ENTANGLED WITH MY CEO'S BROTHER

Chapter Two – Ghosts of the Past

I’ve always had this belief that ghosts don’t haunt houses, instead they haunt hearts. And mine was one of them.

The very night after my interview with Adrian Knight, I was wild awake on the pull-out divan, staring at the ceiling. Grace was fast asleep in the bedroom, her soft breathing cloaked by the closed door. The city outside was alive,the sound of sirens wailing, vehicles honking,and laughter spilling up from the street below. I should feel excited to be here, to have made it through the first step of something enormous.Instead, all I could think of was Ethan.

He had always been the one telling me I’d go far, that I wasn’t meant to stay in San Joaquin forever. “You’re bigger than this town, Olivia,” he’d whisper, his lips brushing my temple. “One day, you’ll become a great woman in this world.”And now he wasn’t here to see any of it.

I hide my face inside my pillow, willing myself not to cry. The interview replayed in my head like a scene I couldn’t turn off. Adrian Knight—Mr. Knight, I corrected myself–was unlike anyone I’d ever met. His presence had a way of rearranging the air in the room, it's like gravity shifted when he entered. He hadn’t smiled, not once, but there had been a flare in his eyes when I spoke about my determination to rebuild my life, to prove myself.

For a brief second, I thought I saw understanding and that terrified me more than anything.

I didn’t want his understanding. I didn’t want someone to see how shattered I am inside. I wanted a job, stability, a paycheck to cover rent and my mother’s medicine. Anything else was dangerous.

But still, his gaze lingered in my mind long after I closed my eyes.

The next morning, Grace was active with energy. She jigged into the living room wearing my favorite cardigan, holding a paper bag of muffins from the café where she worked.

“Tell me everything,” she demanded, flopping down beside me. “What was he like? What did he ask? Was he hot?”

“Grace,” I groaned, pulling the bag from her hand before she crushed it. “It was an interview, not a date.”

She frowned knowingly. “That’s not a no.”

I ignored her, tearing into the muffin just to keep my mouth busy. But her words clawed under my skin because she wasn’t wrong. Adrian Knight was… something. Dangerous, maybe. Invisible. The kind of man you admired from a distance but never approached.

Grace leaned closer, lowering her voice like she was about to share someone's secret. “Rumor has it that the Knights are insanely rich. Like,yachts-in-Monaco, private-island rich. If you do get this job, we’re never worrying about rent again.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s not how it works. I’ll be lucky if I’m making enough to keep the lights on.”

But the part of me that was—small, quiet, and foolish wondered what life would look like if I did step into their world.

Two days later, the call came.

“Miss Carter?” The voice on the other end sounded professional. “This is Knight Enterprises. We’d like to formally offer you the position of Executive Assistant, starting Monday.”

I froze, my heart slamming into my ribs. “I—I accept,” I managed to stammer, hanging on to the phone like it was my lifeline.

After hanging up, I sat in stunned silence for some minute before Grace came bursting in, screaming like she’d won the lottery. “You did it! Oh my God, you did it!” She hugged me so tightly I could barely breathe. “We’re moving up, Liv. This is it—this is the start.”

Her joy was infectious, but beneath it, anxiety gnawed at me. This wasn’t just a job. This was a doorway into a world I wasn’t sure I was ready for—a world run by two brothers whose eyes had already unsettled me in two different ways.

And ghosts don’t like being left behind.

That night, I dreamt of Ethan again.

We were in the garden, the sun setting behind us, the air warm and sweet. He held my hand, his smile easy and familiar. “Don’t forget me, Olivia,” he whispered.I woke up gasping, my pillow damp with tears. For the first time, the city didn’t feel like an escape. It felt like I’d carried every ghost with me.

Monday morning came too quickly. I dressed carefully in my navy skirt and pressed white blouse, my heart racing like I’d just finished a marathon race. Grace snapped a photo of me at the door, declaring it “Day One of Boss-Babe Olivia,” before shoving me into a cab.

The Entrance of Knight Enterprises was even more intimidating now that I belonged here. My heels clicked on the well polished floor as I checked in with the receptionist, who handed me a shiny visitor’s badge.

“Mr. Knight will meet you shortly,” she said.

I swallowed hard, adjusting my blouse. Was it Adrian or Dylan? I hadn’t met the younger brother yet, but from the rumors Grace had already excavated, Dylan Knight was trouble wrapped in a perfect smile.

The elevator doors slid open with a soft chime. My pulse jumped. And when I looked up, my world tilted again.

Two men stood inside.

Adrian, composed as ever, his gaze undecipherable. And beside him–Dylan Knight.

If Adrian was attractive, Dylan was hot. His blue eyes sparkled with mischief as his mouth curved into a grin. He leaned casually against the wall, as if the world bent to his rhythm.

“Oh, wow,” Dylan drawled, his gaze sweeping over me with deliberate slowness. “Who’s the new face?”

Adrian’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly. “Miss Carter,” he said, his voice cool, controlled. “Welcome to Knight Enterprises.”

In that moment, standing between the weight of Adrian’s silence and Dylan’s burning charm, I realized something unsettling.

My ghosts weren’t the only danger anymore.

I was walking into a new kind of haunting—one that might devour me alive.