Collided worlds

Chapter eleven

Trojan's POV

"What are you waiting for?" he said, his voice flat. "I told you I have work to attend to."

Sophia looked at him for a long moment — that practiced expression she always wore when she was deciding whether to push back or not.

He had met her at one of the Lagos nightclubs he frequented whenever he was in town. She was fun, low maintenance and knew how to hold herself. She was also clearly not limiting herself to just him and honestly he had never minded that. They understood each other.

What he hadn't anticipated was telling her about his parents' ultimatum.

She had immediately volunteered herself — eyes bright, already calculating — completely unbothered by the fact that she was a year older. "I don't mind signing a contract," she had said smoothly. "As long as I'm paid."

He had shut that down immediately. Contract or not, fake or not — he was not taking Sophia home to his parents. They had standards. Even this plan had to look convincing.

He had invited her today for a different reason entirely.

He needed a distraction.

Rayna had been occupying his thoughts more than he was comfortable admitting — her sharp mouth, her unbothered expression, the way she had walked into that interview room and looked at him like he was nobody special. Seeing her every day in the office next to his was doing something to him that he couldn't quite name and didn't particularly want to examine.

So he had called Sophia.

She had walked in looking exactly like herself — polished, confident, undeniably attractive. He had waited to feel something.

He felt nothing.

Even when they kissed. Even after. Just — nothing.

That had genuinely surprised him.

He had been trying to find a polite way to end the visit when Rayna walked in.

Of all the timing.

He hadn't expected her at all — and certainly hadn't expected her to actually finish those files already. He had been using them as an excuse to check on her and she had gone and finished everything in two days like it was nothing.

He hadn't been able to form a proper sentence.

"Fine," Sophia said finally, snapping her compact mirror shut. She reapplied her lip gloss slowly — deliberately — then winked at him. "You'll call me again."

She left without waiting for a response.

Trojan watched the door close and sat back in his chair.

He genuinely could not understand a girl's obsession with lip gloss.

He picked up the files Rayna had submitted and opened the first page.

Everything was in order. Every single correction made. Every file organized exactly as it should be.

He stared at it for a moment.

Then closed it.

Interesting.

He had barely settled back into his chair when Clara appeared at his door.

"Sir, you have a meeting with the investors in an hour."

"Noted," he replied. She turned to leave.

"Wait."

Clara paused.

"Bring me the new Customer Relations Officer's credentials," he said casually. "I want to check something."

If Clara found that request unusual she said absolutely nothing. She simply nodded and left.

Less than ten minutes later she was back, folder in hand. She placed it on his desk and disappeared quietly.

Trojan opened it.

The first page had her passport photograph.

He looked at it for longer than necessary.

She's beautiful, he thought.

Then caught himself.

What exactly was he doing right now?

He stared at the ceiling for a moment. This was unusual. He didn't do this — sit and study someone's file like he was trying to memorize their face. He didn't think about staff members. He didn't think about anyone this much.

And yet.

Getting to know more about her wasn't necessarily a bad thing, was it? Just curiosity. Completely normal curiosity.

He already knew she was going to be difficult — their history guaranteed that. But he had a plan. Something small, something thoughtful. If he was going to get past that wall she had built he needed a different approach.

He picked up his phone and made a call.

He knew exactly what he was going to do.

She had better appreciate it, he thought with a smirk. Unless she was completely impossible — which honestly wasn't entirely off the table with her.

He had been with a lot of girls. Charmed a lot of girls. Rayna would be no different.

Probably.

He went through the rest of her credentials before closing the folder and setting it aside.

This was the first time he had ever sat down and thought carefully about doing something nice for someone. Really thought about it.

But it wasn't a big deal. He just wanted to know her better.

Nobody was going to get hurt.

He was almost sure of it.