Chapter One : The Man Behind the Glass
1764 Words
Elena
The first thing Elena Vale noticed about Voss International was the silence.
Not the peaceful kind.
This silence felt expensive.
It lived between the polished marble floors, behind the tinted glass walls, beneath the quiet footsteps of employees dressed in tailored suits. Even the receptionist seemed to speak as though someone might be listening.
Elena tightened her grip around the leather folder containing her résumé.
She had spent three nights preparing for this interview.
Three nights studying the company.
Three nights memorizing financial reports, corporate acquisitions, board members and the history of the Voss family.
She knew exactly what Voss International was.
A corporate empire worth billions.
One of the most powerful companies in Valeria.
And at the center of it stood Lucien Voss.
Thirty-one years old.
Billionaire.
CEO.
The man who had inherited an empire and somehow made it larger.
The newspapers called him a genius.
Business magazines called him ruthless.
Employees called him something else.
Elena had heard the stories.
He fires people without warning.
He remembers every mistake.
He doesn't forgive betrayal.
He once made an executive resign during a board meeting without raising his voice.
And the strangest rumor of all:
Lucien Voss doesn't let anyone get close to him.
Elena had never cared much for rumors.
She cared about facts.
And the fact was that she desperately needed this job.
The receptionist glanced at her identification.
"Miss Vale?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Voss is expecting you."
Elena nodded.
Her heart gave an inconvenient little jump.
"Thank you."
The receptionist pointed toward the elevators.
"Forty-second floor."
Elena stepped inside.
As the doors closed, she finally allowed herself to breathe.
You're here for a job.
Nothing more.
She reminded herself of that twice.
The elevator climbed.
Twenty floors.
Thirty.
Forty.
The doors opened with a soft chime.
The forty-second floor was unlike the rest of the building.
It was almost unnaturally quiet.
There were no clusters of employees.
No ringing phones.
No hurried conversations.
Only a long corridor of black marble and glass leading toward a pair of enormous wooden doors.
A woman in a charcoal suit stood waiting.
"Elena Vale?"
"Yes."
"I'm Mara. Mr. Voss's chief of staff."
Mara looked Elena over.
Not rudely.
Clinically.
"You have ten minutes."
Elena blinked.
"Ten?"
"Mr. Voss dislikes wasting time."
Of course he did.
Mara turned and walked toward the doors.
Elena followed.
Just before they entered, Mara stopped.
"There is one thing you should know."
Elena waited.
"Don't lie to him."
Mara opened the door.
"Even if you think the truth will cost you the job."
Elena frowned.
Before she could ask why, Mara stepped aside.
And Elena walked into Lucien Voss's office.
The first thing she saw was the city.
The entire eastern wall was glass, offering an unobstructed view of Veyra stretching beneath a gray afternoon sky.
The second thing she noticed was the man standing in front of it.
He had his back to her.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
Dressed entirely in black.
One hand rested inside the pocket of his trousers while the other held a glass of water.
He didn't turn around.
"Sit."
His voice was low.
Calm.
Cold.
Elena walked toward the chair opposite his desk.
She sat.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then he turned.
And Elena understood something immediately.
The photographs had not prepared her.
Lucien Voss was devastatingly handsome.
Not in a warm or approachable way.
There was nothing soft about his face.
Sharp cheekbones.
Dark hair.
A strong jaw.
Eyes so dark they almost appeared black from across the room.
His expression was completely unreadable.
He looked at her as though she were a document he hadn't decided whether to sign.
"Elena Vale."
It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
"You graduated top three in your class."
"Yes."
"Economics and corporate management."
"Yes."
"Highest score in the executive administration certification examination."
Elena nodded.
Lucien walked toward his desk.
"Excellent academic record."
He sat.
"And yet you have never worked for a company of this size."
"No."
"Why?"
The question was simple.
The way he asked it wasn't.
Elena straightened.
"Because nobody starts at the top."
Something changed in his expression.
Barely.
But she noticed.
A flicker of interest.
"Ambitious."
"Practical."
"There's a difference."
"I know."
Lucien leaned back.
"Do you?"
Elena held his gaze.
"I wouldn't have applied if I didn't think I could handle the position."
"You applied to be my executive assistant."
"Yes."
"Do you know what that involves?"
"Managing your schedule, correspondence, meetings, travel arrangements, confidential documents and communication with senior executives."
"Anything else?"
Elena hesitated.
"Protecting your time."
"Good."
His eyes remained fixed on hers.
"And protecting my privacy."
"Of course."
"That includes not asking questions about matters that don't concern you."
Elena felt something cold settle in her stomach.
"Understood."
"Do you?"
There was something strange about the way he said it.
Almost like a warning.
Elena forced herself not to look away.
"Yes."
Lucien studied her for another moment.
Then he opened a folder.
"Why Voss International?"
She had expected the question.
She had prepared an answer.
But none of the answers she had rehearsed were the truth.
Because she wasn't there simply because of the company's reputation.
She wasn't there because of the salary.
And she certainly wasn't there because she admired Lucien Voss.
She was there because of a name.
A name that had appeared in an old document she had found six months earlier.
