Total pages in book: 25
Estimated words: 23854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23854 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 80(@300wpm)
8
DOMINIC
Marcus corners me in the parking garage just before seven in the morning.
He’s leaning against a pillar with a coffee in his hand and an expression I haven’t seen on his face since I pulled him out of Rikers. The one he had when he was about to tell me something I did not want to hear.
“Boss, we need to talk.”
“No, we do not.”
I try to walk past him, but he steps in front of me, blocking the elevator. “Yes, we do.” Marcus is the only guy alive with the balls to get between me and my destination. That’s why I hired him as my number two. “You’ve lost your mind, boss.”
Anger flares in my chest. “Get out of the way before I fire you.”
“You think I don’t know what’s going on?” he hisses, his voice low. “You trapped a teenage girl in an illegal contract, did who knows what with her in the office, and last night you took her out to a Michelin-starred restaurant in full view of half the financial industry. But that’s not what worries me.”
“Nothing should worry you.”
“Oh, no? She thinks this was all an accident, Dominic.” His voice drops to a careful and deliberate tone. “She thinks she just submitted a blind resume to my inbox and got lucky. She doesn’t know I pulled her financials before you ever saw her.”
I say nothing.
“She may have seen the contract and decided to stay, but she thinks she just stumbled into all this.” He holds my gaze, giving me that serious look he gives when he wants to be heard. “There’s a difference between a woman who signs a bad contract and a woman who finds out the man she now loves engineered a trap for her.”
He may be my second in command, but his words land like fists. Not because he’s being cruel but because he’s telling the truth.
What if she finds out? How will she react?
“I’ve been with you for every deal, every risk, every decision you’ve made for ten years,” he goes on. “I’ve never questioned you without reason. But this? This could bite you in the ass.”
I want to respond, but I don’t know what to say. After a long moment, Marcus reads my silence correctly and steps aside.
In the elevator, I press the button for my floor and stare at my reflection in the polished steel doors. I don’t fully recognize myself. There’s my pressed suit, my strong jaw, and the aura of my net worth that’s in the billions…
…but my eyes are different. They look—for the first time—afraid.
Not of losing money or harming my business but of Marcus being right. That Hazel finds out none of this was truly fate. That the moment she appeared in my inbox, I targeted her with every resource I had to make sure she wouldn’t slip away.
She thinks the universe just brought me to her, when in reality, I hunted her down before she even knew I existed. If she finds out that the first step of our relationship was a lie, she’ll hate me for it.
I can’t lose her. Not now. She’s everything to me. The rest of my life is just noise.
She’s sitting at her desk as I enter, wearing the new cream blouse I bought her, hair down just the way I like it, with the smiley face cup from this morning sitting beside her. She sees me, and her face lights up. A smile so genuine it sends a warmth through me I never would have thought possible.
No one has ever made me feel that. Not once in thirty-four years.
Our fingers brush as I pass her desk. Neither of us visibly reacts. Gotta keep things professional…sort of.
The simple touch races up my arm and settles in my sternum like a gift. I carry it into my office, feeling ready for anything.
But still, Marcus’s words sit in my head like thorns.
The day is long. A blur of meetings and numbers moving across screens, traders wanting my opinion on moves. I process everything the way I usually do—ruthlessly and precisely—but every time I look over at her, I can’t help thinking…
She thinks there was an actual job for her…
The thought gnaws at me all through lunch, through my conference call with Paris, through a budget review that commands my full attention.
I can feel it slipping…
What if Marcus is right? Should I tell her?
If I tell her, she might leave. And just the thought of Hazel leaving me—of that gorgeous smile vanishing from my life—that’s a kind of pain I don’t know if I can endure.
She glances back at me throughout the day. My body responds, but I keep myself busy, leaving no time for one of our usual rendezvous behind the smart glass.
I’m just too conflicted.
She chose to stay after she read the contract. That was real. That was her decision. But the road that brought her to me? That was all me.