**Celeste’s Pov**
The office silence hit me hard. The glass walls were shiny, the AC hummed, but it felt stuffy. I couldn't breathe or think.
Lucian Backwood.
The man I had once tried so hard to erase from memory sat only a few feet away, utterly composed, as though the last seven years had never happened. As though he hadn’t ruined me.
He glanced at me, dark eyes checking me out like I was just another file. No sign he knew who I was. Zero.
It stung.
I gripped my folder, nails digging in, telling myself not to freak out. Not here.
“Sit,” he finally said, short and bossy like a king talking to a servant.
I sat in the chair across from him, my heart pounding so loud I thought he could hear it.
“You're here for the secretary spot.” His voice was smooth and deep, but cold... nothing
