Before the Storm
646 Words
Papers flew in the air landing softly on the floor. The boardroom was suffocating in silence.
At the head of the mahogany table sat Alexis Cole, the woman the industry whispered about as the Velvet Blade.
She looked calm, luxurious, beautiful and stiff. Too stiff for a woman.
Her knuckles were white as she let out a sigh, she held the contract worth fifty million dollars like her life depends on it.
The largest deal Cole Couture had ever attempted.
“Gentlemen,” Alexis said, her manicured fingers steepled, her voice sharp enough to cut steel.
“I didn’t fly to New York to negotiate. I came to close this.”
Cole couture was built from scratch by her, she worked her whole life for this company and these twelve men in suits didn't rate it.
Her blood boiled in anger, she knew she had to conceal her emotions to win over these old men.
The lead negotiator, Richardson, swallowed. “Ms. Cole, your terms are…”
“Exactly what my brand is worth.”
She rose, her emerald dress, her own design, catching sunlight from the floor-to-ceiling windows.
With every step she took around the table, her heels clicked like a countdown.
“When women wear Cole Couture, they don’t just look beautiful,” she said, pausing behind Richardson’s chair.
“They feel untouchable.”
Every word struck like thunder. Every glance reminded them who truly held power here…and who the power holder was.
“Our ready-to-wear line grew by thirty-seven percent in every market we touched. Our latest collection? Sold out in six hours.”
The executives exchanged nervous glances, she had them cornered.
“The question isn’t whether Cole Couture is worth fifty million,” Alexis said, sliding back into her chair with feline elegance.
“The question is whether you’re smart enough to recognize a unicorn when it’s right in front of you.”
They were quiet. Alexis didn't need a seer to know it worked.
Victory…her head rang out.
Two hours later, Alexis stood in her glass-walled office fifty floors above Manhattan.
To the city, she was a perfection incarnate, polished hair, flawless makeup, unshakable control.
But reflections were lies, and she knew it better than anyone.
Her phone buzzed.
“Ms. Cole,” her assistant, Marcus, said, voice tight.
“About the Celestial Silk for the anniversary collection, there’s only one supplier left, Adam & Sons. They’re sending their lead negotiator. A man named… Hunter Grey.”
The name slammed into her chest.
Ten years.
A decade of silence.
A decade of trying to forget his deep blue eyes, whispered promises, and the night he left her standing in the rain with nothing but a suitcase and a heart that never healed.
“Schedule the meeting,” she said, forcing her voice steady.
“Should I prepare the usual research on their negotiator?”
Her nails dug into her desk. She didn’t need research.
She already knew him too well.
“No.”
When the call ended, Alexis stayed frozen at the window.
Below her, Manhattan pulsed with life.
Above her, ghosts she thought she had buried clawed their way back.
Tomorrow, Hunter Grey would walk back into her life, as if ten years meant nothing.
Alexis Cole who could face boardrooms, billion-dollar contracts, and the world’s fiercest competitors without flinching.
But this man?
He was the only one who had ever broken her.
Her phone buzzed again, another message from Marcus.
“Hunter Grey confirmed. He’ll arrive personally at noon.”
Her pulse kicked against her ribs, betraying the icy control she was famous for.
Alexis told herself it was just business.
But deep down, she knew the truth.
When Hunter Grey walked through her door tomorrow, it wouldn’t just be a negotiation.
It would be war.
And she wasn’t sure she would survive it with her heart intact.
- Writer
