16- Boundaries No One Has the Right to Cross

Attending meetings was not an optional part of Elena’s job.

Ever since she’d started working for Kaysen, the agreement had been clear: she was expected to carry out whatever tasks the company required, whether that meant preparing documents, overseeing projects, or attending meetings with clients and investors. In return, her earnings would be deducted from the debt her brother had left behind.

She didn’t have the luxury of choosing which assignments suited her or objecting to every task she disliked.

And that was how she found herself that evening in a private room at one of the city’s most luxurious hotels, sitting beside Kaysen for a business dinner with Mr. Richard Harrison, one of the most influential investors the company was hoping to secure a long-term agreement with.

The man was in his late fifties, highly influential, and accustomed to having everyone’s attention. From the moment he arrived, it was clear that he preferred to conduct conversations on his own terms.

Kaysen introduced Elena.

“Elena Hayes, the project coordinator.”

Harrison smiled and extended his hand.

“I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”

She shook it politely.

“I hope it’s been good things, Mr. Harrison.”

The man laughed, then gestured toward the chair beside him.

“Please. I’d like to hear the details of the project from you, not just from the documents.”

Elena glanced briefly at Kaysen, but his expression gave no indication of objection. She took the seat and placed her folder in front of her.

The conversation turned to the project, and Elena answered his questions confidently, explaining the figures and details she’d personally prepared.

Harrison seemed satisfied with her responses, although he tended to lean closer whenever he wanted to examine a particular page. At one point, he placed a hand on the back of her chair before leaning toward her to get a better look at the screen displaying the design.

She didn’t move away.

Instead, she turned the device slightly toward him and maintained her professional smile.

“You can see the adjustments here. We’ve added more space for guest reception without affecting the budget.”

“Clever.”

He gave her shoulder a light pat.

“And you clearly know how to make people listen to you.”

Elena offered a brief smile.

“I’m simply trying to present the work as well as possible.”

At the other end of the table, Kaysen was no longer following the conversation.

His eyes were fixed on Harrison’s hand.

He rotated his water glass between his fingers once before slowly setting it down. His posture remained unchanged, but a muscle began to work beneath the skin of his jaw, and every trace of the courtesy with which he’d welcomed their guest disappeared from his face.

Harrison noticed his silence but paid it little attention.

Instead, he leaned toward Elena again, briefly taking hold of her arm as he pointed to a section of the design.

“I want you to explain this part yourself. You seem to be the only one who understands its details properly.”

Elena didn’t pull her arm away.

“Of course, Mr. Harrison.”

But she didn’t get to finish her sentence.

“Take your hand off her.”

Kaysen’s voice was low, calm, and entirely devoid of courtesy.

Harrison’s movement stopped.

He slowly turned toward him.

“Excuse me?”

Kaysen didn’t repeat himself. He simply looked at the hand still holding Elena’s arm, then raised his eyes to Harrison’s face.

The message was clear enough.

Harrison released her before forcing a smile.

“You’re more sensitive than I expected, Vance.”

Kaysen leaned back in his chair.

“And you’re exceeding your boundaries more than I expected.”

A heavy silence settled over the table.

Harrison attempted to restore the atmosphere.

“There was no need to make such a fuss.”

“Good. Then it won’t happen again.”

Kaysen didn’t raise his voice, but he left no room for another comment.

Elena kept her eyes on her papers. She didn’t want the dinner to turn into a problem that might jeopardize the agreement, and she couldn’t understand why Kaysen had chosen to intervene so sharply after allowing her to handle the man throughout the evening.

Harrison resumed the conversation, but his tone had changed.

When dinner finally ended, he stood and shook Kaysen’s hand before turning toward Elena.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Hayes. I hope we can continue our conversation soon.”

He extended his hand toward her.

Before she could shake it, Kaysen closed the folder he was holding and stood between them with quiet composure.

“There will be no need for that.”

Harrison looked at him in surprise.

“I believe Miss Hayes can arrange her own appointments.”

A cold smile appeared on Kaysen’s face.

“I’ve never doubted her ability to do that.”

Then he added, looking directly at him,

“But I decide who represents my company in future meetings.”

Harrison lowered his hand.

Elena said nothing. She offered one final professional smile, picked up her bag, and left the room.

⸻

She had walked only a few steps down the corridor when she heard his voice behind her.

“Elena.”

She turned.

Kaysen was walking toward her, his jacket draped over one arm. He wasn’t in a hurry, but his expression no longer resembled that of the man who had sat at the table an hour earlier.

