CHAPTER 6 – Too Qualified
1512 Words
Elena’s second week at Wolfe Global began with a problem.
Three problems, actually.
The first was that she had slept through her alarm.
The second was that the subway had stopped twice because of delays.
And the third was Adrian Wolfe.
Unfortunately, he was the most difficult one.
Elena rushed into the building with barely two minutes to spare. Her hair was neatly tied back, but she could still feel the effects of her frantic morning.
She stepped out of the elevator and headed toward her desk.
“Good morning.”
She nearly jumped.
Maya laughed from the neighboring desk.
“You look like you’ve just escaped a disaster.”
“I almost did.”
“Bad morning?”
“The worst.”
Maya handed her a cup of coffee.
“Take this.”
Elena looked at her gratefully.
“I love you.”
“I know.”
Both women laughed.
The laughter barely lasted five seconds.
The elevator doors opened.
The entire floor seemed to straighten automatically.
Employees returned to their desks.
Conversations stopped.
And Adrian Wolfe walked out.
Elena still hadn’t figured out how one man could make an entire office nervous simply by arriving.
He wasn’t loud.
He wasn’t rude.
He simply carried authority in a way that made everyone pay attention.
His dark suit looked perfectly tailored.
His expression remained unreadable.
As always.
His gaze briefly swept across the office.
Then stopped.
On Elena.
For a moment.
Only a moment.
Then he continued toward his office.
Elena released a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding.
Maya noticed.
“You do that every time.”
“What?”
“You stop breathing when he looks at you.”
Elena nearly choked on her coffee.
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do.”
“I absolutely don’t.”
Maya smiled knowingly.
Elena ignored her.
Mostly because she wasn’t entirely sure Maya was wrong.
Less than ten minutes later, Elena received an email.
Her smile vanished immediately.
It was from Adrian.
Report to my office.
No greeting.
No explanation.
Just four words.
She stared at the screen.
Then sighed.
“Wish me luck.”
Maya gave her a sympathetic look.
“You’ll survive.”
“I hope so.”
Adrian was standing beside the window when she entered.
The now-familiar position.
The now-familiar view.
The now-familiar feeling that she was stepping into an examination room rather than an office.
“You wanted to see me?”
He turned.
“Sit.”
There it was again.
One-word instructions.
Elena sat.
Adrian placed a file on the desk.
“I’ve reviewed your work from last week.”
Elena braced herself.
Here it comes.
The criticism.
The corrections.
The impossible standards.
Instead, Adrian said,
“Your performance exceeded expectations.”
She blinked.
Once.
Twice.
“Thank you.”
“You completed assignments ahead of schedule.”
“Yes.”
“Your reports required fewer corrections than most new hires.”
Elena wasn’t sure how to respond.
Compliments from Adrian Wolfe felt unusual.
Like spotting snow in summer.
Possible.
But surprising.
“I appreciate that.”
Adrian nodded.
Then he pushed another file toward her.
Her optimism immediately disappeared.
The file looked enormous.
Very enormous.
Suspiciously enormous.
“What is this?”
“A project.”
“A project?”
“A difficult one.”
Of course it was.
Elena looked through the pages.
The proposal involved multiple departments.
Budgets.
Research.
Scheduling.
Data analysis.
Enough work for several people.
Her eyes widened slightly.
Adrian noticed.
“You think it’s too much.”
“No.”
“You do.”
“No.”
“You just looked terrified.”
Elena looked offended.
“I did not.”
“You did.”
To her surprise, the corner of his mouth moved slightly.
Almost a smile.
Almost.
“I’ll manage.”
“I know.”
The response came too quickly.
Too confidently.
For some reason, that bothered her.
“You sound very sure.”
“I am.”
The confidence in his voice made something warm settle inside her chest.
Strange.
Unexpected.
Dangerous.
She ignored it immediately.
By lunchtime, Elena had already buried herself in work.
The project was exactly as difficult as she feared.
Perhaps worse.
She was reviewing financial reports when a familiar voice interrupted her concentration.
“Working through lunch?”
Ethan.
Elena looked up.
He leaned casually against her desk.
Looking perfectly relaxed.
As always.
Unlike Adrian, who seemed permanently serious, Ethan carried an effortless charm that made people comfortable around him.
