Married to Julian Grey

Chapter 4

The meeting continued for nearly another hour.

For the most part, I understood very little of what was being discussed.

Charts and financial reports filled the screens around the boardroom as executives debated growth projections and market strategies with effortless confidence. They spoke in terms I had never heard before, moving seamlessly from one topic to the next while I struggled to keep up.

At some point, I gave up trying to understand everything.

Instead, I focused on looking attentive and hoped no one noticed the difference.

Eventually, the man at the head of the table closed the file before him.

The soft snap echoed through the room.

Instantly, every conversation stopped.

His gaze swept calmly across the table.

"That will be all."

Just four simple words.

Yet before the last one had fully settled, the room sprang into motion.

Chairs slid back.

Laptop screens went dark.

Documents disappeared neatly into briefcases and leather portfolios.

Within seconds, the meeting dissolved with the practiced efficiency of people who had done this countless times before.

I slowly rose to my feet, only then realizing how tense I'd been. My shoulders ached from sitting so rigidly for nearly an hour.

I'd spent the afternoon surrounded by people operating at a level of the company I barely understood.

The fact that I had made it through without embarrassing myself felt less like competence and more like blind luck.

Beside me, Allison stood and smoothed the front of her cream blazer before gathering her folder. Her auburn hair rested neatly over her shoulders, and there was a curious sparkle in her blue eyes as she glanced in my direction.

The moment we stepped into the hallway, she turned to me.

"Okay."

I blinked.

"Okay... what?"

"Tell me how you did it."

"Did what?"

She looked at me as though I had just denied knowing my own name.

"Got Mr. Grey's attention."

My steps slowed.

"Who?"

This time Allison stopped walking altogether.

"Mr. Grey."

I frowned.

"Who is Mr. Grey?"

For a long moment, she simply stared at me.

"You're joking."

"No."

"The man sitting at the head of the table."

Realization finally dawned.

"Oh..."

"The executive."

Allison closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"You really don't know who he is?"

"I don't think so."

She looked genuinely horrified.

"Elena... that was Julian Grey."

The name meant absolutely nothing to me.

She let out an exaggerated groan.

"Oh, my God."

"What?"

"You seriously don't know who Julian Grey is?"

"Should I?"

The elevator arrived with a soft chime, and we stepped inside.

As the doors slid shut, Allison folded her arms and looked at me as though she couldn't decide whether to laugh or stage an intervention.

"Elena," she began, "Julian Grey owns Aurelius Group."

I stared at her.

"The entire company?"

"Yes."

Well...

That certainly explained a few things.

The silence that had fallen over the boardroom the moment he spoke.

The way every conversation had stopped without hesitation.

The way Mr. Lawson had abandoned his objection halfway through a sentence.

Suddenly, it all made perfect sense.

The elevator continued its steady descent.

"And that's not all," Allison added. "He's also one of Forbes' Top 10 billionaires under thirty."

I considered that for a moment before giving a small nod.

"Well..."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Well?"

"I still don't think I got his attention."

A laugh escaped her before she could stop it.

"Elena, you weren't the first person to walk into that boardroom today."

"I know."

"But you're the only one he asked to stay."

I opened my mouth, then closed it again.

She had a point.

By the time the elevator reached our floor, I still hadn't thought of a reasonable explanation.

The moment I returned to my department, a notification flashed across my computer screen.

Mr. Lawson wants to see you.

I sighed.

So much for surviving the meeting.

Leaving my bag at my desk, I made my way down the corridor toward his office.

Sandra sat behind her desk outside the entrance, as impeccably composed as ever. Her blonde hair was pinned neatly into place, and every folder, pen, and document on her desk looked perfectly aligned.

She glanced up as I approached.

"Good luck."

Somehow, that only made me more nervous.

I knocked lightly on the door.

"Come in."

Mr. Lawson's office was exactly what I expected—orderly, immaculate, and entirely devoid of unnecessary decoration. Everything had its place, right down to the neatly stacked files arranged across his desk.

He gestured toward the chair opposite him.

"Sit."

I did.

Removing his glasses, he studied me in silence for several seconds.

It was... unsettling.

Finally, he spoke.

"How exactly did you convince Mr. Grey to let you stay?"

I blinked.

"Sir?"

"Mr. Grey," he repeated patiently. "How did you persuade him to keep you in that meeting?"

"I didn't."

His brow furrowed.

"People don't remain in executive meetings without a reason."

"I was about to leave."

"But you stayed."

"Because he told me to."

"You mean Mr. Grey?"

"Yes."

A flicker crossed his expression.

Not irritation.

Not anger.

Something closer to concern.

He leaned back slowly in his chair, his fingers tapping once against the armrest before becoming still.

For a long moment, he said nothing.

Then he sighed.

"You may go."

Relief washed over me.

"Thank you, sir."

I stood quickly and left before he had a chance to change his mind.

The moment I stepped back into the administrative office, I knew something was wrong.

