e office felt impossibly vast, the polished mahogany desk gleaming under the afternoon light, the walls lined with accolades and

cing a calm she didn't feel. "He

tension. There was something familiar in the curve of her jaw, the set of her shoulders, th

t skip. He studied her for longer than necessary, as though searching for a clue he

sat. Her hands rested neatly on the files, hiding the tremor she felt. "Is there a

tory. "You're efficient," he said finally. "But I sens

was Damien Kane, the richest man in the world, the one who could read p

," she replied evenly.

e not like the others who've passed through here." His gaze so

m together, the silent energy of a connection neither could name. She held

presence against some internal measure. "Work, yes," he said slowly. "But there'

e that had existed the night they had first met

visitor in without looking. It was one of his assistants, h

our work. I'll need updates." He tapped his fingers on the desk

's eyes

said, voice low, enigmatic. "At Kan

meant far more than the mundane schedule. They wer

just the attention of a powerful man watching an employee. Yet deep down, she knew it was far more. It was recognition. A recogni

survived the first interaction. She had maintained her secret. But something had chan

s no longer just her workplace. It had become a battlefield for hear

e couldn't explain it. He didn't know why, but something about this new secretary-the way she

rified and thrilled him, that she would not

, fate had begun its work. And neithe