Chapter Five.

Olivia’s POV

The morning began with sunlight that mocked me.

Too bright. Too golden. Too undeserved.

The day started with three things, coffee gone cold, a missing pair of heels, and my reflection mocking me in the mirror with that subtle arch of a brow that always seemed to whisper, "You're not fooling anyone.”

I was twenty minutes late, my blouse was wrinkled, and there was a distinct possibility I had left Fabian Stone’s penthouse keys somewhere between my car and the seventh circle of hell. I had torn through my handbag three times, muttering prayers and curses beneath my breath. But,

They were nowhere.

They were the kind of keys that didn’t just unlock things, they meant things. Responsibility. Trust. Territory. Power.

And I had lost them.

By the time I stepped into the office, I was already trembling beneath my blazer. The  weight of the day came crashing in. 

The receptionist looked up, her smile faltering. I could only nod stiffly, afraid that if I opened my mouth, I would confess something I shouldn’t.

Rushing into my office, panic crawled up my spine like a fever. I tore through drawers, dumped out my bag twice, checked under my desk and behind the monitor. My palms were slick, my breathing shallow. I was going to die right here in this office.

Or worse, disappoint him.

He hadn’t even raised his voice last time I’d messed something up, just looked at me with that flat, unreadable expression that felt worse than any reprimand. Like I was a puzzle he didn’t have time to solve anymore.

My phone buzzed. One word, Boardroom.

I looked at the time.

Then I remembered, 

I had forgotten his client meeting.

I was out of the chair before I even realized it, heels clicking like hammers against tile. By the time I reached the boardroom, the meeting was already in full swing. Everyone was seated. Fabian at the head of the table, towering in stillness, his stare slicing across the room.

And then it landed on me.

Not cruel. Not kind. Just... piercing.

I apologized in a whisper, slid into the seat furthest from him. My hands shook so badly I knocked over a pen. It rolled toward him. He caught it without looking away from the client.

Fabian dismissed the meeting, calling me to his office. 

Now I'm in deep shit! 

First, I lost fabian’s goddamn keys, and I forgot the meeting schedule for this morning.

When I entered Fabian’s office, he didn’t look up immediately. His hand was curled around a pen, thumb brushing absently over the gold plated clip. The man looked like a statue sculpted from restraint and something far colder.

He didn’t speak until the door clicked shut behind me.

“I moved the Edison meeting to tomorrow,” he said. Calm. Unbothered. Terrifying.

“Oh,” I breathed. “Thank you.”

His eyes lifted then, searing through me with that quiet precision that made me feel skinned alive. I couldn’t breathe around it. Or maybe I didn’t want to. Because being seen by Fabian Stone, truly seen—was as addictive as it was unbearable.

“I assume you forgot?”

I swallowed. “Yes. I mean, no. I—”

His mouth twitched.

A stupid smirk.

I hated when he smirked like that. Like he knew every corner of my mind and had laid traps in all of them.

“Olivia.” Just my name. But the way he said it, drawn out like a desperate plea, frayed at the edges, it coiled tight inside my chest.

“I lost your keys,” I said, blurting it like a confession at the altar. “I’m sorry.”

“You left the keys in your coat pocket,” he said, voice calm. Too calm.

“You also missed the briefing email. It went out at 7:15 a.m.”

“I... know. I’m sorry. I—”

He leaned back slowly in his chair. And then—he laughed.

Not a soft, polite chuckle. A laugh. Low. Real. Like the sound scratched something behind his ribs he’d forgotten existed.

At my expense.

How rude!

It made me want to cry.

“Is that why you look like someone stole your dog?” he asked, lips tilting upward in dangerous amusement.

“I look like that?” I asked frowning.

“You look like chaos bottled in silk.”

I blinked.

Okay, Mr.

“And yet…” He stood slowly, deliberately. “…you keep showing up.”

He was now in front of me now. Too close. 

Always too close.

