Chapter4
1518 Words
Summer’s POV
I stood outside the building at 7:58 a.m.
My phone buzzed.7:59.
I didn’t move.
8:00.
I walked in.
The lobby looked even bigger than yesterday. Everything smelled like expensive perfume and
fresh coffee.
“Good morning, Miss Summer,” the receptionist said with a smile I didn’t trust yet.
“Mr. Santini is in his office. You’ll be shown around first.”
“Okay,” I said, trying to sound confident.
The elevator doors opened and I stepped out into a quiet hallway.
Two girls were sitting on the couch by Damien’s office. They didn’t look like they worked
there at all.
One wore heels sharp enough to stab someone’s ego. Long brunette hair, perfect lipstick.
The other girl had red curly hair, soft eyes, a simple dress but still classy.
They both turned when they saw me.
“Hi,” the curly-haired one smiled. “You new?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Summer.”
“I’m Adriana ,” she said. “This is Isabella.”
Adriana gave a small wave. “You’re the new secretary?”
“I guess so,” I shrugged. “Still confused about it.”
She laughed. “Everyone is confused around Devante. It’s normal.”
The door opened.
Luca stepped out. “He’ll see you two now.”
Isabella rolled her shoulders. “Showtime.”
They walked in together. The door closed.
I stood there alone, pretending not to overthink.After a while, raised voices slipped through the walls. Not yelling, just fast, serious talking.
Like serious business but that wasn’t my business.
The door opened again.
Isabella came out first, face calm but eyes heavy.
Adriana followed, biting her lip like she wanted to say something but couldn’t.
Devante stopped at the doorway, hands in his pockets.
His gaze shifted to me.
“You’re early,” he said.
“You told me to be.”
“Good,” he replied. “I like people who listen.”
He turned to the girls. “We’ll continue this later.”
They nodded and left but not before Isabella gave me a quick look. Curious. Maybe worried.
Luca appeared beside me like he had teleported.
“Come on,” he said. “Orientation.”
We walked.
Desks. Offices. Phones ringing. People typing like they were under pressure. Well working
for such a man required such.
“So…” I whispered. “Those girls. They don’t work here?”
“No,” Luca said. “But they matter.”
“How?”
He smiled slightly. “You’ll see.”
I hate that answer.
We stopped at a small desk near Damien’s office.
“This is you,” he said. “You manage his schedule. Calls. Meetings. You filter people.”
“Filter?”
“Yeah.” Luca leaned closer. “He doesn’t like surprises. Or lies. Or weakness.”“Cool,” I muttered. “No pressure at all.”
He chuckled and walked off.
I sat down, touched the keyboard, and took a deep breath.
Damien’s voice came through the intercom.
“Summer. My office.”
Great. No warm-up.
I stepped inside.
He didn’t look up. Papers everywhere. Pen in his hand.
“You’re going to learn fast,” he said. “Because I don’t repeat myself.”
“I’ll try.”
He glanced at me. “Don’t try. Just do it.”
Silence.
He signed another document, then added quietly, “And stay close today. There’s a lot moving
around here.”
“Moving… like what?”
He gave that same dangerous half-smile.
“You’ll find out.”
He waved me off.
I stepped out, heart pounding half excited, half scared and sat back at my desk.
Somewhere in this building, secrets were walking around…
And somehow, I knew I was standing right in the middle of them.
I used this opportunity to work my way through systems and searching for my
way around the computer. Just simple stuff first. Emails. Calendar. Company folders.
Nothing suspicious. Just meetings, contracts, boring things that made sense.
But curiosity is a stubborn thing.And mine doesn’t know how to behave.
There was a hidden tab tucked behind another window. Small. Almost invisible.
Like it didn’t want to be seen.
I clicked.
A loading screen flashed. Then a page opened one that definitely wasn’t company business.
Names. Codes. Places I’d never heard of.
Shipments marked CONFIDENTIAL. Payments that didn’t go through banks.
