Chapter 4 – EVERYTHING ABOUT HER

Andrea had been staring at her computer screen for twenty minutes, and she still couldn't focus. Her desk was tucked in the corner of the analytics department, away from the windows. The setup was standard; just a monitor, keyboard, and small stack of training manuals HR had left for her. It was everything she needed to start her first day.

But she couldn’t stop thinking about the encounter in the hallway.

Who was he? Andrea shook her head and tried to force herself to focus on the training module in front of her. 

Someone approached her desk, she looked up. A man in his mid-forties stood there, arms crossed, wearing a perfectly pressed shirt and a smile that didn't reach his eyes.

"Andrea Collins?"

"Yes..that's me."

"Robert Harrington. Senior manager for the analytics team." He didn't extend his hand, just nodded once, "Welcome to Crestview. I trust HR walked you through the basics?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. I'll send over your first assignment by the end of the day. We move fast here, keep up." His tone was clipped and professional, with an edge that made it clear he wasn't interested in small talk.

"Understood sir"

Then he walked away.

Andrea exhaled slowly. “Pleasant.”

She went back to her screen, clicking through slides about company policy and departmental structure. The words blurred together.

"Hey."

Andrea jumped slightly before looking up.

A woman around her age stood beside her desk, holding two coffee cups. She had short dark hair, warm brown eyes, and a genuine smile.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." The woman set one of the cups on Andrea's desk. "I'm Rachel, I sit a few desks over." She gestured vaguely toward the center of the room. "Figured you could use some caffeine on your first day."

Andrea blinked, surprised by the kindness. "Oh..thank you, that's really nice."

Rachel shrugged. "Harrington's not exactly the welcome wagon, so someone's gotta do it." She lowered her voice slightly. "Word of advice? Don't let him get in your head, he's like that with everyone. You'll be fine."

Andrea felt a small flicker of relief. "Thanks. I'm Andrea."

"I know." Rachel grinned. "Good luck. If you need anything, just ask."

She walked back to her desk, and Andrea picked up the coffee. It was still hot, exactly what she needed now.

“Maybe this place isn't so bad after all.”

She took a sip and went back to the training modules, feeling slightly more grounded.

Meanwhile, Henry had just ended a call with some clients in Italy and set his phone down on the desk. Normally, he did not get distracted.

It was possibly the one rule he held above everything else; discipline, results and the twelve other principles he'd built the last three years of his life around. Focus was not optional to him, it was survival.

His focus was usually absolute, he could compartmentalize and execute without distraction.

He stood and moved to the glass wall, hands in his pockets, looking out over Chicago spread forty floors below him. The steel, glass and gray winter sky. His father had chosen this office himself, had stood at this exact window in the early years and called it his proof. Proof that the company was real, that everything he'd built was real.

Henry's eyes drifted to his desk.

The photo of his father sat in its usual place in the far corner. Richard Moore, twenty years younger, standing outside the original Crestview office on the day he'd signed the lease. Laughing at something off-camera. He was open and warm and completely trusting. Too trusting.

Henry looked away.

He was just twenty-five when his father's heart attack had dropped him into the middle of a war he hadn't known was happening. 

Two days after Richard was moved to the ICU, Henry had found the first thread of discrepancy in a quarterly report that shouldn't have existed. 

He pulled it, pulled the next one and the next.

What he'd unraveled had taken six weeks and cost him everything he'd had left of himself to fix.

The corruption had gone deep. Three executives and one chairman. Men his father had trusted for years, one of whom Richard had mentored personally and brought into the company like family. 

They'd seen his heart attack as an opening and started moving pieces while Richard was still in the hospital bed. Henry found out about this and had them all  removed, every single one of them. 

The board had questioned his methods, calling him cold, too young and reactive for a firm with Richard Moore's reputation. Henry had looked at each of them across the conference table and said, very quietly, "Watch me rebuild this into an empire."

Henry made a decision. “No more leniency. No second chances.

If you threatened the company, you were gone.” 

That was three years ago. And now nobody questioned his methods anymore.

He turned from the window and sat back down at his desk.

But today, his mind kept circling back to the woman who'd walked into him earlier today and looked at him like he was just an obstacle in her way.

He leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled, staring at the glass wall that overlooked the city. He didn't even know her name but that needed to change.

Henry pressed the intercom button on his desk.

"Send James up, now."

"Yes, sir."

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

The door opened, and James stepped inside, he is young and efficient, the executive assistant of the PR team members. As he entered, Henry caught a brief glimpse of the outer office.

He saw his personal assistant, Lindsay at her desk just outside his door, fingers moving across her keyboard. She glanced up when James walked past, her eyes following him for a moment before she returned to her screen.

The door closed.

Henry didn't waste time.

"The new hire," he said. "Who started today at the analytics department, find out everything about her."

James pulled a tablet from under his arm, already prepared. "Name, sir?"

Henry's jaw tightened slightly, “I don't know, find out," he said, his voice sharp and cold.

James hesitated. "I'll need more information to narrow it down sir"

"She is a young woman, in her mid-twenties with dark hair." Henry's tone didn't change. "She was on the 50th floor around nine fifteen this morning."

James typed quickly. "I'll pull the new hire records, sir."

"Do it now."

James nodded and turned to leave.

Henry sat alone in his office, the silence settling around him like a familiar weight. Waiting had never been his strength, but for this he would be 

Ten minutes later, James returned.

He knocked once and entered, holding a slim file folder.

"Andrea Collins, sir," James said, handing over the file. "She’s twenty-four, started today in analytics. Reports to Robert Harrington. Desk B47."

Henry opened the file.

Her employee photo stared back at him, it was professional but he could still see the sharpness in her eyes, the stubborn set of her jaw.

“Andrea Collins.”

He studied the photo for a long moment, committing every detail to memory and for a moment Henry's mind drifted.

He thought about what it would be like to have her in his office, sitting on his desk. Papers scattered everywhere and her legs widely wrapped around his waist, that sharp mouth of hers finally saying his name just the way he wanted to hear it. Breathless and desperate.

He shifted slightly in his chair.

This wasn't new, Henry did crazy things when he wanted a lady in his bed. He didn't stop until he had her below him begging him to give them more.

And Andrea Collins would be the same.

She was beautiful and sexy, yes. Had more backbone and curves than most.

But at the end of the day, she was still just another woman who would eventually want what he could offer.

They always did.

“She'd resist at first… most of them do, the ones with pride but eventually, she'd give in. I always get what I want.” he smiled softly, allowing his arrogance to take over.

"Anything else, sir?" James asked.

"No. That's all."

James left quietly, closing the door behind him.

Henry set the file on his desk and leaned back in his chair, a faint smile pulling at the corner of his mouth.

“Andrea Collins, Desk B47 in the Analytics department”

He knew exactly where to find her but she had no idea who he was.

Henry's fingers brushed the edge of her photo.

“Found you, New girl.”

Now the real question was what he planned to do about it.