest choice, seeing as though I was going to be on the job hunt the minute I stepped out of the building.

But instead of anger, I saw something that looked almost like amusement flicker across his face.

“You’re leaving,” he said, observing my box. “Fired or quitting?”

I scoffed. “Does it really matter?”

“It might,” he replied with a nonchalant shrug.

I studied him, trying to understand why Adonis Holland was even speaking to me, a nobody he’d, in a roundabout way, just had fired. Up close, his presence was even more intimidating—tall, with those penetrating brown eyes that seemed to see right through me. But there was something else there, too, a tension in his bearded jaw, a tightness around his eyes that spoke of stress beyond the usual CEO pressures.

“Fired,” I finally admitted. “Because my son was sick last night, and I was late this morning.”

Something shifted in his expression. “You have a child?”

“A son. He’s four.”

I don’t even know why I’m telling him this. It won’t change a damn thing.

He studied me for a long moment, and I felt stripped bare under his gaze. Then he did something unexpected—he reached out and took the box from my hands, setting it on the ground.

“What’s your name?” he inquired, unable to locate my badge since I’d dropped it inside the box.

“Sim. I mean, Simora. Simora Campbell.”

“Simora.” He said my name slowly, like he was testing how it felt on his tongue. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Excuse me?” I asked, stepping back until I hit the elevator wall.

He arched an eyebrow, seeming to realize how his words sounded. “A business proposition, Ms. Campbell. One that could potentially solve both our problems.”

My brows snapped together in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

Adonis Holland reached past me to restart the elevator, his dark brown orbs never leaving mine. Even the slightest eye contact sent an unexpected shiver down my spine.

“Follow me,” he instructed when the doors opened to the lobby. The look in his eyes told me it wasn’t a request.

And despite every instinct telling me to run in the opposite direction, I picked up my box and followed the most powerful man in the building out into the bright September morning, wondering what kind of proposition could possibly connect his world with mine.

COMING NOVEMBER 10TH!