The heiress's hidden enemy

CHAPTER FIVE: A Controlled Distance

Evelyn Sterling did not believe in distractions, especially not from people, but three days after the gala, she found herself thinking about Lucien Vale. Although not too often it was enough to concern her but just enough to notice that she knew it was a big problem.

“Miss Sterling?” the voice called, jerking her back to reality.

“Yes?” Evelyn blinked once, her attention snapping back to the present.

Her assistant stood across the desk, his tablet in hand, waiting.

“The revised statement has been approved by law, we are ready to release it ” he said carefully.

“Do it.” Evelyn nodded, her expression smoothing back into its usual calm.

“And also,” her assistant added, “there’s been a response from the regulatory board. They’re backing off… just for now.”

Of course they were, those fabricated allegations had already begun to collapse under scrutiny and whoever was behind it and had orchestrated them knew when to retreat Evelyn thought as fingers drummed lightly against the surface of her desk.

“Keep monitoring it, the moment anything shifts, let me know.” she said

“Yes, ma’am.”

_______________

The office emptied slowly as the evening stretched on, leaving Evelyn alone with the quiet hum of the city below and for the first time in days, there were no urgent calls, immediate crisis or visible attacks and that unnerved even more because silence, in her world, was never empty.

It always meant preparation.

Then her phone buzzed, Evelyn glanced at it briefly and rolled her eyes in dissatisfaction when she saw an unknown number again.

“What!?” she snapped.

“Hey… relax… you disappeared rather quickly.” the voice was said in a calm, familiar tone.

Lucien.

Evelyn leaned back slightly in her chair, her expression unreadable.

“I don’t recall making any promises to stay,” she replied.

“No,” he agreed. “You don’t strike me as someone who makes promises lightly.”

Her lips pressed together slightly.

“You seem very confident for someone calling uninvited.”

“And yet,” he said, “you answered.”

“What do you want, Mr. Vale?” Evelyn asked, visibly irritated.

“A conversation with you.” he called.

“That’s rather vague.” she said

“No… it’s just intentional.”

Evelyn’s gaze drifted toward the window, the city lights reflecting faintly in the glass.

“You could have had that at the gala,” she said.

“I did,” Lucien replied. “But this is different, there are fewer distractions.”

Evelyn didn’t respond immediately, because there was something unhurried and deliberate about the way he spoke that made it difficult for her to dismiss him outright.

“You’re persistent,” she said finally.

“I’m selective.”

“About what?”

“Who I spend my time on.” he said.

“And you’ve decided I’m worth the time?” she asked, exhaling slowly.

“Yes.”

That should have ended the conversation and made her dismiss him but instead, it made her curious.

“Fine,” Evelyn said at last. “You have five minutes.”

“I’ll try not to waste them.” he said as a soft chuckle echoed through the line.

The conversation that followed was… unexpected. Lucien didn’t ask about her company, probe into her business or even push for information; rather he spoke about neutral things; making his observations, sharing his perspectives and giving quiet insights about people and power that felt strangely aligned with her own thoughts.

It wasn’t intrusive or manipulative. At some point, Evelyn even realized she had stopped checking the time and that realization alone was just enough to pull her back.

“You’re exceeding your five minutes,” she said coolly.

“I noticed,” Lucien replied.

“And?”

“I was hoping you wouldn’t notice,”

“Was I wrong?”

Evelyn didn’t answer.

“Goodnight, Mr. Vale,” she said instead and ended the call.

She set her phone down slowly, her gaze lingering on it for a moment longer than necessary and later that night, as she prepared to leave the office, her assistant approached her again.

“There’s one more thing,” he said.

“Yes?”

“A delivery came in for you earlier. It was marked as personal.”

“I don’t remember ordering anything.” A slight frown touched Evelyn’s expression.

“I know and that's why I thought you should see it,” her assistant replied.

He handed over a small, neatly wrapped box. Evelyn stared at it for a moment, then took it.

“Thank you.”

______________

Now at home, she carefully placed the box on the table and looked at it. It sat there quietly and innocently. Slowly, she opened it and inside, resting against a dark velvet background was a single object.

A pen. Though simple and precise, she could tell it was expensive. Evelyn picked it up carefully, turning it between her fingers. There was no note or message, nothing to explain it.

Her phone buzzed with a message this time.

“You looked like you prefer control, so I thought you’d appreciate something that signs your own decisions.”

Evelyn’s gaze hardened slightly. So he had been watching not just at the gala even after more closely than she liked.

Her fingers hovered over the screen. Then she typed.

“You assume a lot.”

The reply came almost instantly.

“No. I observe and you didn't throw it away”

Evelyn glanced at the pen still in her hand, her grip tightened around it slightly.

Across the city, Lucien stood by his window once more, his expression calm, unreadable, waiting for her reaction.

_______________

Back in the quiet of her penthouse, Evelyn set the pen down slowly as her expression returned to its usual controlled composure.

“Be Careful,” she murmured to herself, not about him but about herself.