His fingers brushed my back, barely, but it set off a volcano of heat across my spine. His touch wasn’t a comfort. It was a claim.

I froze. Every cell in my body screamed, Run.

But my heart whispered, Stay.

Fabian’s hand lingered a second too long. Possessive. Not accidental.

I tilted my head back to meet his gaze. “You think this is funny?”

He didn’t smile. “I think it’s very you. Destructive. Unapologetically impulsive. And somehow… still the one person I want in my office more than anyone else.”

I wanted to scream. Or kiss him. Or slap him.

Maybe all three.

I don't even know.

Instead, I turned.

“Don’t,” he said softly.

I paused. “Don’t what?” I frowned.

“Don’t walk away like you always do when things get too close.”

My throat tightened.

“You don’t know me, Fabian.”

He stepped around to face me again. “I do. And that’s what scares you.”

“You’re spiraling, Olivia.” he continued and honestly,

That did it.

Something sharp cracked in my chest.

“I’m not spiraling,” I snapped, standing straight. “I just, maybe I’m not cut out for this. Maybe I’m just a placeholder until someone smarter, calmer, more perfect comes along.”

“And here I thought you were just tired.”

His tone was so infuriatingly neutral that it sent me over the edge.

“You don’t get to patronize me, Fabian. You don’t even see me—”

“I see everything.” he said stepping even closer.

He was close. Too close.

“I see the way you flinch when someone raises their voice. The way you rehearse ‘good morning’ three times before walking into the office. The way you keep apologizing for things that don’t require apology.”

I was breathless.

His hand reached out, slow and steady, and landed on my lower back.

Not in a way that claimed. In a way that unraveled.

I shuddered.

“Fabian—”

“You keep trying to outrun your own shadow,” he said, low, dangerous. Hot and sexy. “But you forget that you cast it.”

“You don’t have to prove anything,” he whispered. “Not to me.”

“Why do you do that?” I whispered. “Why do you act like you care one moment and then freeze me out the next?”

“I’m not freezing you out,” he said. “I’m trying not to ruin you.” he said.

“I can’t do this,” I whispered.

“You already are.”

And there it was, the confession beneath the stillness.

I hated him. I hated the way his voice made my skin hum. I hated that I wanted to lean into him, to let go, to fall.

And I hated that I didn’t run.

I sucked in a breath. His proximity was a drug. The way he stared at me, like I was the answer to a question he hated asking, like I was both the ruin and the resurrection.

Before I could respond, his phone buzzed. The moment snapped.

He straightened, withdrew his hand.

“Get some air,” he said. “We’ll go over the contracts after lunch.”

I nodded, heart still thumping in my throat.

In the bathroom, I stared at myself in the mirror. Lipstick smudged. Hair falling. The ghost of his touch still on my skin.

I was breathless for some unknown reason.

When I called Blair, my best friend, during lunch, she answered on the second ring.

“He touched my back,” I blurted out everything immediately.

A pause.

“Olivia, are you okay?”

“I messed everything up. Again. And instead of firing me, he...” I hesitated. “He touched my back. Just... left his hand there.”

“Girl,” she said slowly, “you’re either in a slow burning tragedy or a workplace romance novel.”

“It’s not funny.” I whined.

“No, it’s not. But you’re spiraling again. Take a breath. He hasn’t fired you. Maybe he sees something in you.”

“That’s the problem,” I whispered. “I don’t know what he sees. And whatever it is... I think it’s going to destroy me.” I said.

Blair was quiet for a long time before she said, “Then don’t let it. Hold your ground. Be you. The Olivia who survived worse than lost keys and missed meetings.”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me.

“Right,” I said. “Right.”

But as I walked back into the office and saw Fabian in his glass walled office, his eyes flicking up to mine as if he had felt me return, I knew it wasn’t going to be that simple.

Because I wasn’t just falling for him.

I was falling back into him.

And he? He looked like a man who had waited long enough.