BEYOND THE TERMS OF LOVE

Chapter4

Amelia didn’t know how she got to work that morning, the previous day had been issue after issue. She sat at her desk with a heavy sigh, sipping at the water in her Stanley, at least her headache from drinking had been reduced.

Her desk was a reflection of her mind in that it was currently extremely messy with papers strewn all about and her laptop buried somewhere under there.

Her intercom flashed its small red light, indicating she had a message.

She had barely even started working and yet more work was already being piled on her. She heaved a heavy sigh and got into character before pressing the button to listen to the message.

“Report to the CEO’s office, Amelia Reyes”, Aurora’s voice droned robotically through the intercom. Aurora was Amelia’s immediate boss and her input meant that it was time for Amelia to present her team’s project to the big boss, the enigmatic CEO, Jefferson Danvers.

Amelia was not in the right frame of mind for a presentation.

“Alright, I’ll be right there”.

“You can do this Amelia, don’t mess it up”, Aurora ended and her stern voice carried and broke through the haze in Amelia’s head. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t in the right frame of mind, it was for her whole team, and she couldn’t let them down.

After upending two folders, digging under a pile of sticky notes , and almost pushing off her laptop, she finally found the packet intact. She took a breath, then another. It wasn’t working. Her nerves prickled beneath her skin like ants with little knives.

The elevator ride to the top floor was painfully silent. She stared at her reflection in the mirrored walls. Her eyeliner from last night had smudged just enough to look like an intentional smoky eye. It was the one silver lining from yesterday.

The doors opened to the executive floor and everything was too clean. Amelia’s shoes squeaked slightly as she walked toward the CEO’s office, drawing the attention of Camille, the receptionist who always looked like she’d been sculpted from marble.

“He’s waiting,” Camille said, barely glancing up from her tablet. The woman’s nails tapped on the screen and Amelia’s brain interpreted it as a ticking clock.

Amelia knocked once and opened the door.

Jefferson Danvers sat behind a desk that could probably buy out her entire apartment building. He looked up slowly, as if annoyed that he had to exist in the same room as another person. His dark suit was tailored to fit his broad shoulders perfectly.

“Yes?”, he said simply, raising a perfect eyebrow at Amelia.

“I’m Amelia Reyes… from the creative direction department”, she replied in a beat, willing herself not to flush at his clear perusal.

“Okay?”

Jefferson tilted his head, his piercing gaze making her feel like a child caught sneaking a cookie, except the cookie was a multi-million-dollar campaign and the consequences of losing was something she alone couldn’t stomach.

Amelia cleared her throat and stepped fully into the office, clutching the folder to her chest like it might shield her from his disdain. “I’m here to present the proposal for Project Lumina. Ms. Aurora said—”

“I know what Aurora said.” He leaned back in his chair, steepling his fingers under his chin. “What I don’t know is whether your department has actually delivered something worth the time I’m currently wasting.”

‘Breathe Amelia’, she told herself, forcing a polite smile.

“Well, I think you’ll find it’s exactly what you asked for plus some strategic refinements we made after reviewing the current market saturation.”

Jefferson gestured to the chair opposite him with a flick of his fingers. “Sit. Impress me.”

It wasn’t a request.

Amelia sat, her spine ramrod straight, legs crossed at the ankle like her grandmother had taught her before church. She opened the folder and slid the first sheet toward him, detailing the visual branding ideas and tagline concepts.

“Our team leaned into the theme of illumination, not just as a product benefit, but as an emotional anchor. People don’t want another gadget. They want meaningful tools.”

Jefferson didn’t respond. He flipped the page slowly, methodically, eyes scanning the contents while his face remained unreadable.

Every second of silence was a sharpened needle to Amelia’s composure.

“Keep going,” he finally said, not looking up.

She exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and launched into the next segment—part market analysis, part projected ROI, and part brand psychology breakdown. She’d practiced this part in the past week until it was all she could remember, high on espresso and desperation. Now, it flowed out of her like a script, precise and passionate.

When she paused for breath, Jefferson leaned back again. He tapped the edge of the folder with one finger. “You wrote this?”

“The strategy, yes. The copy was a team effort, but the framework was mine.”

He was silent again, but this time, his eyes didn’t go back to the papers. They stayed on her.

And then he smiled, and it was like the sun coming out.

“You said your name was Amelia? What does that mean?”, he asked strangely. Amelia tried not to look as confused as she felt.

“God is gracious”

“I like it, and I like your proposal, I hope you have a good time heading the project”.

Euphoria perforated through Amelia’s bones and erased some of the terrible feelings she had from seeing Robin and Xana in bed together.

“Head the project?” she repeated softly, unsure if she’d misheard. Her grip tightened on the folder in her lap, fingertips faintly whitening.

Jefferson Danvers didn’t immediately answer. He was still watching her, just more closely now, like something had clicked into place for him. Something she couldn’t see.

“You’re the one who built the framework,” he said, slowly.

“I suppose so”, she said, her voice softer than she planned.

His posture was relaxed, but his eyes were anything but. They held the kind of focus that made Amelia feel like she’d just been seen through, down to her last detail.

Jefferson stood, moving toward the edge of the desk, one hand resting lightly against it, close enough that she could feel the slight shift in the air between them. He was taller than she’d thought.

“You’ll lead Project Lumina. Direct contact with my office from this point forward,” he said, and the finality in his tone was impossible to argue with. He paused, then added, “I expect a full strategy draft in two weeks.”

Amelia nodded, trying to keep her expression professional.

“I’ll make sure you have it,” she said. Her voice steadied. “Thank you again, Mr. Danvers.”

“Jefferson,” he corrected, eyes still on her.

She hesitated for only a moment. “Okay. Jefferson.”

The way he exhaled, soft and almost amused, barely registered as a sound. But Amelia felt it reverberate through her as she stood up.

This man was trouble.