“Someone has to.”
Ethan glanced at the documents.
“That looks painful.”
“It is.”
“You should escape.”
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“I literally can’t.”
“You lack imagination.”
Elena laughed.
The sound surprised even her.
Ethan grinned.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The smile.”
She rolled her eyes.
“You sound ridiculous.”
“I sound observant.”
Before she could reply, another voice interrupted.
“Mr. Cole.”
Both turned.
Adrian stood nearby.
Nobody had heard him approach.
Which was concerning.
Ethan looked completely unbothered.
“Adrian.”
“The board meeting starts in fifteen minutes.”
“I know.”
“Then perhaps you should prepare.”
The message was polite.
The meaning wasn’t.
Ethan smiled knowingly.
“I was just leaving.”
Something passed silently between the two men.
Something Elena couldn’t quite understand.
Then Ethan looked at her.
“Don’t let him work you to death.”
And walked away.
The moment he disappeared, the atmosphere changed.
Again.
Adrian’s gaze shifted to the file on her desk.
“You haven’t taken a break.”
It wasn’t a question.
“No.”
“Why?”
Elena stared.
“Because the project needs to be finished.”
“You can eat while finishing it.”
She almost laughed.
Was he actually concerned?
No.
Impossible.
This was Adrian Wolfe.
King of impossible workloads.
Still…
The fact that he’d noticed felt oddly comforting.
The next few days followed a similar pattern.
Work.
Meetings.
Reports.
Deadlines.
And Adrian somehow appearing whenever she least expected him.
Sometimes to correct something.
Sometimes to ask questions.
Sometimes for reasons Elena couldn’t quite identify.
What surprised her most was how much she was learning.
Working under Adrian was exhausting.
But it was also making her better.
Sharper.
More confident.
More capable.
For the first time, she felt like she truly belonged at Wolfe Global.
Not because of the scholarship.
Not because of luck.
Because she’d earned it.
Thursday evening found her alone in a conference room.
Most employees had already left.
The city glowed beyond the windows.
And Elena was still working.
Again.
She glanced at the clock.
8:37 PM.
Wonderful.
At this rate, she’d eventually move into the building permanently.
The conference room door opened.
She looked up.
Adrian entered.
Of course.
Who else would be working at this hour?
His gaze landed on the spreadsheets covering the table.
“The project.”
“Yes.”
“You stayed late.”
“So did you.”
For a moment, silence filled the room.
Then something unexpected happened.
Adrian sat down.
Across from her.
Not because he needed anything.
Not because he had instructions.
He simply sat.
Elena looked suspicious.
“Is something wrong?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
A pause.
Almost as if he didn’t have an answer.
Which seemed impossible.
Adrian always had answers.
Finally, he spoke.
“I wanted to see your progress.”
Reasonable.
Professional.
Safe.
And yet something about it felt incomplete.
She handed him the reports.
He reviewed them quietly.
Several minutes passed.
Then he looked up.
“Excellent work.”
Elena froze.
There it was again.
Another compliment.
A rare and endangered species.
“You keep looking surprised.”
“Because you keep complimenting me.”
“I compliment good work.”
“No.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“No?”
“You mostly criticize good work.”
For the first time, she saw genuine amusement in his eyes.
Not hidden.
Not brief.
Real.
And suddenly, he looked younger.
Less intimidating.
More human.
The realization caught her off guard.
Because for a second, she forgot he was her boss.
Forgot he was a billionaire.
Forgot all the walls he kept around himself.
For a second, he was simply Adrian.
The moment lasted only a heartbeat.
Then Adrian stood.
The walls returned.
The distance returned.
Everything returned.
“Finish the proposal by Monday.”
“There he is.”
“What?”
“The terrifying boss.”
A pause.
Then—
To Elena’s complete shock—
Adrian laughed.
A short laugh.
But a laugh nonetheless.
And when he left the room moments later, Elena found herself staring after him.
Confused.
Because she should have been thinking about the project.
Instead…
She was thinking about Adrian Wolfe.
And somewhere down the hallway, Adrian was discovering a problem of his own.
The revenge plan was becoming increasingly difficult to remember whenever Elena Hart smiled.
- Writer
