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ONE
LISA
In retrospect, I shouldn’t have answered the phone.
I should have known nothing but trouble could be calling at six in the morning.
Nevertheless, when the ringtone pierced my subconscious, I groggily slapped around the side table for my cell phone. After fumbling for a few seconds, my hands closed over the metallic casing, and I brought it to my ear almost automatically.
“Hello?” I mumbled.
“Hi there. Is this Ms. Moon?” The voice on the phone sounded way too chipper for the hour. Somehow, it made me feel even more exhausted.
“Yeah?” I responded, prying one eye open. It was still dark outside, and given that the days were longer than the nights during the summers in Virginia, it meant that it must be pretty early.
“Hi. My name is Hannah. I’m Mr. Walker’s secretary.”
My eyes shot up all the way, every trace of sleep disappearing. I found myself jolting up in bed, my heart racing at the sound of my boss’ name.
“Yeah?” I croaked, clearing my throat, which had suddenly become extremely parched. I cleared it again and wiped my palms against the sheets. In less than thirty seconds, I’d gone from relaxed and asleep to awake and panicked. But this was about Nick Walker. He still had that effect on me even after all these years.
“Does he need something?” I asked carefully.
“No. It’s about the UI design proposal you submitted for the new collection.”
I swallowed, my heart racing in my chest. So far, I’d managed to fly pretty much under the radar at Obsidian, Nick’s sustainable wine-making company turned global conglomerate. It helped that I was technically a freelance contractor, so I managed to work from home most of the time. Also, because I was a newish hire and had only been working there for a few months, I was still pretty low on the totem pole, and most of my work was reviewed by the marketing supervisor, who suggested whatever changes he wanted.
I’d been happy with that. While some people may have been trying to ingratiate themselves with the CEO as fast as possible, I did my best to avoid him. I was never one for office politics, and I still got paid decently, nearly double what I made at my last job.
It would all have been perfect as long as I managed to neverevercatch Nick Walker’s attention.
Since it was a big company with over a hundred employees in the main branch alone, I thought there was a pretty good chance I would succeed at that. I even started to feel safe.
But I was wrong. It seemed my luck had run out.
And yes, I knew it was abnormal for me to still be this affected by someone I hadn’t seen in nearly five years. But nothing could ever be normal when it came to Nick Walker and me.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked Hannah, my chest beating with anxiety. I could feel my stomach churning, too, like I was going to be sick any moment now.
“On the contrary,” Hannah said in her cheerful voice. “He was very impressed with the design choices. Your marketing supervisor sent it up last night, and Mr. Walker wanted to meet the designer. He has an opening today and wanted me to set up the meeting. Does 8 a.m. work for you?”
I barely heard her words through my panicked thoughts.No, no, no.
“Um, I…” I tried to crack my brain and think of an excuse for why I couldn’t go.I was sick? I was out of town?Nah, those were only delaying the inevitable, not dealing with the problem. And I doubted that would appease her for long, this force of nature who’d called my phone incessantly until I answered.
“Perfect,” Hannah said without giving me any time or space to so much as breathe out a protest. “I have you penned in for 8 a.m. Just take the elevators up to the Executive Floor and turn to the left. It’s the door at the end of the hallway. Press the button on the telecom, and I’ll buzz you into the waiting area. Please make sure to be on time. Mr. Walker despises tardiness.”
And with those thrown-out instructions, she hung up the phone. Her last words stayed with me because, as friendly as she sounded, those words held a subtle warning.Mr. Walker despises tardiness.Of course, I already knew that Nick was a strict boss. I’d been to the company building enough times to hear whispers in the corridors complaining about how much of a slave driver he was. Upon hiring, the marketing supervisor also warned me that Mr. Walker would expect perfection at all times.
He was a man who had his secretary making calls at 6 a.m., for crying out loud. Plus, everything about our past proved him to be a self-centered, exploitative bastard who didn’t give a shit about anyone else but himself. Even when he’d been the star quarterback leading our local football team to the top of the division, his abysmal teamwork made him infamous. A man that the people of Fairfax loved and hated at the same time.
If there were anything like justice in this world, a man like Nick would have fallen from grace a long time ago.
But instead, he was a famous billionaire and the owner of one of the most profitable companies in the world.
How much do I really need this job?I mused as I got dressed, tugging on my turtleneck and work skirt in annoyance. Then, as I went to make myself breakfast, I ran the calculations in my head, trying to see if quitting was a viable option for me. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. I had loans that needed paying off and a daughter I needed to take care of.
Speaking of daughter…
