Chapter 2 — The CEO’s Reputation
1849 Words
By nine-thirty, I had already learned three things about Veyron Holdings.
The coffee was too expensive.
The elevators were faster than anything I had ever stepped into.
And everyone was terrified of the CEO.
I discovered the third one when Sophie dropped into the chair beside my desk and lowered her voice.
“You met him yet?”
I looked up from the stack of documents in front of me.
“Who?”
She stared at me.
I stared back.
Then she laughed.
“Right. First day. You probably don't know anyone yet.”
“I've been here for three hours.”
“Exactly. That's enough time to hear about Adrian Veyron.”
The name meant nothing to me.
I glanced toward the glass wall separating our department from the hallway.
“Is he another executive?”
Sophie nearly choked on her coffee.
“Another executive?”
“What?”
“You really don't know?”
“I just told you I don't.”
She leaned closer.
“Adrian Veyron is the CEO.”
I blinked.
“Oh.”
“That was your reaction?”
“What am I supposed to say?”
“I don't know. Most people say something like, ‘Oh my God,’ or ‘I'm going to faint,’ or ‘Please tell me he isn't coming down here.’”
I smiled.
“I'm not going to faint.”
“Good. Because if you do, I'm leaving you there.”
I laughed quietly.
Sophie had been the first person to speak to me when I arrived that morning. She worked in communications but had somehow become my unofficial guide to surviving the building.
She pointed toward the hallway.
“See that floor?”
I followed her finger.
“The executive floor?”
“Exactly.”
“So?”
“So people don't just walk up there.”
“I didn't plan to.”
“Good.”
She took another sip of coffee.
“Adrian doesn't like interruptions. He doesn't like excuses. He doesn't like people wasting his time.”
“That sounds charming.”
“He isn't.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You've met him?”
“Unfortunately.”
“What happened?”
“I accidentally sent him an email meant for my manager.”
I waited.
“What did you write?”
She grimaced.
“I wrote, ‘The man has no soul.’”
I covered my mouth.
“You did not.”
“I absolutely did.”
“What did he say?”
Sophie looked around before answering.
“He replied with three words.”
“What three words?”
“Noted. Thank you.”
I stared at her.
“That was it?”
“That was worse than yelling.”
I laughed.
Sophie pointed at me.
“See? You're laughing now. Don't laugh when you're actually in front of him.”
“I'll try to remember.”
“No. I'm serious.”
She leaned back in her chair.
“Adrian Veyron doesn't need to raise his voice. He can make an entire room uncomfortable by looking at someone.”
I looked down at my documents.
“Sounds intimidating.”
“He is.”
There was something about the way she said it that made me glance at her again.
“You really don't like him.”
Sophie shrugged.
“I don't know him well enough to like or dislike him.”
“But?”
“But powerful men who have never been told no usually aren't my favorite people.”
I smiled.
“That sounds personal.”
“It isn't. It's survival.”
She lowered her voice.
“Besides, everyone knows what he's like.”
“What is he like?”
Sophie counted on her fingers.
“Cold. Demanding. Impatient. Brilliant.”
“Those aren't all bad things.”
“I haven't finished.”
She raised another finger.
“Arrogant. Unforgiving. Impossible to impress.”
“That sounds more accurate.”
“And single.”
I looked at her.
“That was important?”
“For the women on the thirty-second floor, apparently.”
I shook my head.
“I'm not interested.”
Sophie grinned.
“You answered that way too quickly.”
“Because I mean it.”
“You haven't even seen him.”
“I don't need to.”
She gave me a suspicious look.
“Why?”
“Because I'm here to work.”
The words came out more firmly than I expected.
Sophie studied me for a moment.
Then her expression softened.
“Okay.”
I returned my attention to the documents.
She didn't say anything for several seconds.
Then she asked quietly, “You really want this job that badly?”
My fingers stopped.
There it was.
The question I had been avoiding since I walked through the doors.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked through the glass wall toward the Manhattan skyline.
The city stretched endlessly beyond the windows.
Everything looked bigger from here.
More expensive.
More important.
People like me weren't supposed to belong in places like this.
At least, that was what I had spent years believing.
“Because I need a fresh start,” I said.
Sophie didn't interrupt.
“My family has had enough problems. I don't want my father's past following me everywhere.”
Her expression changed.
She knew a little about my family. Not everything.
Nobody at Veyron Holdings knew everything.
I hadn't told them about the scandal.
I hadn't told them how quickly people in Bellmere stopped answering my father's calls.
