The First Real Test
698 Words
Chapter Four
Sophie had never hated her phone more than she did right now.
It wouldn’t stop buzzing. Texts from her cousins. A call from her aunt. And at least five missed calls from her mother, all gushing about how perfect Daniel was.
Perfect. Right.
She threw her phone onto her couch, groaning. What had she gotten herself into?
Across the room, Daniel sat with his usual, infuriating calmness, scrolling through emails like they hadn’t just survived the most intense family dinner of her life.
Sophie folded her arms. “I’m never forgiving you for that stunt.”
He barely looked up. “Which one?”
She narrowed her eyes. “That little speech at dinner. You were too convincing.”
Daniel finally set his phone down, leaning back against her couch. “That’s the point, Sophie. If it wasn’t convincing, your brother would’ve dragged me outside and buried me in the backyard.”
He wasn’t wrong. Aiden had been one wrong move away from snapping my neck.
Still, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was how real Daniel had made it sound.
She exhaled sharply, rubbing her temples. “Fine. Whatever. But we need to be more careful going forward. No more… intense speeches. No more unnecessary touching.”
Daniel smirked, his eyes flicking to her hand—where she had subconsciously been rubbing the spot where he’d touched her earlier.
Her stomach tightened.
“Noted,” he said, looking amused.
Sophie scowled. “I mean it, Reid.”
He just kept smirking.
Before she could argue, his phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen, and something in his expression shifted.
Sophie frowned. “What?”
He stood, grabbing his jacket. “Change of plans.”
She blinked. “Excuse me?”
Daniel met her gaze, his usual confidence tinged with something sharper. Tension.
“We have to go to a gala,” he said. “Tonight.”
Sophie stared. “A gala? What gala?”
“My firm’s annual fundraiser. We need to be seen together.”
Her stomach twisted. His firm.
The same place she had spent two years working herself to the bone. The same place where she had felt invisible—just another overworked associate beneath Daniel Reid’s unshakable authority.
And now, she had to walk in as his girlfriend?
“No,” she said immediately. “Absolutely not.”
Daniel exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Sophie—”
“I said no.”
He studied her, quiet for a moment. Then, softer, “Why?”
She swallowed, crossing her arms tighter. “Because that place was hell for me, Daniel.”
His jaw tensed. “I know.”
Her breath hitched.
No argument. No dismissive comment. Just… acknowledgment.
That was almost worse.
“Look,” Daniel said, his voice calmer now. “I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t necessary. But people talk, Sophie. If we’re going to make this believable, we have to make appearances—especially where people know me.”
She hated that he had a point.
And she hated that part of her wanted to go.
Not for Daniel. Not for their stupid, fake relationship.
But to walk into that firm again—not as a struggling associate, but as someone who had left and thrived.
As someone who wasn’t afraid of Daniel Reid anymore.
She lifted her chin. “Fine. But you owe me.”
Daniel’s lips curved. “That’s the spirit.”
She rolled her eyes. “Pick me up at seven.”
By the time Daniel arrived, Sophie was ready.
Dressed in a sleek, deep-red gown that hugged her in all the right places, she stepped outside to find Daniel leaning against his car, his gaze sweeping over her in a way that made her breath catch.
For a moment, he didn’t say a word.
Then, his lips quirked. “Red suits you.”
Sophie ignored the way her stomach flipped. “Let’s get this over with.”
As she slid into the car, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this night was about to be far more dangerous than she had anticipated.
And not because of the firm.
But because of him.
- Writer