Four pairs of eyes turned toward me almost simultaneously.

Sandra.

Jessica.

Daniel.

And finally Mark, who wandered over with a cup of coffee in hand and the unmistakable expression of someone hoping to witness something entertaining.

Sandra spoke first.

"Forget the meeting."

She leaned forward eagerly.

"Is Mr. Grey really that handsome?"

Jessica nodded in agreement.

"Please answer the question."

I frowned.

"Why is that the first thing everyone wants to know?"

Sandra looked genuinely offended.

"Because that's Julian Grey."

Mark took another sip of his coffee.

"We've all seen his interviews."

"And magazine covers," Jessica added.

Daniel shrugged.

"But none of us have ever been in the same room with him."

"Exactly," Sandra said, pointing at me. "You have."

She folded her arms.

"So...?"

All four of them watched me expectantly.

I thought about it.

"He's..."

They leaned closer.

"...tall."

Silence.

Jessica let her forehead fall gently onto her keyboard.

Sandra pointed at me in disbelief.

"You spent an entire hour sitting in the same room as Julian Grey..."

"...and the only thing you can tell us is that he's tall?"

Mark burst into laughter.

Daniel shook his head.

"You're hopeless."

I smiled faintly and turned back toward my computer.

"Then one of you should've gone instead."

That finally brought the interrogation to an end.

One by one, my coworkers drifted back to their desks, and before long the office settled into its familiar rhythm once more.

Emails.

Reports.

Deadlines.

Meetings.

Everything returned to normal.

Or at least, it should have.

No matter how hard I tried to focus on my work, my thoughts kept wandering back to the boardroom.

To the meeting.

To the strange silence that had followed a single man's voice.

And to those impossible green eyes.

It wasn't fear.

Nor was it excitement.

It was simply a feeling I couldn't explain—a quiet sense that something had shifted, though I had no idea what.

By the time the workday finally ended, I was more exhausted than usual.

The journey home passed in a blur of traffic, crowded buses, and city noise. I prepared a simple dinner, watched television for a while, and tried to lose myself in whatever happened to be playing.

It didn't work.

My mind kept replaying the events of the day.

Eventually, I gave up, switched everything off, and went to bed.

Sleep came quickly.

The dream returned just as quickly.

The same bedroom.

The same golden patterns winding across the walls.

The same warm light with no visible source.

And him.

Waiting.

As though he had never left.

As though he had known I would return.

He crossed the room slowly, never taking his eyes off me.

His fingertips brushed against my cheek with familiar tenderness, sending a quiet shiver through me.

Then he leaned down.

His lips found mine.

The kiss was gentle at first, lingering just long enough to make my heart race before deepening into something that felt achingly familiar.

Everything around us disappeared.

There was only him.

Only us.

And just as the dream threatened to carry me away once more—

Beep... Beep... Beep...

My alarm shattered the silence.

I groaned into my pillow before forcing one eye open.

Please don't tell me...

I reached blindly for my phone.

The screen lit up.

7:52 A.M.

"Oh, come on!"

I shot upright, nearly dropping my phone onto the floor.

Somehow, despite setting three alarms the night before, I was running late again.

The next few minutes dissolved into complete chaos.

I rushed through my morning routine, grabbed the first outfit that looked reasonably presentable, skipped breakfast for the second day in a row, and hurried out of my apartment with my bag slung over one shoulder.

By the time I arrived at the office, I was twenty minutes late.

Again.

Sandra didn't even glance up from her desk as I hurried toward the administrative department.

"Human Resources wants to see you."

I stopped so abruptly that I nearly lost my balance.

"...What?"

This time she looked up.

"Human Resources."

She tilted her head toward the elevators.

"I'd go now."

A knot formed in my stomach.

Being summoned to Human Resources first thing in the morning rarely meant anything good.

A few minutes later, I found myself seated across from a professionally dressed woman in a navy-blue suit. A slim folder rested neatly on the desk between us.

She offered me a warm, practiced smile.

"Good morning, Elena."

"Good morning."

"Please, relax."

Oddly enough, hearing those words only made me more nervous.

She opened the folder and glanced down at the documents inside.

"I'm pleased to inform you that you've been selected for an internal transfer."

I frowned.

"A transfer?"

She nodded and slid a sheet of paper across the desk.

My name was printed neatly at the top.

Beneath it, in bold letters, were the words:

Aurelius Group Headquarters

My heart skipped a beat.

Headquarters?

That wasn't even in this city.

"There must be some mistake."

"There isn't."

"But... I never applied for a transfer."

"Some transfers are initiated internally."

A chill settled deep in my chest.

My eyes dropped to the document again.

Effective immediately.

Another city.

A completely different office.

A transfer I hadn't requested.

None of it made any sense.

The woman smiled, clearly expecting me to be excited.

"Congratulations, Elena."

I stared at the paper in silence.

For reasons I couldn't explain...

It didn't feel like congratulations at all.