I hadn't told them how a man who had spent decades building a respectable career could lose almost everything because of one accusation.
And I definitely hadn't told them how much I wanted to prove that I wasn't defined by what happened to him.
“I just want to earn my place here,” I said.
Sophie nodded.
“Then you will.”
I looked at her.
“You sound very sure.”
“I am.”
She tapped the papers on my desk.
“You're smart. You got through the hiring process. They didn't hire you because they felt sorry for you.”
I smiled.
“Thanks.”
“Besides, you don't have to worry about Adrian.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because you're nowhere near his department.”
“That helps.”
“For now.”
I gave her a look.
She laughed.
“I'm kidding.”
A group of employees passed outside our glass office.
Their conversation faded as they walked toward the elevators.
Then one of them glanced toward the executive floor.
Everyone became quieter.
I noticed it immediately.
“What?”
Sophie looked at me.
“What?”
“Why did everyone just go silent?”
She followed my gaze.
“Oh.”
She smiled.
“That's another thing.”
“What?”
“Never assume the room is quiet because people have nothing to say.”
Before I could ask what she meant, the elevator doors opened at the end of the hallway.
Several executives stepped out.
The atmosphere changed.
It was subtle, but unmistakable.
People straightened.
Conversations stopped.
A man in a dark suit walked through the corridor with two people behind him.
I couldn't see his face clearly from where I sat.
But everyone moved aside.
Sophie leaned closer.
“That's Adrian's chief of staff.”
“Marcus?”
She nodded.
“Marcus Reed.”
He walked past without looking toward us.
A few seconds later, the hallway returned to normal.
I released a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.
Sophie noticed.
“You see?”
“See what?”
“This place.”
She gestured around us.
“Everyone acts like they're being watched.”
I looked toward the executive elevators.
“Are they?”
She smiled.
“Probably.”
I shook my head.
“I'm glad I don't work directly with him.”
Sophie laughed.
“Keep telling yourself that.”
I returned to my work.
For the next hour, I buried myself in spreadsheets, reports and market summaries.
It worked.
Numbers were easier than people.
Numbers didn't judge you.
Numbers didn't ask where you came from.
And numbers certainly didn't care about your father's mistakes.
By lunchtime, I had almost forgotten the CEO existed.
Almost.
Sophie returned with two sandwiches.
“Lunch.”
I looked at the clock.
“Already?”
“It's one.”
“I thought it was eleven.”
“That's because you're working like someone trying to impress the entire company.”
“I am trying to impress the company.”
“Not the CEO, though?”
I smiled.
“Especially not him.”
She laughed.
“Fine.”
We headed toward the cafeteria.
As we walked, Sophie continued talking.
“There's something else you should know.”
I looked at her.
“About Adrian?”
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
She lowered her voice.
“He notices everything.”
I frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“Details. Mistakes. Numbers. People.”
“So?”
“So don't lie to him.”
“I don't lie.”
“Good.”
She opened the cafeteria door.
“And don't try to impress him.”
I laughed.
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Excellent.”
We joined the line.
Sophie looked at me again.
“And whatever you do, don't argue with him.”
I smiled.
“That one might be difficult.”
She stopped walking.
“Why?”
I shrugged.
“Because if he's wrong, he's wrong.”
Her mouth fell open.
“You've been here one day.”
“I know.”
“And you're already prepared to tell Adrian Veyron he's wrong?”
“I said if he's wrong.”
Sophie stared at me for a moment.
Then she burst out laughing.
“You're going to be trouble.”
I shook my head.
“No. I'm going to be an employee.”
“Same thing at Veyron Holdings.”
We found a table near the windows.
For the first time that day, I relaxed.
Maybe Sophie was exaggerating.
Maybe Adrian Veyron wasn't as terrible as everyone claimed.
Maybe all CEOs were intimidating from a distance.
And maybe, if I kept my head down and did my job, I would never have to deal with him at all.
That was what I told myself.
I believed it.
At least until the elevator doors opened again.
This time, everyone in the cafeteria went quiet.
I turned toward the sound.
A man stepped out.
Dark suit.
Controlled expression.
Confident stride.
The entire room seemed to notice him at once.
Sophie slowly lowered her fork.
“Oh no.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She didn't answer.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the man approaching from across the room.
Then she whispered the words that made my stomach tighten.
“That's Adrian Veyron.”
I looked up.
And for the first time, I saw the man everyone in the building feared.
He didn't look frightening.
He looked calm.
That somehow made him worse.
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