Z City

Love Letter Bar

The whole bar was loud as hell. Voices crashed into each other, music boomed, and under the flashing rainbow lights, men and women twisted across the dance floor like they were trying to shake off every bad mood they’d ever had.

One slim figure moved awkwardly through the crowd. White T-shirt, light blue jeans, a simple ponytail tied behind her head. She looked barely in her twenties, more like a college student who had wandered into the wrong place.

Her name was Serena Whitfield. The second she stepped inside, the wall of sound nearly knocked her back.

The childish softness hadn’t quite left her face yet, and standing in a place like this, she looked completely out of sync with everything around her.

It was her first time in a place like this. She had to stand there for several minutes, forcing herself to get used to the noise, the lights, the heat, the whole messy vibe.

At this exact time yesterday, she had used an ovulation test strip. It showed that within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours, she would ovulate.

Which meant right now.

Yes. She had come to a place like this tonight for one reason only.

She wanted a child.

She knew the “old man” at home could never get her pregnant. Besides, he had dumped her in that villa and left her there for an entire year without a care in the world. So if she wanted a baby, she had to find someone else.

Even if having this child wasn’t really her choice, nobody wanted their kid to grow up plain-looking, right? So she had to pick carefully.

Serena Whitfield bit down on her lower lip. Her round, bright eyes moved from man to man, scanning the room with nervous focus, until one man sitting at the bar suddenly caught her eye.

He was seated sideways, so all she could see was his profile.

But just that profile alone was enough to make her heart skip.

His features were sharp and clean, beautifully sculpted. Especially that high nose bridge and those thin lips. His long lashes cast a faint shadow beneath his eyes.

He looked almost mixed-race.

There was a sapphire-blue stud in his left ear, glinting under the lights, dazzling enough to mess with anyone’s head.

Serena quietly sucked in a breath. Her heart felt like it was about to jump straight out of her throat. This was her first time doing anything like this. Of course she was nervous. Super nervous.

Copying the way senior boys at school chatted up younger girls, she reached out and lightly tapped the man on the shoulder.

"Hi."

The man turned his face toward her.

And wow.

That one turn was lethal.

His side profile had already been enough to wreck her composure, but seeing his full face up close? It was game over. He was absurdly, unfairly handsome.

Those pale blue eyes were ridiculously mesmerizing.

Serena Whitfield was so busy staring at the handsome guy that her mind just flatlined for a second.

"What took you so long?!" The man sounded annoyed as hell. He shot to his feet, grabbed Serena by the wrist, and dragged her straight outside before she could even figure out what was going on.

All Serena knew was that this man was insanely strong. His fingers clamped around her wrist so hard it felt like her bones were about to crack.

He took her straight into the hotel next door, like he’d planned the whole thing already, went right up to the presidential suite on the third floor, swiped the key card, and opened the door in one smooth move.

The second they walked in, the man pulled off his white T-shirt, revealing a honey-toned chest.

Serena sucked in a breath. This guy’s body was way too good.

Broad chest, muscles carved in all the right places, not an ounce of extra fat anywhere. Every line on him looked unreal, especially those insanely tempting abs.

This man wasn’t just lethal-looking in the face. His body was on the same level too.

She was practically about to get a nosebleed.

After taking off his shirt, the man started undoing his belt.

Serena’s eyes went wide. Seeing that things were about to head south of the waist, she rushed over and grabbed the hand he was using on the belt. "Wait a second!"

The man frowned slightly and lowered those blue eyes to her. "What now?"

"Isn’t this... kind of too fast?" Serena gave an awkward little smile, her cheeks already turning pink.

"Fast? Is it?" The man looked her up and down. Her delicate little face was flushed like it had been brushed with sunset clouds. The more he looked at her, the more embarrassed she got, and she quickly turned her eyes away.

"Oh, right. My bad. We should flirt first." He let go of the belt and walked straight into the bedroom. "Say whatever you want to say."

The bedroom light came on, and Serena followed him in quietly, almost tiptoeing.

Only then, when both of them finally went still, did the man really take a proper look at her.

She had a classic oval face, a little slim, with a pointed chin, but there was also a natural softness around her cheeks, the kind of faint baby fat that made her look sweet and clean. She was the type that made people feel comfortable the moment they saw her.

Under those willow-shaped brows was a pair of bright, crystal-clear eyes, dark as obsidian and shining with an oddly magnetic glow. Her lashes fluttered like butterfly wings every time she blinked, soft and seriously distracting.

Except... weren’t her boobs a little too small?

It was Adrian Voss’s first time too, sure, but he’d heard Conrad Ashby run his mouth about women often enough. Even if he’d never done it himself, that didn’t mean he knew nothing. At the very least, he had some basic standards for what a woman getting into bed with a man was supposed to be like.

"That idiot Conrad," the man muttered under his breath. "He swore he’d found me a top-tier one, but in the end he obviously kept the best for himself."

"Huh? What did you say?" Serena Whitfield hadn’t caught it clearly.

"Nothing." His tone turned sharp right away. "Weren’t you the one asking to flirt? Why are you just standing there like a statue? Say something."

His voice carried a natural pressure, the kind that came from always standing above everyone else.

And honestly, he did have every reason to act that way.

His name was Adrian Voss.

In Z City, that name was anything but unfamiliar.

He was the founder and current CEO of Dark Empire, the big shot who could practically flip the whole city over with one hand.

Rumor had it Adrian Voss was a genius gamer. He’d built his fortune through games, and the titles he created had basically dominated the entire market. After that, Dark Empire expanded at crazy speed, moving from gaming into one industry after another. Naturally, his wealth shot up right along with it.

At only twenty-six, forget the country—even internationally, he was already one of those people with money so huge it made others dizzy.

The weird thing was, he never showed up in public. No one had actually seen him.

Serena swallowed hard. "Um... I only have one condition tonight."

"Say it." Adrian was clearly running out of patience.

"Don’t use a condom."

The moment he heard that, Adrian Voss was so stunned his jaw nearly hit the floor.

Conrad Ashby had reminded him again and again, dead serious about it too—he absolutely had to use one.

For one thing, his status was complicated. If something went wrong and a child came out of this, it would be a total mess. For another, women who hung around these places usually came with their own risks. If he caught something, that would be a disaster.

"Reason." Adrian’s cold, shadowy gaze swept over Serena, making her even more nervous.

"Because..." Serena hadn’t wanted to tell anyone she was trying to get pregnant. Her plan had been simple: get pregnant quietly, have the baby, and keep things clean with no strings attached.

"If you don't tell me the truth, I'm not touching you tonight." Adrian Voss's eyes turned a little colder, his voice flat but pressing.

Serena Whitfield really didn't want to let this chance slip away. If she missed the man right in front of her, where else was she supposed to find genes this good? No joke, this level was rare.

So she gritted her teeth and went all in.

"Because I want to have a baby."

Adrian Voss was stunned again.

She looked barely in her early twenties, and she was saying she wanted a child?

Was this woman... okay in the head?

"Why—"

"Don't worry!" Serena Whitfield cut in at once, sounding dead serious, like she was making some huge promise. "I will absolutely not cling to you. I'll raise the child myself. It won't have a single thing to do with you, not even one cent!"