"The Problem With Innocence".
792 Words
Chapter 3 : The problem with innocence
zephyr's pov
They say silence is golden.
But the kind Amara Vale brings into a room?
It’s dangerous.
The soft kind that slips in unnoticed and makes you crave it. The type that presses into your thoughts long after she’s gone, turning everything else into static.
She's been in my company for five days. That’s all it’s taken to dismantle a fortress I spent years building.
She doesn’t flirt like the others.
Doesn’t scheme.
Doesn’t beg.
She just… exists. Carefully. Quietly. Always holding herself like she might shatter if she breathes too hard.
But there’s fire under all that softness. I see it when she speaks—measured, but not weak. I see it when she stumbles but insists on standing tall the next second.
I hate it.
And I crave it.
Today, she’s a few minutes late delivering my morning coffee. And it bothers me more than it should.
When she finally arrives, she knocks twice on the glass and opens the door like she’s expecting punishment. She’s wearing that same gray skirt she favors—nothing flashy, nothing tight. It hangs just above her knees, revealing legs that don’t know they’re made of sin.
“Sorry for the delay, Mr. D’Voré,” she says quickly. “The elevator—”
“Relax,” I cut her off, watching how she stops mid-sentence like she’s afraid even to exhale. “I’m not going to bite.”
She sets the cup on my desk and steps back immediately, hands clasped, eyes down.
“Amara.”
Her name feels like velvet in my mouth. I try not to like the way it sounds. I fail.
She looks up.
I lean forward slowly, steepling my fingers beneath my chin. “You’re not afraid of me, are you?”
She blinks, clearly debating her answer. “Only a little.”
That makes me smile. It shouldn’t.
“I don’t enjoy scaring people,” I say. “But I do enjoy honesty. So thank you.”
She gives a small nod, like she doesn’t know what to do with the compliment. Then she turns to leave, but something makes me stop her.
Maybe it’s the way her shoulders sag a little under that polite smile. Or maybe I just want five more seconds of her.
“Wait.”
She pauses mid-step.
“You’ve been here five days. Observing. Learning. Struggling.” I rise slowly from my chair, walking around my desk until I’m standing just a foot away from her. “Tell me something.”
She looks up at me with those wide eyes, like I might break her just by looking too hard.
“Why did you really want this job?” I ask.
She hesitates. Then she swallows. “Because I needed it.”
“That’s not an answer.”
Her brows furrow, faint but telling. “Because I didn’t want to stay invisible,” she whispers. “Because I was tired of everyone telling me I wasn’t enough.”
That hits harder than I expect.
She adds quickly, “And because I didn’t think you’d hire someone like me, but you did.”
I study her. “And what do you think now?”
She lifts her chin slightly. “That you see more than you let on.”
I smirk. “That’s dangerous insight, Ms. Vale.”
Her lips twitch. “So I’ve been told.”
There it is. That flicker. That spark. She has no idea the kind of power she wields with a single look, a single brave answer.
I could kiss her. Right now. Just lean in and taste the soft defiance on her mouth.
But I don’t.
Instead, I step back, slow and deliberate.
“Don’t let them change you,” I say, watching her blink in surprise.
She opens her mouth, but before she can speak, the door bursts open.
It’s Kennedy, my assistant. Eyes wide. “Sir, your mother is here.”
I groan. “Of course she is.”
Amara looks confused. “Your… mother?”
I sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose. “Unfortunately, yes. Do me a favor—stay out of sight. She’s a hurricane in heels.”
“I—um—should I leave?”
“No,” I say too fast. Then I soften. “You work here. Just… don’t let her bite you.”
Amara gives a breathy laugh, the sound catching me off guard with how pure it is.
As she steps aside, I glance at her one last time.
I don’t do innocent.
I don’t do soft.
And yet…
I have a feeling Amara Vale is going to be the exception to every rule I’ve ever made.
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- Writer
