LOGINShare
Proposal on my desk
publish date:
2026-10-09 18:26:47
Latest chapter
His Beautiful Deception Proposal on my desk
Alexander's POVI kept the napkin.It sat under a glass paperweight on my desk for three days, and nobody dared ask about it. Daniel looked at it once, at eight o'clock Thursday morning, with an expression of such careful neutrality that I nearly fired him on principle."Nothing to say?" I asked."No, sir.""Good.""It's a very nice napkin.""Daniel.""Yes, sir. Leaving now, sir."I went back to the proposal. It lay open across my desk, all forty pages of it, printed on heavy paper and bound with a plain black cover. No logo. No flourish. Just the title, the date, and her initials in the corner, small and neat.A.S.I had read it three times.The first time I had looked for mistakes. It was a habit. Anyone who submitted work to me knew that I would hunt for the weakness, the loose thread, the number that didn't add up. I had reduced grown men to silence with a single question about a footnote.I hadn't found one.The second time I had read it as an investor. The layout was intelligent
His Beautiful Deception The napkin sketch
Arielle's POVI stayed up until four in the morning.It took the whole of Tuesday and most of Wednesday to finish the proposal. I drew the new entrance six different ways. I recalculated the drainage twice, then a third time because something about the pool didn't sit right. I ordered three pots of coffee. Mum came in at midnight, took one look at the drafting table, and silently left a plate of buttered toast beside my elbow.By Wednesday afternoon I was hollow-eyed and bright with a kind of feverish clarity. I put on my sharpest black dress, redid my lipstick, and walked into Pierce Enterprises like a woman going into battle.Alexander was already waiting in the conference room.He wasn't alone. Two engineers sat on either side of him, along with a stiff, sour-faced man in a pinstripe suit who I recognized as the resort's project accountant. All four of them looked up as I entered."Ms. Sinclair.""Gentlemen."I laid out the plans across the long table, one sheet after another, unt
His Beautiful Deception The locked box
Arielle's POVMum was still awake when I came in.She sat on the sofa in her robe, a cup of tea going cold on the table in front of her and a magazine open on her lap that she clearly hadn't been reading. When I closed the door she looked up, and I saw her eyes travel from my face to my heels to my lipstick, which was still perfect."You said you'd be home by nine.""Work ran late.""On a restaurant table?"I froze with my coat half off. "How do you know I was at a restaurant?""Because you smell like garlic and a man's cologne." She gave me a look only mothers know how to give. "Sit.""Mum...""Arielle."I sat. She studied me for a long moment, and I forced my face into something calm and boring. I've had a lot of practice."It was a client dinner," I said. "The resort people. They wanted to go over the plans over food. That's all.""And the man's cologne?""He sat close to me.""Did he now.""Mum." I laughed. "I'm twenty-five, not fifteen.""You're my child. That's a worse age." She
His Beautiful Deception The woman in my car
Alexander's POVShe didn't stop talking for the first ten minutes of the drive.She talked about the restaurant, the chocolate, the terrible traffic, a pigeon she had once seen steal a sandwich from a businessman's hand. She talked with her whole body, her hands moving, her shoulder turning toward me in the passenger seat as though I were an audience she was determined to win.I kept my eyes on the road.It was a rule I had never broken. When something disturbed my concentration, I gave it nothing. No reaction, no comment, no eye contact. Silence starved most things until they went away.Arielle Sinclair did not go away."You're doing it again," she said."Doing what?""Pretending I'm not here.""I'm driving.""You're pretending.""You're very persistent.""So I've heard." I could hear the smile in her voice. "Is it working?""No."She laughed softly and turned to look out the window. For a moment the car was quiet and I found, to my irritation, that I missed the noise.Her phone lit
His Beautiful Deception Stay professional
Arielle's POVEthan was waiting outside my office with two cups of coffee and the expression of a man who had been rehearsing a speech."Don't," I said."I haven't said anything.""You're about to.""I'm about to hand you coffee." He held it out. "Black. Two sugars. And then I'm going to say something."I took the cup and sighed. "Say it.""You had dinner with Alexander Pierce."I stopped with the cup halfway to my mouth. "Who told you that?""His assistant called the office to confirm tomorrow's schedule, and casually mentioned that Mr. Pierce had been seen at the restaurant on Marlow Street with a woman in a red dress." He raised an eyebrow. "There aren't a lot of women in red dresses working on that project.""It was a working dinner.""Was it?""Ethan.""Arielle." He said it gently, but there was steel under it. "I told you one condition. Stay professional.""I was professional.""You flirted with him in front of the entire boardroom.""That was the first meeting. And I didn't fli
His Beautiful Deception The locked box
Arielle's POVMum was still awake when I came in.She sat on the sofa in her robe, a cup of tea going cold on the table in front of her and a magazine open on her lap that she clearly hadn't been reading. When I closed the door she looked up, and I saw her eyes travel from my face to my heels to my lipstick, which was still perfect."You said you'd be home by nine.""Work ran late.""On a restaurant table?"I froze with my coat half off. "How do you know I was at a restaurant?""Because you smell like garlic and a man's cologne." She gave me a look only mothers know how to give. "Sit.""Mum...""Arielle."I sat. She studied me for a long moment, and I forced my face into something calm and boring. I've had a lot of practice."It was a client dinner," I said. "The resort people. They wanted to go over the plans over food. That's all.""And the man's cologne?""He sat close to me.""Did he now.""Mum." I laughed. "I'm twenty-five, not fifteen.""You're my child. That's a worse age." She
You May Also Like
Punished by His Love
Suzie4.4M viewsMarried by Mistake: Mr. Whitman's Sinner Wife
Sixteenth Child13.0M viewsForbidden Love Stories
Avi22Nash1.2M viewsOn My Professor's Bed
Xee write896.8K viewsHis Favorite Mistake
Moxie Gwin 19 viewsMrs CEO Is Back
Chri's Layla 105 viewsMy Son’s Father Is the Wrong Brother
Anney GW212 viewsReborn Before The Apocalypse: Rise Of The Apocalypse Queen
Arielle 232 views
