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"Who authorized this?" Selene asked standing in the doorway of the conference room.

Without looking up, Cassian’s chief public relations officer; Victoria spoke, "Mr. Vale did. He also commissioned this group to be in on the event planning. So we made a few necessary changes to the plan, you should take a look at them.”

Selene's hand flew to her pocket, trying to bring out her phone. She wanted to call Cassian right away to scream, and yell at him for coming into her office, trying to change her hard work, and treating her business like a playground.

But she stopped herself immediately. If she called him, she would give him exactly what he wanted; seeing how much he had upset her. She knew he wanted her to get angry and run to him, proving she could not handle the stress without him.

Selene shook her head slightly, I am not going to give him that win.

Forcing herself to stay calm, She walked into the room and sat down. "Fine. Let me see the changes you made."

Victoria looked up, looking a little surprised that Selene was not putting up a fight. She slid a thick stack of papers and new event plans across the table. "These are the final plans. We changed the setup for the red carpet and the order of the interviews. We expect you to follow this exact pattern next week."

Selene picked up the papers. She saw the red ink crossing out her original ideas. Without arguing, she just nodded and tucked the files under her arm. "I understand. I will look over these."

The PR team looked relieved, as they quickly packed up their laptops and left the room. The moment the door closed, Selene walked back to her office. She held the papers tightly in her hand, contemplating if she should just throw them away and stick to her original plan.

Then she smiled at an idea slowly forming in her head; she didn’t throw them away, instead, she placed them right on the corner of her desk where everyone could see them. She was going to make Cassian and his team think she was following through with their changes, but she was going to stick to her original plan, and nobody would know until the night of the event.

Needing a break, she pulled out her phone and called Noa.

"Hey babes, how are you doing?” Noa’s voice came through the phone.

Selene leaned back in her chair and sighed. “Not good, Cassian's PR team just ambushed my office. They brought a whole new media plan to hijack Daniel's launch."

“Ooou Daniel?” Noa teased.

“Noaaaa, was that all you could grab from what I said?” Selene laughed. She loved her friend so much but sometimes she can be a lot.

"Sorryyy… so what did you do?"

"I played along, just to get them out of my way. I’ll be going through with my initial plan. "But I need to call Daniel now, to let him know what is happening. I can't leave him in the dark about this."

"Good choice," Noa agreed. "But don’t do it over the phone, it might not be safe. Talk to him in person, you could do this over drinks or dinner honestly."

“That’s a great idea, Noa. I’ll call him now and see if he’s free tonight. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

After hanging up, Selene took a breath and dialed Daniel. He answered on the second ring, his warm voice instantly relaxing her. When she asked if he was free for dinner to discuss an update, he agreed immediately, naming a quiet, lounge downtown.

A few hours later, Selene walked into the dimly lit restaurant. Daniel was already there, sitting at a corner table with two glasses of wine ready. He stood up immediately and pulled out her chair for her.

"You look beautiful, Selene," he said softly as she sat down. "But you also look exhausted. Work?”

Selene took a sip of her wine, trying to find the right words. She didn't want to just dump the bad news on him immediately. "Yeah, the event layout is ready, but we have a bit of a situation."

Daniel leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. "A situation? Should I be worried, or do I just need to order us a stronger drink?"

"You know Cassian bought into the launch fund right?," she asked quietly.

Daniel just kept his eyes on hers, waiting. “Yes I know that. What else did he do?"

"His PR director came to my office today," Selene continued. "They handed me a completely new layout, that changes everything we established; the designs, layout, everything.

Daniel kept his eyes on hers, smiling. "And let me guess. You told them to get out?"

"Not exactly," Selene smiled back. "I pretended to agree with them, so they think I'm following orders. But I won’t be changing anything, we’ll continue with the original plan. I’ll make sure they won’t suspect anything until the night of the show."

Daniel stared at her for a moment and then he laughed. "Selene, you are incredible. Most people will fold when a big company like that tries to push them around, but you just outsmarted them without even blinking."

Despite his praise, a wave of guilt hit her. "I'm really sorry, Daniel. I feel terrible that my personal life is spilling over into your hard work. You shouldn't have to deal with this drama."

Daniel reached across the small table so closely that his fingers brushed hers a bit.

"Look at me," he murmured softly.

Selene looked up, meeting his eyes.

"I don't mind being caught up in the personal drama of a gorgeous woman," Daniel whispered. His eyes drifted down to her lips for a second before snapping back to her eyes. "In fact, it's the most exciting thing that has happened to me in a long time."

Selene felt a sudden rush of heat hit her cheeks. She looked away for a second smiling shyly. He was openly flirting now, and it made the stress she had been carrying all day completely melt away. For the first time in so long, she felt wanted and appreciated just for being herself.

They spent the next two hours talking, from business plans to personal stories. By the time they paid the bill and walked outside, it was totally dark.

"Thank you for tonight, Selene," Daniel said, stopping close to her on the sidewalk. "I feel totally safe leaving my work in your hands.”

"Thank you for understanding too.” she replied, looking up at him.

Hidden across the street, crouching low between two parked cars, a man lowered a big camera. The sound of pictures being taken was completely muted by the loud noise of the traffic.

Neither of them had any idea that a camera had just caught them standing close together, smiling, and leaving the restaurant together in the dark.

The photographer slipped the camera into his backpack and disappeared quickly into the dark alley.