THE CEO’S COLD SECRETARY

CHAPTER 4 : THE OFFICE WAR BEGINS

That morning, the atmosphere in the VN Company lobby feeels heavier than usual. As soon as Enna Vale stepped through the automatic sensor door, she immediately realizes she has become the center of gravity. Every pair of eyes she passed seems to carry the weight of a thousand questions and a sense of security.

Some employees immediately stopped talking as she approached, creating an uncomfortable and piercing silence. Others openly gives heir words from behind their cubicles, as if Enna are a plague ,ruining the perfect sterility of their office.

"There she is," whispered a staff member from the marketing division when Enna waits for the executive elevator. "The new secretary who caused a stir at the engagement party."

"I heard she has nine lives. She couranges to yell at Mr. David and still be sitting on the 50th floor this morning," another said with a hint of envy.

Enna takes a deep breath. She grips the leather map in her hands tighter, her knuckles turning white. She'd only been on the job for two days, but it feels like she has collected a whole building of enemies. However, what she is most concerned about isn't the hatred of her patners work , but rather the anonymous message that had arrived on her phone the night before.

“If you want your mother to live… stay away from David Johnson.”

Enna’s footsteps feels heavy. How did that person know about her mother? How did they know she was struggling to save every penny for the surgery? Fear begins to creep in, trying to paralyze her logic.

The elevator doors are about to close when a strong hand held them. David Johnson stepped in, dressed in a black suit, exuding an aura of absolute dominance. His presence instantly changes the oxygen levels in the narrow elevator.

Enna lookes away, choosing to stare at the rising floor numbers rather than face the man's gaze. However, David isn't the type to let silence runs without controlled.

"You look like a mess," David said flatly, his eyes fixed on the faint dark circles under Enna's eyes.

Enna turns sharply, her pride instantly ignited. "Good morning to you too, Mr. Johnson."

"You're not sleeping. Your breathing is shallow and your hands are shaking." David stuffed his hands into his pockets, standing so close that Enna can smell the intimidating scent of his expensive, woody perfume.

"That's none of your business. I'm here to work, not to consult about sleep patterns," Enna replied coldly.

"Everything about my secretary is my business, Vale. Including if you faint while carrying my coffee," David stared at her with an unreadable glint.

The elevator doors opened on the 50th floor. Before exiting, David said curtly, without looking up, "Meeting room. Ten more minutes. Don't keep me waiting, or you'll know what it's like to truly lose sleep."

Ten minutes later, the main meeting room is filled with division managers and the finance team. The atmosphere feels like a delayed war zone. Enna sits next to David, opening her laptop with professional gestures despite her heart is trembles.

The meeting begins with a discussion of routine projects, but Enna can feel everyone's eyes on her. Suddenly, an IT manager stands up, his face as pale as a sheet.

"Mr. David... there's a big problem," his voice trembled.

David slowly lifted his eyes from his documents. "Speak."

"The Blue Orion project files... are missing from the main server."

. The room suddenly silent. The Blue Orion project is the heart of VN Company's success this year. If the data are to leak, the company can be destroyed.

"Who had the final access?" David asked, his voice calm but filled with deadly threat.

The IT staffer swallowed, his eyes slowly shifting to Enna with doubt. "The system logs show... your new secretary's account accessed that file at 12:14 a.m. this morning."

Whispers immediately erupted in the room. "I know it," a senior manager chirped. "He's a spy from a competitor."

Enna clenched her hand under the table. She feels like all the oxygen in the room has been sucked out. She has never touched the file. She turned sharply to David, hoping he will defend her. But David remained silent, leaning back with an unreadable expression, as if watching a theatrical performance.

"And you just believe that?" Enna challenged David, her eyes blazing with anger.

David looks at her calmly. "Prove it wasn't you, Vale. Here, results speak louder than defense."

David's words burns something inside Enna. She stands up and walks to the main computer connected to the large screen. The entire room watched her with disdain.

"The person who traps may be smart, but they are careless," Enna said, her fingers dancing across the keyboard at an admiring speed.

He opens into the system logs deeply, operate layers of code that usually coomon people won't normally notice. "The file access occurred at 12:14 a.m., correct?"

"It says so!" the IT staff member exclaimed.

Enna smiled faintly, a smile that made several people in the room start to feel uneasy. "At 12:14, I am still in Mr. Johnson's office preparing the investor's physical documents. And as you know, there's a CCTV camera in front of the CEO's office recording every second of my presence."

Enna pointed to the screen. "Look at the IP address. This is remote access. Someone logged into my account through another computer in this building. They exploited a slot in the security system that hasn't been updated."

The face of a senior secretary named Clara, who is sitting at the head of the table, suddenly turned grey. She begins avoiding eye contact and squeezed her pen until it nearly broke.

David stands up, ending the tension with one movement. "the Meeting is over. Everyone leave, except Secretary Vale."

after the room is empty, Enna stands facing David, her breath still ragged with emotion. "You knows someone is trying to take me down, right? You purposely stays silent to see if I can save myself."

David walks toward Enna, his footsteps heavy on the expensive carpet. "At VN Company, people will destroy anyone they consider a threat They don't hate you, Vale. They fear you."

"I've only been on the job for two days!"

"And in two days, you've already demonstrated a level of competence that makes them look like amateurs," David stopped right in front of her, staring at Enna with an intensity that made her heart race. "I hope you're not as weak as you seem. Because the real enemy... hasn't shown his face yet."

Enna laughed sarcastically, however her eyes are glassy with from the pressure. "Do you hope I fail or survive, Mr. Johnson?"

David's gaze darkened, and he almost reaches up to touch Enna's slightly untidy hair, but he stopped himself. "Maybe I don't know the answer yet too."

Enna turns around. For the first time, she feels that David isn't just a cruel CEO who liked to torment her. This man seems to be standing at the center of a much larger conspiracy, and Enna had just been dragged into it. She realizes that working at VN Company isn't just about paying for her mother's hospital bills, but a battle with her life.