Chapter Ten- The Past Never Sleeps
1060 Words
Selene barely made it through the morning briefing.
Her thoughts were scattered, her emotions a whirlpool beneath the surface. She was never this distracted, never this off balance. But the moment she’d stepped out of that boardroom yesterday, something had shifted—and it was all tied to him.
Maximilian Wolfe had defended her. Not like a boss. Like something more.
And now… eyes were watching.
People noticed. They always did.
Whispers followed her down the hallways.
She kept her expression neutral, her spine straight—but when she entered her office, her heart dropped.
Waiting on her desk was a single envelope. Unmarked. Cream-colored. Clean.
Inside, only one sentence was typed in bold black ink:
“Does he know who you really are?”
Her blood turned to ice.
No name. No signature.
But Selene didn’t need either.
She knew.
Someone from her past had returned.
Maximilian’s day had barely begun, but he was already simmering.
The security team still hadn’t found the source of the leak. HR was under pressure from the board. And someone had slipped an anonymous note under his door last night:
“You don’t know who you’re protecting.”
It hadn’t been signed, but the implication was clear.
Selene Carter.
He clenched his fists, rage coiling in his gut. Either someone was playing a very dangerous game… or she was hiding something.
And he needed to know which.
But when he stormed into her office unannounced, what he found made him pause.
She was standing near the window, her back to him, shoulders tense, fingers trembling as she held an envelope.
She turned slowly, her mask firmly back in place—but her eyes betrayed her.
They were haunted.
“I got one too,” he said quietly.
Her lips parted. “What did it say?”
“That I’m protecting the wrong person.”
She didn’t blink. “Maybe you are.”
His jaw locked. “Are you going to tell me what they’re talking about?”
Selene hesitated.
Then, voice quiet, controlled, she said, “No. Not yet.”
And before he could speak again, she looked him dead in the eye and added, “But when I do… you won’t look at me the same way.”
Meanwhile…
Across the city, in a sleek penthouse shrouded in shadows, someone watched footage from Wolfe & Locke on a loop. A woman in a silk robe sipped from a glass of wine, her lips curled into a smile.
“Poor Maximilian,” she purred. “Always so sure he’s in control.”
A man beside her chuckled. “And Selene Carter… still running from the same ghost.”
The woman raised her glass.
“Let’s bring their little game into the light.”
Selene’s POV
She stared at the envelope long after he left her office.
Its weight felt heavier than paper. Heavier than ink.
It felt like the past she’d buried was clawing its way back up, gasping for air.
Does he know who you really are?
No. He didn’t.
And the terrifying part wasn’t that someone else might tell him.
It was that she wanted to. She wanted to hand him her secrets and say here, this is me. No lies. No performance. Just truth.
But people like her didn’t get that luxury. Not in a world like this.
She’d worked too hard, built herself from ashes.
And Maximilian Wolfe? He was fire. Dangerous. Consuming.
She couldn’t let herself burn for him.
Not yet.
Maybe not ever.
Maximilian’s POV
He hadn’t wanted to doubt her.
But now he had to.
That look in her eyes—frightened, fierce, cornered. It hadn’t been about boardroom politics.
It was something deeper. Older. And it wrapped around her like armor forged from guilt.
You won’t look at me the same way.
The words echoed.
It wasn’t the threat of deception that shook him—it was the truth behind her eyes.
She believed she was unworthy of being fought for.
She believed he’d walk away.
And maybe that was the part that hurt the most.
Because for the first time in years, Maximilian didn’t want to walk away from someone.
He wanted to stay.
Even if it meant bleeding for her secrets.
Office Staff POV
By the time the elevator chimed on the executive floor, everyone was watching.
Selene stepped out in heels that echoed like warnings, her blouse pristine, her expression carved from ice.
But it wasn’t just about how she looked.
It was the way Maximilian Wolfe had looked at her in the boardroom that morning. Like he wasn’t just a CEO—like he was a man staking a silent claim. Quiet. Lethal. Undeniable.
They were talking about it now—in whispers between printer breaks, over half-sipped coffee in the lounge.
“Do you think they’re…?”
“There’s no way she’d survive that kind of risk, right?”
“You didn’t see the way he stood when Elias came in.”
Because Elias Crane had shown up again today—smiling like the devil in a thousand-dollar suit.
And Selene hadn’t flinched.
But she hadn’t smiled, either.
She’d just stood there, her chin high, while Mr. Wolfe stepped between them.
That’s when the room went still.
Because whatever was happening between the three of them—it wasn’t just tension.
It was war.
And war had a habit of tearing off masks.
Elias Crane’s POV
The moment he stepped into the building, Elias felt it.
Power.
Not Maximilian Wolfe’s. Not the board’s.
Hers.
Selene hadn’t changed.
She still walked like she owned her silence, still wore that beautiful mask of composure that used to c***k so easily under his hands—once. Before she became untouchable.
But everyone had a weakness.
And Elias Crane made it his business to find them.
Watching her now—confident, unreadable—he almost admired her. Almost.
Until he saw Wolfe.
Standing beside her like a shield, like a man who thought he could protect what didn’t belong to him.
Fool.
Elias knew Selene. Knew the girl she used to be. Knew the secrets still buried in the dark between her bones.
Wolfe didn’t.
But he would.
And when that moment came, Elias would be waiting to collect the ashes.
Because this wasn’t about business anymore.
It was personal.
It always had been.
- Writer
