Vengeful Heiress

CHAPTER 4 - WORK

The office lights began dimming one after another as employees packed their bags and shut down their computers.

Elena leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms over her head.

“Finally,” Jenna sighed dramatically, tossing her pain into her bag.

“I’m telling you, if I have to look at one more logistic spreadsheet, I’m going to go blind,” Quan groaned, as he loosened his tie.

“Forget the spreadsheets,” Mike laughed, clapping him on the back. Tomorrow is Friday, people. We're hitting the vault for drinks. The second the clock hits six. No excuses.

“I'm in,” Hailey and Jenna spoke at the same time.

“I need a martini the size of my head,” Hailey joked. “Elena? Are you going to join us?”

Elena offered a small, polite smile. “I’d love to.”

The group laughed, heading towards the revolving glass doors when the sound of clicking heels stopped them. Mrs. Ivy was marching across the marble lobby, a thick, heavy-duty folder clutched to her chest.

“Elena! A word before you go,” Mrs. Ivy called out.

Elena turned, her expression neutral, “I’ll meet you outside.” she said to her colleagues. “Give me a few minutes.”

Elena followed Mrs. Ivy down the quiet hallway towards the administrative office.

Inside the office, Mrs. Ivy closed the door gently and walked behind her desk. She picked up a file and laid it on the desk.

“Mr. Adrian Cole personally requested you for this,” Mrs. Ivy said.

Elena’s brows pulled together slightly as she reached out for the file on the desk and pulled it towards her.

“He went through your academic records this afternoon. He noticed you have a strong background in business management and corporate finance.”

Elena opened the file.

Her eyes scanned the pages, it wasn’t intern work. It was a high-level analysis of the company’s debt-to-equity ratio and a risk assessment for a potential merger.

Her eyes widened slightly.

“This is….a lot,” Elena said. “ Mrs. Ivy, this is a massive role for an intern don’t you think? Why not assign a senior analyst? If I make a mistake on a valuation this size….”

“I don’t know but he was very specific, Elena,” Mrs. Ivy interrupted. “He wants this on his decks first thing tomorrow morning.”

Elena blinked. Flipping through the pages again, disbelief, settling in.

“Ma’am…. but…. this is a lot of work.”

Mrs. Ivy shrugged lightly. “I know.”

“Just do your best,” Mrs. Ivy added. “Look at it this way. If you pull this off, you might be offered a permanent position after your program ends.”

Elena looked up.

A Permanent position.

Mrs. Ivy smiled. “This company rarely keeps interns, unless they stand out.”

Elena nodded slowly.

However, inside her mind, she laughed.

Retain me? In my own company?

If only they knew.

“I’ll have it ready by tomorrow,” Elena said calmly.

“Good,” Mrs. Ivy replied. “Have a nice night. You can go now.”

Elena left the office and hurried towards the building entrance. Where her friends were waiting outside.

“There she is!” Cameron called.

Jenna pointed at the thick folder in Elena‘s hands. “What’s that?”

“Work,” Elena sighed. “ Mr. Cole asked me to complete it tonight and submit it first thing tomorrow.”

Hailey’s eyes widened, dramatically, placing a hand over her chest. “Oh my apples… that sexy man.”

Cameron chuckled. “Careful, Elena. Office romance is dangerous.”

“Stop it,” Jenna told them, as they all laughed.

They walked towards the roadside together, where taxis were pulling up.

“Don’t forget. Tomorrow night.” Quan reminded.

Everyone agreed, then one by one they entered a separate cab waving goodbye.

“See you tomorrow!”

“Night!”

Elena finally got into her own car and leaned back against the seat, the heavy file resting on her lap.

About 40 minutes later, she pushed open the door of her apartment.

The quiet space greeted her immediately.

She dropped the assignments file onto the table with a soft thud and kicked off her heels.

For a moment, she just stood there, staring at the folder.

Then her gaze shifted towards her bag.

Slowly, she unzipped it.

Inside were several documents she had secretly taken earlier that afternoon from the company’s storage room.

She pulled them out carefully and spread them across the table.

Her fingers moved slowly across each page as she read through them.

Her jaw tightened.

“Little by little,” she said softly.

Her eyes hardened.

“I’ll gather enough evidence.”

She packed all the paper neatly and put it in one of her drawers by her desk.

Then she whispered, “I’m coming for you, Uncle.”

The room fell silent again.

After a moment, Elena stood up and headed towards the bathroom.

A hot shower later, she returned, wearing comfortable clothes, her hair wet and tied loosely behind her head.

She sat at the table and opened the assignment file from Adrian. She read through the financial document one by one.

Happened moved across the pages marking errors, writing notes, calculating projections.

Outside, the city slowly sank into the night.

But Elena kept working.

Determined.

Focused.

By the time Elena finished the last page, it was already 2:47 AM.

She stared at the clock for a while. Her eyes were burning from strain.

“I need sleep,” she muttered under her breath, rubbing her hand over her face.

Her neck ached from being bent over the table for hours, and her shoulders felt stiff from tension. Spread all around her table were sheets of paper; financial summaries, handwriting notes, corrected projections, and neatly arranged recommendations she had spent the last several hours reviewing and refining.

What had first looked like an impossible mountain of work was now completed before her in a tidy, well-organized stack.

Elena let out a long breath and leaned back in her chair.

She was exhausted.

And in barely a few hours, she would have to be awake again, getting ready for work.

She glanced at the time once more and groaned softly. “I have to be up by seven.”

For a moment, she considered checking through everything one more time, but her body immediately rejected the idea. Her brain felt too foggy and she had done enough….more than enough.

Carefully, she gathered the papers together, sliding each section into the file in proper order. She made sure the reports were straight, the pages aligned, and the tabs were properly arranged. Once she was done, she placed the finished file on the table where she would not forget it in the morning.

Then she pushed herself to her feet.

Her apartment was silent, wrapped in the stillness that only came deep in the night. Even the city outside seemed quieter now, as though it had finally fallen asleep.

Elena switched off the lights and made her way to the bedroom.

The second she lay down, her body seemed to sink into the mattress with relief.

She pulled the sheets over herself and stared at the ceiling in the darkness.

But even in her exhaustion, her mind refused to fully settle.

Why had Adrian picked her?

Out of all the interns, out of all the employees in that building, why her?

Was it just work?

Or was there something behind it?

Her brows pulled together faintly.

Did he suspect something?

Was it because he saw her at the storage earlier?

Or maybe it had nothing to do with that at all.

Maybe Mrs. Ivy was right.

Maybe he had really gone through her records and he had seen her profile, her strengths, and thought she was capable of handling it.

Elena exhaled slowly and turned onto her side.

“Whatever it is, I can figure it out later,” she murmured sleepily to herself.

Right now, she needed sleep more than answers.

Her eyes grew heavier by the second, the thoughts in her mind slowly tangling into nothing. And before long, Elena drifted off into sleep.