Chapter 5

Madison

The walk to his office felt like crossing a minefield in stilettos. Each step brought me closer to potential disaster. What if he'd noticed the wedding planning tabs I'd accidentally left open during our morning meeting? What if he remembered calling me Katherine?

Standing outside his door, I took a deep breath. Whatever happened, I'd handle it with grace and professionalism. Or at least try not to cry on his expensive furniture.

I pushed open the door, half expecting to find Alexander surrounded by printouts of my secret virtual assistant activities. Instead, he sat at his desk, looking annoyingly put together while I felt like a house plant that hadn't been watered in weeks.

"Miss Harper." He gestured to the chair across from him. "Have a seat."

I perched on the edge like it might bite me. "Is something wrong?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you." His blue eyes fixed on me with laser focus. "You've seemed distracted lately. More than usual."

Was he keeping a log of my distraction levels?

"I noticed you almost sent the Singapore proposal to our Tokyo office this morning."

Oh god. I had done that. "I caught it before-"

"Yesterday, you scheduled my lunch meeting for 3 AM."

"That was..." Actually, I had no defense for that one. I'd been coordinating a destination wedding timeline for Emily when I made that calendar entry.

"Is everything alright?" His voice softened. "Your mother - how is she doing?"

His genuine concern caught me off guard. "She's stable. Thank you for asking and for sending John that day."

"Madison." He leaned forward, and my heart did a weird flip. "If you need help, just say it."

I blinked. Was this Alexander Knight offering emotional support? Maybe I'd fallen asleep at my desk, and this was some weird dream brought on by too much coffee and wedding planning tutorials.

"I..." The words stuck in my throat. Was he asking as my boss? As the guy who'd drunkenly made out with me and called me another woman's name? As a concerned friend?

Friend? Yeah right. Next, I'd start believing in unicorns and affordable Manhattan rent.

As if reading my internal crisis, he added, "The company has programs for employees facing emergencies. Medical assistance, temporary leave, financial support."

Oh. Right. This was Professional Alexander. Much safer territory than whatever that other thing was.

"Thank you, Mr. Knight. I'll look into those programs if- when I need them." I forced a smile that looked more like a facial cramp.

"You don't need to wait until things get desperate." He raised an eyebrow. "That's not exactly the best business strategy."

Coming from the man who once bought an entire yacht because he liked its rich name. But I kept that thought to myself.

"I appreciate the concern, really. But I've got everything under control." Like a tornado had control of Kansas.

"Of course." He leaned back, clearly not believing a word. "Just remember my door is always open."

"Thank you, sir." I stood up, ready to escape, before he could sense my mounting panic or notice the wedding planning spreadsheet I'd minimized on my desktop.

"Oh, and Madison?"

I froze halfway to the door. "Yes?"

"Next time you schedule a 3 AM lunch meeting, ensure it's with someone in a different time zone. At least then we can pretend it was intentional."

Was that a joke? From Alexander Knight? I may have fallen asleep at my desk.

"I'll keep that in mind." I hurried out before he could notice my face turning the color of a fire truck.

The next few days were a whirlwind of chaos and caffeine. My life became an endless loop of office work, virtual assistant tasks, and wedding planning research.

"Madison, are you okay?" Hazel's voice crackled through my phone one evening as I hunched over my laptop, fingers flying over the keyboard.

"Define 'okay,'" I muttered, switching tabs between Alexander's schedule and a vendor contact list. "If by 'okay,' you mean drowning in work and contemplating living off ramen noodles to save money, then yeah, totally okay."

"You need to take a break."

"A break?" I laughed humorlessly. "What's that? Some kind of new app?"

"Just don't burn out, alright? We need you sane."

"Sane is overrated," I mumbled, eyeing the clock. It was well past midnight. Again.

I fell into a rhythm – or, more accurately, a controlled tailspin. Every waking hour was accounted for, every minute planned out with military precision. It worked fine until Thursday afternoon, when everything went spectacularly wrong.

"Miss Harper!" Alexander's voice boomed through the intercom. "Where's Mr. Chen?"