A name connected to her mother.
A name connected to the Voss family.
Elena kept her expression neutral.
"Because Voss International is the most demanding corporate environment in Valeria."
Lucien watched her.
"And you want to be challenged."
"Yes."
"That's a safe answer."
"It's the honest one."
A pause.
Then—
"Not entirely."
Elena's pulse stumbled.
Lucien closed the folder.
"You researched me."
It wasn't a question.
Everyone did.
But Elena suddenly felt as though he'd caught her committing a crime.
"I researched the company."
"You researched me."
She said nothing.
His gaze sharpened.
"Why?"
Elena swallowed.
"Because you're my potential employer."
"That's not why."
The room seemed colder.
Lucien stood.
He walked around the desk and stopped beside her chair.
Too close.
Elena could smell his cologne—something dark and understated.
She refused to move.
He leaned slightly toward her.
"You're either very brave, Miss Vale..."
His eyes locked onto hers.
"...or very good at pretending you're not afraid."
Elena's fingers tightened around her folder.
"I don't scare easily."
For the first time, something resembling amusement touched his mouth.
It disappeared almost immediately.
"Everyone scares easily."
He stepped away.
"Some people simply hide it better."
Elena exhaled slowly.
Lucien returned to his desk.
"You start Monday."
She blinked.
"What?"
"You're hired."
She hadn't expected it to be that easy.
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet."
He slid a contract across the desk.
"Read everything before signing."
Elena reached for it.
Her fingers stopped.
There, beneath the standard employment clauses, was a paragraph printed in bold.
EMPLOYEES OF VOSS INTERNATIONAL ARE PROHIBITED FROM ENGAGING IN ROMANTIC OR INTIMATE RELATIONSHIPS WITH MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD OR SENIOR MANAGEMENT.
Her eyes paused on the sentence.
Lucien noticed.
"That's not negotiable."
Elena looked up.
"I wasn't planning to negotiate it."
"Good."
Something about his stare made the words feel heavier than they should have.
She signed.
Lucien watched her hand move across the paper.
Then his eyes shifted to the small silver pendant around her neck.
His expression changed.
Completely.
Only for a second.
But Elena saw it.
His eyes widened almost imperceptibly.
His face went still.
"Where did you get that?"
Elena touched the pendant instinctively.
"This?"
"Yes."
"My mother gave it to me."
"When?"
"Years ago."
Lucien's gaze remained fixed on it.
"Your mother."
There was something in his voice now.
Something Elena couldn't identify.
"Yes."
"What's her name?"
Elena hesitated.
"Why?"
His expression hardened.
"I asked you a question."
"Is that relevant to my employment?"
Silence.
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Then Lucien looked away.
"Leave."
Elena frowned.
"I thought the interview was over."
"It is."
She stood and gathered her things.
At the door, she turned.
"Mr. Voss?"
He didn't look at her.
"Yes?"
"Did I do something wrong?"
Lucien finally raised his eyes.
His expression was unreadable again.
"No."
A beat.
"You reminded me of someone."
Elena's heart skipped.
"Who?"
His gaze dropped to the pendant.
"My father."
She froze.
Lucien looked away.
"Good afternoon, Miss Vale."
Elena left.
The doors closed behind her.
She stood in the corridor, breathing hard.
Something wasn't right.
She knew it.
She had spent months researching the Voss family.
She knew Lucien's father had died seventeen years ago.
She knew almost nothing about his personal life.
But there had been one photograph she'd found while digging through archived articles.
A photograph of Lucien's father standing beside a woman whose face had been deliberately scratched out.
Around that woman's neck had been a silver pendant.
The exact same pendant Elena was wearing.
She reached beneath her blouse and pulled it free.
Her mother's final gift.
Her mother had always refused to explain where it came from.
Elena stared at it.
Then a thought struck her.
What if Lucien Voss knew?
---
Lucien
The moment the door closed, Lucien stopped breathing.
His eyes remained fixed on the place where Elena had disappeared.
The pendant.
There was no mistaking it.
He had seen it once before.
Seventeen years ago.
On the night his father died.
Lucien walked toward the window.
His reflection stared back at him.
Cold.
Controlled.
Unshaken.
At least, that was what everyone believed.
He pulled out his phone.
"Adrian."
The call connected immediately.
"Yes?"
"I need you to investigate someone."
"Who?"
Lucien stared down at the city.
"Elena Vale."
A pause.
"How deep?"
"Everything."
"That's going to take time."
"I don't care."
Adrian's voice became cautious.
"Lucien, what's wrong?"
Lucien looked at the closed office door.
For the first time in years, something he had buried came rushing back.
His father's blood.
A locked room.
A woman's scream.
And a silver pendant disappearing into the darkness.
"Find out who her mother is."
"Why?"
Lucien's jaw tightened.
"Because I think I've just hired the daughter of the woman who destroyed my family."
He ended the call.
But he didn't move.
Because there was one thing he hadn't told Adrian.
One thing he wasn't ready to admit even to himself.
When Elena had looked at him...
For one impossible second—
he had felt as though he already knew her.
And that frightened him far more than the possibility that she was his enemy.
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