Chapter 2: The Ice Boss Melts
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The office was more quiet than usual the next morning. Leticia arrived at exactly 6:58 a.m. Her shoes silent against the marble as she made her way through the corridor.
She wasn’t going to be late. Not after the way Paul Wellington looked at her yesterday as if she was a risk he wasn’t sure he wanted to take.
She stopped outside his office, smoothed her skirt, and knocked.
“Come in,” came the voice, calm, clipped, controlled.
Leticia entered, her heart steady, her expression blank. “Good morning, Mr. Wellington.”
Paul looked up from his laptop. His gray eyes swept over her outfit today, navy blue slacks and a pale blouse, no red lipstick.
“Punctual, I’m surprised.”
She blinked but said nothing. Let him test her. She’d been through worse than a cold CEO with trust issues.
“Here’s your schedule.” He handed her a black leather-bound planner. “All meetings, deadlines, and travel details are inside. You’ll shadow me for the next few days until I decide if you’re worth keeping.”
Leticia took the planner. “What if I’m not?”
“You’ll know.”
He stood, buttoning his jacket. “We’re heading out. Conference room 4A. I want you silent, observant, and fast with notes.”
“Yes, sir.”
Paul raised an eyebrow at the “sir,” then turned and walked out.
Leticia followed him down the hall, wondering what made him so… controlled. Everything about him screamed precision. No crease in his suit, no pause in his stride. The kind of man who probably scheduled his emotions, if he had any left.
The meeting was brutal.
Six department heads. Three mid-level managers. A fifteen-slide presentation that Leticia had only just read while standing.
Paul commanded the room like he was born to own it.
“Marketing’s delay just cost us a partnership in Milan,” he said flatly. “Fix it or find another job.”
One man actually started sweating. Leticia scribbled notes furiously.
Her gaze drifted toward Paul now and then. He never raised his voice. He never flinched. He used silence the way most people used weapons. Every time someone failed to answer quickly, he’d glance her way as if testing if she was still brave enough to stay.
She was.
After the meeting, he held the door for her, surprisingly.
“I noticed you didn’t flinch during the bloodbath,” he said.
She gave him a small smile. “I’ve seen worse.”
He paused mid-step. “You say that like you mean it.”
Leticia didn’t answer. She walked past him, her silence a wall he couldn’t climb.
Back in his office, Paul sat behind his desk while she reviewed the notes with him.
“You missed a timestamp on slide seven,” he said, tapping the printed sheet.
Leticia leaned forward and circled the time. “Fixed.”
He watched her, but not in a way that made her uncomfortable. More like curious and cautious.
“Why did you really take this job?” he asked suddenly.
Leticia looked up. “Because it was offered.”
“That’s not an answer.”
She closed the planner slowly. “We all have our reasons. Some of us just don’t have the luxury of explaining them.”
His jaw tensed. “You’re not afraid of me.”
“No. Should I be?”
His eyes held hers. A flicker of something unreadable passed between them. Heat, maybe, or warning.
“I don’t hire people to like me,” he said softly.
“Good,” Leticia replied. “Because I’m not here to fall in love with you.”
Something in the air cracked. It wasn’t flirtation. It wasn’t rebellion.
It was two broken people daring each other to look closer.
Paul leaned back, expression unreadable. “Take the afternoon off, you’ve earned it.”
Leticia blinked. “Excuse me?”
“I don’t like surprises, Miss Sam….But you surprised me.”
She stood slowly, not sure what to say. “Thank you.”
As she reached the door, his voice came again, quieter this time.
“You’re not what I expected.”
Leticia turned halfway, her expression unreadable. “Neither are you.”
With that, she walked out, leaving the Ice Boss staring after her for once, unsure of what came next.
- Writer