My heart stopped. Mr. Chen? The important client we had scheduled to meet at… oh no.

I scrambled for my calendar, my brain a tangled mess of dates and times. "Uh, his meeting is tomorrow at-"

"No." Alexander's tone could've frozen lava. "It was today at 3 PM."

Panic surged through me like cold water. I glanced at the clock: 3:15 PM.

"I-I'm so sorry," I stammered. "I must have mixed up the dates in the calendar."

"My office. Now." The intercom clicked off with the finality of a coffin lid.

I grabbed my tablet and practically sprinted to his office, my heels clicking against the floor like a countdown to my execution. When I burst through the door, Alexander stood by the window, his shoulders tense beneath his perfectly tailored suit.

"Sit." He didn't turn around.

I dropped into the chair, clutching my tablet like a shield. "Mr. Knight, I can explain-"

"Can you?" he spun around, his expression unreadable. "Because the Madison Harper I know doesn't mix up meetings. Mr. Chen's company accounts for forty percent of our Asian market share. Do you have any idea how much damage your mistake could cause the company? "

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. He was right. I was usually meticulous, organized, and borderline obsessive about details.

"The Madison Harper, I know, doesn't schedule meetings at 3 AM or send contracts to the wrong offices." He walked to his desk, each step deliberate. "That Madison disappeared somewhere in the last few weeks."

"I've just been-"

"Busy? With what exactly?"

Something in his tone made my skin prickle.

"Would you like to tell me yourself what's going on?" He leaned forward onto his desk. "Before this becomes more serious than a missed meeting?"

"Sir, I promise it won't happen again. I've just been dealing with some personal-"

"Personal matters?" He picked up a folder and tossed it between us on the desk. "Like moonlighting as a virtual assistant?"

Oh god.

He flipped open the folder, revealing screenshots of emails, contract agreements, and wedding planning documents. "Or perhaps you'd like to explain these?"

"I... how did you..."

"Our IT department flagged unusual activity on your work computer." He was looking more disappointed than angry. "Wedding planning websites. Virtual assistant training modules. Contracts with external clients."

My career flashed before my eyes. Along with my ability to pay rent, buy food, or cover Mom's medical bills.

"Mr. Knight, please." My voice cracked. "I can explain everything."

"I'm listening."

"Mom got sick again. The medical bills are crushing us. Insurance covers less than half, and I didn't know what else to do. I needed extra income, and these jobs were remote, and I thought if I was careful..."

"If you were careful, you wouldn't get caught?" He finished my sentence. "You violated your contract. The company could fire you and sue you for breach of contract."

Tears pricked at my eyes. "Please. I'll stop the extra work immediately. I just need more time to prove myself. To make this right."

Alexander stared at me for a long moment, his expression shifting from stern to something else entirely. "I might have a solution for you. But first, we need to discuss what happened the other night."

My stomach dropped to the floor. "The other night?"

"When you found me in my penthouse."

"Oh, that. You weren't feeling well, so I called the doctor. That's all."

"The doctor found traces of a rather dangerous substance in my system. If you hadn't called him..." He leaned forward. "You probably saved my life, Madison."

Relief flooded through me. He was thanking me. This was good. This was safe territory.

"Anyone would have done the same," I mumbled.

"The thing is..." He stood up and walked around his desk. "The doctor needs to know exactly what happened before he arrived. For his diagnosis."

I scooted my chair back slightly. "I told him everything important."

"Did you?" He perched on the edge of his desk, too close for comfort. "Because I have these... fragments of memory. Quite interesting ones."

My face burned. "You should rest more. Drink water. Take vitamins."

He actually laughed. "That's your medical advice?"

"I'm not a doctor." I gripped the arms of my chair. "Shouldn't you ask him these questions?"

"I'm asking you. What happened in that penthouse?"

"Nothing! I helped you to bed. Called the doctor. The end."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out something that made my heart stop: my hair tie—the purple one with the little butterfly charm.

"Then what's this doing in my bed?"

I stared at the hair tie dangling from his fingers.