My Rival is My CEO

Chapter 2:The Debrief

*ELENA'S POV*

The off-campus apartment smelled like vanilla candles, Zara's expensive perfume, and the panic of final year.

Thesis drafts scattered everywhere. Job offer letters pinned to the fridge. Three months to graduation.

I slammed the door, tossed my bag.

"He's insane," I said.

Three heads snapped up.

"Who's insane?" Zara asked. "Hot-insane or call-the-police-insane?"

"Damian Knight."

Silence. Then chaos.

"YOU TALKED TO DAMIAN KNIGHT?" Zara screamed. "In our final year? 90 days to graduation and you beef with the most powerful final-year student in Crestwood?"

"He talked to me," I said, unbothered, kicking off my shoes. "Advanced Finance. In front of everyone."

Maya frowned. "What did he say?"

I repeated it — the line about me pretending to know nothing about money, about knowing every secret.

Chloe gasped. "He's obsessed with you."

I rolled my eyes. "God, I hope not. Four years of boys being obsessed is exhausting. It's our last year. I just want to graduate quietly."

Zara grinned. "You used your boardroom voice, didn't you?"

"I had to. He called the Knight merger overvalued? I agreed."

Maya paled. "You told Damian Knight his family company is bleeding cash? Elena, we need references!"

I smiled, that savage smirk.

"I'm not looking for his reference. I'm looking to beat him."

Chloe whispered, "What if he actually likes you?"

"He doesn't like me. He hates not being able to price-tag me."

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*DAMIAN'S POV*

Knight Tower, 40th floor.

Final year should have been background noise until I took over Knight Corp.

Cole stood waiting.

"Find her," I said.

"Who, sir?"

"Evans. Elena Evans. Final year, Advanced Finance. I want her file. Family, finances, why a girl who can dissect a billion-dollar merger drives a ten-year-old Toyota."

Cole nodded. "Graduation files are easy this semester. Right away."

I stared out at the city. It wasn't interest. It was an itch.

In four years, I'd seen every type of girl at Crestwood — the gold-diggers, the social climbers, the ones who giggled when I walked past.

Evans wasn't any of them. She looked at me like I was an equation she had already solved and found boring.

No one looked at me like that.

"And Cole," I added. "Be discreet. Don't make it obvious. I just want to know what she's hiding."