His Assistant, His Obsession

Chapter One — Daniel’s POVThe city of Lagos was already awake when I stepped into the glass-walled lobby of Daniel Global Markets. The hum of voices, the clicking of heels on marble, and the faint scent of expensive coffee filled the air — my empire, alive and breathing.Everyone straightened the moment they saw me.They always did.It wasn’t fear — not exactly. It was something colder, sharper. Respect mixed with the kind of distance I’d built over the years. The kind that kept me untouchable.My world was numbers, trades, and currencies. Emotions had no value here.I adjusted the cufflinks on my tailored charcoal suit as the elevator doors slid open. My reflection stared back at me — calm, unreadable, the face of a man who had everything. At least, that’s what they believed.Inside, silence wrapped around me like armor.Until the doors opened again.She was standing there — the new assistant the HR director had hired while I was away in London. I had forgotten her name from the email, but the moment our eyes met, I knew I wouldn’t forget her face.She looked… nervous. But not fragile.A quiet kind of strength hid behind those soft brown eyes.“Good morning, sir,” she said, her voice calm but hesitant. She clutched a folder against her chest as if it were a shield. Her hair was tied neatly, her clothes simple — not the designer type that usually filled these halls.Something about that simplicity unsettled me.“Name?” I asked, my tone sharper than intended.“Deborah, sir. Deborah Nwosu.”An Igbo accent — faint, but warm. The sound of it stirred something I didn’t expect.I nodded and walked past her. “Follow me.”She obeyed, quiet steps behind mine as we entered my office — a space of glass and steel overlooking the city skyline.From here, I could see everything I’d built — every deal, every risk, every sleepless night that turned profit into power.But for the first time, my attention wasn’t on the screens or the flashing numbers.It was on the girl who now stood awkwardly by my desk, trying not to meet my eyes.“You’ll handle my schedule, calls, and client correspondence,” I said, watching her reactions closely. “And you’ll learn to adapt quickly. I don’t repeat instructions.”“Yes, sir,” she replied softly, but there was firmness in her tone — quiet confidence.Interesting.Most assistants wilted under my voice. But this one — this Deborah — looked like she’d already faced storms far worse than my temper.For a second, I almost smiled.Almost.Then my phone buzzed — a message flashing across the screen from an unknown number.“You can’t hide forever, Daniel.”The warmth in the room vanished. I slipped the phone back into my pocket, my face unreadable again.“Start organizing the investor files,” I ordered. “And don’t touch anything on the left side of the desk.”“Yes, sir,” she said quickly, moving to obey.As I watched her quietly settle into her role, I couldn’t shake the thought that hiring her might have been a mistake.Because if there was one thing I’d learned from the past, it was this —the closer someone gets, the more dangerous they become.And yet… I couldn’t stop looking at her.