THE DEVIL YOU NEED. by flora

Chapter Two: The Glass Office

Ivy

The elevator opened to silence and glass—cold, sharp, like everything in Lucian Blackthorne’s world.

He walked ahead without looking back. I followed. What else could I do?

Inside his office, he gestured to a chair. “Sit.”

I did, heart thudding.

“You lied on your application,” he said. “No corporate experience. No real references. And you’re running from something.”

My throat tightened. How did he know that?

Then why hire me?”

He smiled. It wasn’t kind.

“Because I like to see what people do when they’re cornered.”

He stood, circled behind me. Not touching—just close enough to burn.

“You need this job. I need loyalty. I don’t care about your past. But if it walks through my door, I’ll deal with it myself.”

My breath caught. I should’ve left. But I didn’t.

You start tomorrow,” he said, dismissing me like I was already his.

I made it to the door.

“And Ivy?”

“Don’t lie to me again. I don’t clean up other people’s messes.”

I didn’t answer.

Because the biggest lie I’d told wasn’t to him,it was to myself.

I thought I could handle this.

But I’d just met the devil.

And he knew my name.