“Yes, Mr. Vance?”

He stopped in front of her.

“Are you accustomed to allowing people to touch you while you’re working?”

Her eyebrows drew together.

“What?”

“Don’t make me repeat the question.”

She stared at him in confusion before realizing what he meant.

“It was a meeting with an important investor. I didn’t want to embarrass him over a minor gesture.”

He studied her for a moment, then lowered his gaze to her arm, where Harrison had held her earlier.

“A minor gesture?”

He said the words slowly, as though he found them particularly unpleasant.

“Nothing happened that deserved all this.”

He took a step closer.

“I’m the one who decides what deserves my attention.”

She raised her eyes to his.

“And now the way I deal with other people is something you get to decide, too?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

His expression remained still, but his gaze darkened, and his features grew more severe the longer she tried to defend her actions.

“You work under my name, and you represent my company. I don’t want a situation like that happening again.”

“I was doing my job.”

“And I didn’t say otherwise.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

He studied her for a long moment before answering.

“The problem is that you act as though being polite to others matters more than establishing clear boundaries.”

“Because I can’t treat every person as though I’m picking a fight with them!”

Her voice rose slightly this time.

His expression didn’t change, but he moved close enough that the space between them became uncomfortably narrow.

“Lower your voice.”

She blinked, surprised by his tone.

“Don’t order me around.”

He leaned toward her slightly, his eyes fixed on her face.

“Then don’t make me repeat myself.”

For a moment, the words caught in her throat.

He wasn’t shouting, and he wasn’t angry in the way she’d come to expect from other men. He was far too calm, and that made his presence more oppressive than she wanted to admit.

She tried to walk past him, but he moved at the same moment, leaving her closer to him than she’d intended.

He reached out and took the folder from her fingers.

“I’ll carry it.”

“I can carry it myself.”

“I know.”

He raised his eyes to hers.

“But I said I’d carry it.”

Then he glanced at the hand she’d left suspended in the air for a moment after he’d taken the folder.

“Do we understand each other now?”

She lowered her hand and lifted her chin defiantly.

“No, Mr. Vance. We don’t understand anything.”

A strange look flickered in his eyes. Then he turned toward the elevator without answering.

⸻

Kaysen entered the elevator first, then turned toward her.

“Come.”

She stepped inside a moment later and stood near the control panel.

As soon as the doors closed, he placed the folder on the side ledge and pressed the button for the ground floor.

Silence settled between them.

Elena was watching their reflections in the metallic wall when she heard his voice.

“Repeat what you did during the meeting.”

She turned toward him.

“What?”

“When he put his hand on your shoulder.”

Her expression stiffened.

“I don’t understand.”

He turned his head fully toward her.

“I want to know why you didn’t move away.”

She stared at him in disbelief.

“Because I was in a business meeting! Because the man has influence, and because I didn’t want to jeopardize the agreement over something he might consider an insult!”

He continued watching her before taking a step closer.

“And you think the agreement matters more than protecting your boundaries?”

“Don’t talk as though it’s that simple.”

“To me, it is.”

He stopped in front of her, then reached out and moved a strand of hair that had caught against the edge of her earring. It was a quick gesture, but it made her go still for a moment.

He didn’t smile.

His gaze lowered to her face as he spoke quietly.

“Don’t let anyone get used to touching you simply because you don’t want to upset them.”

She stepped back half a pace.

“You don’t get to make rules about my body.”

His hand lingered in the air for a moment before he slowly lowered it.

Something in his expression shifted at her words, but his voice remained steady.

“Don’t test my patience, Elena.”

“And you don’t test my boundaries, Mr. Vance.”

Their eyes met in charged silence.

For several seconds, he seemed to study her face. Then a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, devoid of warmth.

“You still don’t realize how many things I choose to overlook.”

Before she could ask what he meant, the elevator doors opened.

Kaysen stepped out first, picked up the folder, and turned toward her.

“Come on.”

She didn’t move immediately.

She looked at him, then at the open doorway behind him.

His expression had returned to its usual calm, as though the confrontation they’d just had had left no trace on him.

But as she finally stepped out, his last sentence continued to echo in her mind.

He wasn’t trying to convince her of his point of view.

He was behaving as though he had the right to establish the boundaries, then simply expected her to learn them without asking why.

And that was what made her feel, for the first time, that dealing with Kaysen was no longer just a difficult part of her job.

It was becoming something she needed to be careful of.