Secluding my cold hearted boss

. The digital clock above the doors blinked 7:58 AM. Two minutes until Lucas Varnell's morning briefing, and she was cutting it close. Her boss didn't tolerate tardiness-not fro

ace that piercing stare

hine-phones humming, keyboards clacking, and assistants scurrying like worker bees. At the center of it all was Lucas Varnell's corner office, its frost

his steel-gray eyes fixed on a monitor. He didn't look up as she entered, but the air shifted, heavi

his desk, exactly three inches from the edge, as he preferred. "Your 8 AM briefing is ready. The

aze sharp enough to pin her to the wall. "Th

her to hold her ground, even when every instinct screamed to retreat. Lucas Varnell was a billionaire genius, a tech titan who'

air creaking faintly.

ocols, which could limit scalability. Clause 27 gives their board veto power over product la

"Set a call with their legal team for 2 PM. And cancel my 4 PM

lt, Lucas's rival, was a charming shark who'd been circling Varnell Enterprises for months. Sh

ave, Lucas's voice

convenient lurch. He rarely used h

flat, but his eyes lingered on her a fraction too long, sending a shive

uzzle she couldn't solve, a man who commanded her days and haunted her nights. She hated how he got under her skin

e Q4 projections. Her phone buzzed with a text from Maya,

yping back: Ba

t and run away with me to Cabo.

ther's medical bills, kept her brother in college, and gave her a shot at a future beyond scra

eyes burning from staring at spreadsheets. She sent them to Lucas, bracing for his inevitable critique. Instead, h

ne where Lucas retreated when the world got too loud. Working there meant no escape from his intensity, no buffer of office noise to dull the

Understood. I'll

was a singl

t a dangerous spark through her, one she quickly smothered. He was her boss, nothing

dier preparing for battle. By evening, she stood in her small Brooklyn apartment, staring at her suitcase. A photo on her nightstand caught her eye-her mother, smi

a: Aspen with the Ice King?

't need a flamethrower. She needed armor-because something t