He's the CEO?

Without hesitation she took a cab and drove out of that god forsaken place.

By the time the cab pulled up outside the glass towers of Vance Enterprises, Mia had managed to pull her hair into a smooth, low bun and smooth down the lapels of her dark gray suit jacket. She swiped her badge at the turnstile and headed straight for the private breakroom tucked behind the 12th-floor archive office.

She needed coffee. Strong, hot, black coffee.

The glass door of the breakroom slid open, and the rich scent of dark roast hit her before she even crossed the threshold. Sitting on the counter with a steaming mug in one hand and her phone in the other was Lucy.

Lucy was the head of internal communications, Mia’s closest friend in the building, and the only person who knew every pathetic detail about Marcus's sudden betrayal.

"Mia!" Lucy gasped, dropping her phone onto the counter the second she saw her. She scrambled off her seat, her eyes wide as she took in Mia's appearance. 

"Oh my god, where were you? I called you four times last night! When you didn't answer after leaving the bar, I thought you were lying in a ditch somewhere!"

Mia grabbed a paper cup from the dispenser, her hands still faintly shaking as she pushed the button on the espresso machine. "I'm okay, Luce. I'm fine."

"You are definitely not fine. Look at you, you look like you just went twelve rounds with a brick wall," Lucy said, stepping closer and grabbing Mia by the shoulders, forcing her to turn around. Lucy’s sharp gaze swept over Mia’s face, catching the slight dark circles under her eyes and the raw, exhausted tension in her jaw. "Okay. Talk to me. Did Marcus call you? Did that absolute trash can of a man try to fix things?"

"No," Mia said quietly, staring into the dark liquid filling her cup. "Marcus didn't call."

"Then what happened? Because you look like you haven't slept a single minute, and your coat smells like..." Lucy leaned in, frowning slightly as she sniffed the air. "...expensive cedarwood? Since when do you wear men's cologne?"

Mia’s head snapped up. She looked around the empty breakroom nervously before pulling Lucy by the elbow into the quietest corner near the water cooler.

"Promise me you will not scream," Mia whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the refrigerator.

Lucy’s eyes went huge. "Mia Willow, what did you do?"

"I... after I left the bar on 8th Street, I got into a situation," Mia began, her words tumbling out in a fast, breathless rush. "Two guys followed me into the alley behind the building. I was drunk, Lucy. I could barely stand. They tried to drag me toward a car, and I panicked, but then this guy stepped in out of nowhere. He stopped them, brought me to his place to get out of the rain, and..."

Lucy’s jaw hit the floor. "And?!"

Mia felt the heat rush back into her cheeks, staring down at her black pumps. "And... I stayed the night. We spent the night together."

"Shut up!" Lucy squeaked, clapping both hands over her mouth before lowering them to a harsh whisper. "Are you kidding me? Mia! You had a one-night stand? You? Miss 'I-plan-my-entire-life-in-color-coded-spreadsheets'?"

"It gets worse," Mia muttered, her voice cracking slightly with leftover anger. "I woke up early, right? I was trying to slip out without making a scene because I was embarrassed and confused. And he walks out of his bathroom, looks at me standing there, doesn't even ask for my name, pulls a thick stack of hundred-dollar bills out of his wallet, and slides them across the counter to pay me!"

Lucy stared at her, completely frozen in shock. "He... he tried to pay you?"

"He thought I was a prostitute, Lucy!" Mia said, her eyes flashing with renewed fury.

 "He looked down his nose at me like I was dirt on his shoe. So I took the money, dumped the whole stack right into his hot coffee, told him to go to hell, and slammed his front door on my way out."

Lucy stood in absolute, stunned silence for three full seconds before a huge, disbelieving laugh burst out of her chest. She had to grab the edge of the sink to steady herself. 

"You dumped his money in his coffee?! Mia, you absolute legend!"

"It's not funny!" Mia groaned, covering her face with her hands. "I feel completely humiliated. I don't even know who he is, but he lives in some ridiculous penthouse downtown and acts like he owns the entire city."

"Forget him," Lucy said firmly, slapping Mia’s upper arms gently to ground her. "He's a rich jerk who got what he deserved. You survived a terrible breakup, you survived two creeps in an alley, and you threw coffee on a snob. Today is a fresh start. Besides, you have bigger things to worry about today."

Mia pulled her hands away from her face, sighing heavily. "What do you mean?"

Lucy stepped closer, her expression shifting from amusement to absolute excitement, leaning in with a conspiratorial grin. 

"Haven't you checked your email yet? The big announcement dropped at seven this morning. Old man Vance officially stepped down last night. The new CEO is taking over the floor audits starting today."

Mia leaned back against the counter, taking a cautious sip of her bitter coffee. "Great. Another billionaire heir in a navy suit who doesn't know where the archives are."

"Oh, no, no, no," Lucy said, shaking her head with a dreamy look. "You don't understand. Julian Vance isn't just another suit. I saw him coming through the lobby with four bodyguards twenty minutes ago. Mia, the man is ridiculously hot. Like, movie star sharp. Broad shoulders, dark hair, eyes that look like they can read your entire lies and secrets just by looking at you. Every single woman on the 50th floor is losing her mind."

Mia rolled her eyes, pushing past Lucy toward the breakroom door. "I don't care how hot he is. I just want to sit at my desk, log my files, and avoid human contact for the next eight hours."

"Just wait until you see him," Lucy chuckled, following her out into the hallway. "He's making the rounds across all department heads today. Word is he's ruthless, too. He fired two regional vice presidents before nine in the morning just for being late to the morning brief—"

Lucy stopped mid-sentence.

The busy chatter of the 12th-floor open office suddenly died down into a suffocating silence. The sound of keyboard clicking stopped. The quiet hum of printers faded away.

Mia paused near her desk, frowning at the sudden shift in the room's energy.

From the main glass doors of the elevator lobby, a group of senior executives in tailored suits walked in, forming a neat V-shape behind a single man leading the pack.

He walked with an unhurried, terrifying authority, a dark coat draped over his broad shoulders, his dark hair combed back neatly from his forehead.

Mia’s gaze drifted casually toward the group—and then her heart stopped dead in her chest.

The color drained from her face so fast her vision blurred around the edges. Her breath caught in her throat, choking off whatever air was left in her lungs. The paper cup in her hand slipped through her numb fingers, hitting the carpeted floor with a soft, wet thud.

Standing twenty feet away, surrounded by bowing department heads, was the man from the penthouse.

Julian Vance paused, his sharp amber eyes sweeping across the rows of quiet desks until they landed directly on her.

Then he smirked