SIX YEARS OF SILENCE

Seraphina’s pov I came down from the cab and looked up at the building. I had a meeting or interview. I still don't know what it is. I stood outside for about 30 seconds gathering my nerves, schooling myself and going over the plan. I entered the building and into the elevator of a 40-story building. I was coming to work for a man I had spent the last 7 years hating and plotting against. As the elevator went higher, I kept on repeating my plan in my head : Walk in, be confident and don't look at him longer than necessary. In my hand was a glowing resume with my mother’s birth name,I had ensured to change my surname from my father's name to my mother's birth name to avoid any link to my father. As soon as the elevator day opened, I stepped into the boardroom with my head held high. I quickly assessed the 7-seven people in the front. I refused to look at the person at the head of the table yet. I took note of the man who had gotten me this job, Blackwood, an assistant, a legal secretary and three junior architects, just as my father taught me. Then I looked at the person at the head of the table.. Damien Vale. He didn't stand up to greet me when I entered. I hadn't expected him to, he simply assessed me the way one does when trying to determine a threat. Something like recognition flashed in his eyes. I held his stare even as I felt my insides shiver from the stillness of his. It was inhuman even. How could one look so Cold. The photographs didn't do him justice at all. He was the most beautiful man she had ever encountered and I berated myself for even thinking about his chiseled face to his perfectly sculpted lips to his dark green eyes. I had never seen eyes like that. I refused to show him any emotion, just as he did to me. I asked myself why I was here, and I subtly glared at him and unfortunately for me ,he caught it and tilted his head slightly. Then he said in a low and deep voice. “You're the architect blackwood has been talking my ear off about” I “I am good at what I do.” I dropped my resume and files that I had spent the past 4 days working on without sleeping a tad too aggressively and, of course he saw it. I was so sure I saw a ghost of a smirk that didn't reach his eyes, it disappeared as fast as it came. I was directed to my seat and I could still feel his stare burning a hole in my back. As soon as I sat down I heard him say “You look familiar ,” my heart started beating fast. There was no way he could have figured it out that quickly right? I replied coolly “ I have one of those faces” he said “ No.” he stared at me with those dead eyes and I stared at him coolly. Then Blackwood said, “Lets get this meeting started” just like the moment ended. The meeting was long, Damian kept asking me questions and I kept firing him back. He questioned every single design and detail he could. He was getting on my nerves but I didn't let him know it,I schooled my face into a bored expression while I explained the new design for the building. "How do you know your numbers are not wrong?" "They're not." "That's confidence not an answer." "It's an answer. I have tested it and if you're not sure, get a structural engineer." He simply stared at me. Blackwood gaped at me and I just gave him a tight smile. “Blackwood get me a structural engineer that will verify her work and won't destroy what I have spent my life building.” I could feel the anger but as I was about to respond, he said. “get me one that won't just follow what she says,” I replied. “ I wouldn't want an engineer that doesn't have a mind of their own”. Everybody kept turning back and forth to Damien, shocked that I'll talk back to him and I didn't care one bit. Everyone was staring at me, but I was only focused on one pair of eyes. Eyes that were as beautiful as they are were dead.