If Will Bennett had known the woman who called his life's work "charity cosplay" would be the guest of honor that night, he would have skipped the damn gala.
Instead, he stood by the open bar in a rented tux, trying to drink the sting out of her words. Three feet away, Eliza Darcy—the infamous tech queen, Silicon Valley's coldest asset—barely spared him a glance. That was her power. Her indifference sliced sharper than insults.
She was breathtaking, yes. All cheekbones and precision-cut confidence. But where most women smiled to warm a room, Eliza Darcy walked into one and dared it to meet her standards.
"Is she always like that?" Will asked quietly, to no one in particular.
"Like what?" Charlotte Bing, his oldest friend—and apparently, Eliza's business partner—appeared beside him with a flute of champagne.
"Like she's auditioning for the role of Ice Queen in a corporate fairytale."
Charlotte laughed. "That's not an act. That is Eliza. Brilliant, brutal, and completely uninterested in public opinion."
Will raised an eyebrow. "Well, she just trashed an entire nonprofit sector in one sentence. Impressive."
"She didn't mean you," Charlotte said, eyes playful. "Probably."
He forced a tight smile. It wasn't just the insult. It was the way she said it—detached, like she'd calculated the market value of his ideals and found them not worth the bandwidth.
But what bothered him most was this: She'd gotten under his skin.
Across the room, Eliza Darcy watched Will Bennett like a mathematician watching an unsolvable equation.
She hadn't meant for him to hear her offhand remark. That was a rare miscalculation. Usually, Eliza chose her words like weapons—sharp, silent, and aimed with care. But something about his face had disarmed her. Or irritated her. Or both.
Too earnest. Too... open. That kind of man had no business looking that good in a tux.
"Stop staring," Charlotte whispered as she joined her.
"I wasn't staring."
"You were analyzing him like he's a bad pitch deck."
Eliza blinked once. "He's exactly the kind of person who thinks charm is a substitute for a business model."
Charlotte smirked. "And yet, here you are. Watching."
That night ended the way most first battles do. No victor. Just tension.
Eliza walked away first. She always did. And Will?
Will promised himself she'd be just another headline.But somewhere deep inside, he already knew:Eliza Darcy was going to be a problem.