And something labeled: “Syndicate Liaison…pending.”
My stomach tightened.
This wasn’t fashion.
This wasn’t business.
This was something else entirely.
I scrolled a little more, heart thudding.
Another file opened by itself, like it had been programmed that way.
Surveillance pictures. Streets at night. Men in suits. Cars I remembered from the first day.
My fingers froze on the mouse.
Why did Devante’s company have all this?
And who exactly was I working for?
A shadow moved across the screen.
Not the computer.
Behind me.
“Pause,” a voice said quietly.
I didn’t breathe.
“Don’t touch another thing.”
His reflection appeared faintly in the monitor calm, tall, completely unreadable.Devante.
I lifted my hands slowly like the mouse was suddenly made of fire.
He stepped closer, not loud, not dramatic just there.
Like he had been watching the whole time.
His hand reached past me and closed the window with one precise click.
Silence.
Thick. Heavy.
“That file,” he said, voice low, “is not for you.”
“I—I was just learning the system,” I replied, my throat dry.
“I know,” he answered.
Which somehow made it worse.
He leaned slightly forward, eyes on the screen, not me.
“Curiosity can be useful,” he said. “But in this building, it can also get people hurt.”
A beat passed.
“Stay in the secretary folders. Scheduling. Calls. Nothing else.”
His tone wasn’t angry.
It was a warning.
Sharp enough to cut.
I nodded. “Okay.”
He straightened, slipped his hands back into his pockets like nothing happened.
“And Summer?”
“Yes?”
He held my gaze for half a second, unreadable, dangerous, calm. I could feel the tension
suffocating me.
“If you ever see a door you don’t understand… don’t open it.”The intercom clicked again a moment later, as if everything didn't just happen.
Back to work.
But my hands were still shaking and I knew one thing for sure:
Whatever this company truly was…
I had just brushed up against the part I was never meant to see.
He turned to leave then stopped.
“Actually,” he added, glancing over his shoulder, “look at me.”
I did.
“Do you always ignore warnings,” he asked calmly, “or is this a new habit?”
I swallowed. “I wasn’t ignoring anything. I was working.”
“That wasn’t work,” he replied. “That was curiosity pretending to be brave.”
I frowned. “Or maybe it was competence.”
His jaw flexed the smallest reaction, but I caught it.
“You think you understand this place already?”
“No,” I said. “But I’m not stupid either.”
A slow, humorless smile touched his mouth.
“Good. Then don’t make me treat you like someone who is.”
He stepped closer again not touching me, just close enough that the air felt heavier.
“I don’t like disobedience,” he said quietly. “And I don’t like secrets being touched.”
“Then maybe don’t leave them where people can find them,” I shot back before I could stop
myself.
His eyes darkened, not angry but interested.
“Careful,” he muttered. “You’re getting bold.”
“Or maybe,” I said, steadying my voice, “I don’t like being lied to.”
Silence snapped between us.We stayed there stubborn, locked in some unspoken tug-of-war.
He broke it first.
“You’re here to do a job. Nothing more.” His tone sharpened. “You don’t trust me? Fine. I
don’t trust you either.”
“That makes two of us,” I answered.
For a second, something flickered behind his eyes: heat, irritation, something messier than
either of us wanted to name.
Then it was gone.
“Go back to your desk,” he said, turning away. “And stay out of places that can burn you.”
He reached the doorway paused again and added, almost careless:
“And Summer?”
“Yes?”
“Next time you want answers…”
His gaze lingered on me.
“Ask me. Don’t sneak.”
“I don’t like asking you for anything,” I said honestly.
He smirked. Just a little.
“Then this is going to be… interesting.”
He left.
The door clicked shut.
And just like that, the room felt too small, too warm, and way too complicated.
I sat back down, heart annoyingly loud in my chest.
I didn’t trust him.
He didn’t trust me.
But we were stuck orbiting each other anyway like two storms waiting to collide.
- Writer
