7
1548 Words
Ten minutes had never felt so short.
Sarah stood outside Alex Cooper’s office, her fingers lightly curled at her sides as she tried to steady her breathing. The hallway was quieter here, almost unnaturally so, as though even sound knew better than to linger too long outside that door.
“You shouldn’t have found that.”
His words echoed in her mind, sharper now than they had been moments ago.
Found what, exactly?
An inconsistency? A mistake? Or something far worse?
Her pulse quickened.
For a brief second, doubt flickered, but this time, it wasn’t about her abilities. It was about where she was. What she had stepped into and whether she had just crossed a line she didn’t even know existed.
Sarah straightened her shoulders.
"No."
Whatever this was, she wasn’t backing down now.
She lifted her hand and knocked.
“Come in.”
His voice came instantly. Calm. Controlled. Dangerous.
She pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The office was exactly what she expected. Wide, sleek, and intimidating. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows stretched behind the desk, the city skyline spilling in like a backdrop of power and wealth. Everything was sharp, precise, untouched.
Just like him.
Alex stood by the window, his back to her, one hand tucked into his pocket. Even from behind, his presence filled the room—tall, unyielding, impossible to ignore.
For a moment, he said nothing.
The silence stretched.
Deliberate.
Then, slowly, he turned.
His gaze found hers instantly, dark and unreadable, but there was something else beneath it now. Something that hadn’t been there before.
Not coldness, not indifference. Something heavier.
“You went through financial records you weren’t assigned to,” he said, his voice even.
It wasn’t a question.
Sarah’s brows drew together slightly, suspicion rising. “I reviewed what I was given.”
A pause.
Then he took a step closer.
“And found something you shouldn't have?”
“Don’t play that game with me.”
Her breath caught, but she didn’t look away.
Because somehow... this wasn’t just about a report anymore.
A quiet realization settled in her chest, heavy and unsettling, but instead of stepping back, Sarah straightened.
Something unspoken passed between them: sharp,
deliberate, impossible to ignore.
Sarah held his gaze, even as the tension in the room thickened.
“I’m not playing any game,” she said quietly. “I did exactly what I was asked to do.”
For a moment, Alex said nothing.
He studied her, really studied her this time, like he was trying to see past the surface, past the composure she was forcing herself to maintain.
It made her pulse unsteady.
“You went beyond what you were asked,” he said finally.
“And found something I shouldn’t have?” she shot back before she could stop herself.
Silence.
The air shifted... dangerously.
For a split second, Sarah wondered if she had just made a mistake. A serious one. But Alex didn’t react the way she expected.
He didn’t get angry.
If anything… his expression hardened in a different way.
More controlled. More guarded.
“That report,” he said slowly, “was not meant to be questioned.”
Her brows furrowed. “That doesn’t make sense"
“Not everything needs to make sense to you.”
The words were sharp, but his tone remained low. Measured. That annoyed her more than if he had raised his voice.
Sarah took a small step forward, her grip tightening at her sides. “Then why give it to me?”
Another pause. Longer this time.
And something flickered in his eyes...something unreadable, something that didn’t quite match the cold authority he carried so effortlessly.
Alex didn’t answer immediately.
His gaze lingered on her, like he was measuring something she couldn’t see.
“Because,” he said, quieter now, “I needed to know if you would find it.”
Her breath hitched.
That wasn’t what she expected.
Not even close.
“So this was a test?”
“Yes.”
The answer came without hesitation.
A strange mix of frustration and something else. Something she couldn’t quite name settled in her chest.
“You set me up to fail.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
This time, the distance between them felt almost nonexistent.
“I set you up to see the truth.”
Sarah’s heart skipped.
The truth?
Her mind raced, trying to piece everything together, but nothing fit. Not yet.
And somehow… she had the unsettling feeling that this was only the beginning.
Sarah exhaled slowly, her thoughts scrambling to catch up.
“The truth?”
She repeated the words, softer this time, like saying them out loud might make them clearer. It didn’t.
“If there’s something wrong with the company’s finances, I deserve to know,” she added, her voice steadier now. “I’m part of this team.”
A faint, almost imperceptible scoff left Alex.
“Everyone thinks that,” he said.
The way he said it like it meant something more made her chest tighten.
“Then explain it to me,” Sarah pressed. “Because right now, none of this makes any sense.”
Another silence fell between them, but this one felt different. He wasn’t dismissing her, he was deciding something.
Weighing her. And somehow, that felt even more unsettling.
Alex exhaled slowly, his gaze drifting past her for a brief second before returning, sharper than before.
“There are things happening inside Cooper Global that don’t show up on reports,” he said.
Her brows pulled together. “Like what?”
His jaw tightened.
“For now,” he continued, ignoring her question, “you focus on what you were assigned. Nothing more.”
Sarah stared at him, disbelief flickering across her face.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Frustration surged through her. “You can’t expect me to just ignore something like that"
“I expect you to do your job.”
The words cut cleanly through her protest. For a moment, neither of them moved.
The tension stretched tight, fragile, like something that could snap at any second.
Then, unexpectedly, Alex’s voice dropped slightly.
“Some things,” he said, quieter now, “are not safe to dig into.”
A chill ran down her spine.
That wasn’t a warning about work anymore. That sounded personal.
Sarah swallowed, her mind racing, but before she could push further, Alex stepped back, putting space between them again.
Just like that, the moment shifted. Closed off.
“You have a flight to catch this afternoon,” he added.
She blinked, caught off guard.
“A flight?”
“Yes.”
His expression was unreadable again.
“Emerald City. Business conference.”
The words settled heavily in the air.
And something told her… this wasn’t just about business.
The rest of the day moved faster than Sarah could process.
Before she fully understood what was happening, she was already on her way to the airport, caught in the current of decisions that clearly had nothing to do with her.
The flight to Emerald City was quieter than Sarah expected.
Too quiet.
She sat by the window, her fingers lightly gripping the armrest as the plane cut through the clouds. The city below had long disappeared, replaced by endless stretches of sky but her mind refused to settle.
Nothing about today made sense anymore.
Not the report.
Not Alex’s reaction.
Not the warning in his voice.
And definitely not this sudden trip.
She shifted slightly, glancing across the aisle.
Alex sat a few seats away, his attention fixed on a document in his hands. Composed. Unbothered, like nothing had happened. Like he hadn’t just told her she had stumbled onto something she wasn’t supposed to see.
The contrast unsettled her.
How could he switch like that?
Or worse... was this all normal to him?
Sarah looked away, her gaze drifting back to the window. The soft hum of the aircraft filled the silence, but it did nothing to quiet the unease building inside her.
“You’re thinking too loudly.”
Her head turned instantly.
Alex hadn’t looked up, but somehow, he knew.
“I’m trying to understand,” she replied carefully.
A brief pause. Then he closed the file in his hands.
“You don’t need to understand everything at once.”
“That’s easy for you to say,” she murmured.
His gaze lifted then, locking onto hers across the narrow space between them.
“No,” he said quietly. “It’s not.”
Something in his tone made her chest tighten.
Before she could respond, the intercom crackled softly overhead.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be landing in Emerald City shortly.”
Sarah exhaled slowly, her fingers relaxing just slightly against the armrest.
New city. New environment.
Maybe answers.
But as the plane began its descent, Alex’s voice came again...low, deliberate, meant only for her.
“Whatever you think this trip is…”
She looked at him.
His expression didn’t change.
“It’s not.”
A pause.
Then
“And when we land,” he added, his gaze darkening just slightly, “stay close to me.”
Sarah’s heart skipped.
Because something in the way he said it… didn’t sound like authority. It sounded like a warning.
- Writer
