6

Sage’s POV

The next morning, I arrived at the office to find a woman sitting at my desk.

Not just any woman. A tall, leggy brunette in a designer suit that probably cost more than my monthly rent, casually flipping through the files

I’d left organized in my inbox.

“Excuse me,” I said, my voice sharper than intended.

“Can I help you?”

She looked up, and her smile was all teeth. “You must be Sage. I’m Vanessa Blackwood. Kael’s-”

She paused dramatically. “-friend.”

The way she said “friend” made it clear she meant something else entirely.

“Nice to meet you.” I set my bag down on the guest chair since she was occupying mine. “But that’s my desk, so if you could-”

“Is it?” She glanced around like she was surprised to find herself there. “Sorry, I’m so used to just… making myself comfortable here. Old habits.”

Before I could respond, Margaret emerged from the break room with her morning coffee.

She stopped short when she saw Vanessa.

“Miss Blackwood.” Margaret’s voice could have frozen lava. “What a surprise.”

“Margaret!” Vanessa stood, smoothing her skirt.

“Still here, I see. I thought you’d be retired by now.”

“Not quite yet.” Margaret’s smile was professional and deadly. “Does Mr. Thorne know you’re here?”

“Not yet. I wanted to surprise him.” Vanessa picked up her Prada bag from MY desk. “It’s been ages since we’ve seen each other.”

“Two months,” Margaret said. “He had security escort you out last time.”

The temperature in the room dropped about twenty degrees.

Vanessa’s smile tightened. “That was a misunderstanding. We’ve worked it out since then.” She turned to me.

“Sage, right? Kael mentioned he’d hired someone new. Another assistant.”

The way she said “another” made me feel like a disposable coffee cup.

“That’s right,” I said evenly. “I started last week.”

“Last week.” Vanessa laughed. “Well, don’t get too comfortable. Kael goes through assistants faster than he goes through business deals.

There was Sarah before you-lasted three weeks. And before that, Jennifer. Two weeks, I think? Or was it three?”

“Miss Blackwood,” Margaret said, her voice like ice.

“I’m sure you have somewhere else to be.”

“Actually, I’m here to see Kael. Is he in yet?”

As if summoned, the elevator dinged. Kael stepped out, phone to his ear, speaking rapid Japanese.

He was halfway to his office before he noticed the three of us standing in the reception area like we were in a standoff.

His eyes landed on Vanessa, and his expression went completely blank.

He ended his call. “Vanessa.”

“Kael!” She moved toward him like she was going to hug him. “I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by-”

“No.” The single word stopped her in her tracks.

“We discussed this. You don’t show up at my office unannounced.”

”I just wanted to-”

“Margaret, call security.”

Vanessa’s face flushed. “That’s not necessary. I was just leaving.” She shot me a look that could have melted steel. “It was lovely meeting you, Sage. I’m sure we’ll see each other again soon.”

“I’m sure we won’t,” Kael said coldly. “Security will escort you downstairs. If you come back, I’ll have a restraining order filed.”

Her face went from flushed to pale. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m always serious.” He turned to me. “Miss Draven. My office. Five minutes.”

He disappeared into his office and closed the door.

Vanessa stared after him, something ugly flickering across her perfect features. “He’ll change his mind. He always does.”

“No, ” Margaret said quietly. “He won’t. Security is on their way up. I suggest you leave before they arrive.” Vanessa grabbed her bag and stalked to the elevator, stabbing the button repeatedly. When the doors finally opened, she stepped inside and turned to face us.

“You’re temporary,” she said, looking directly at me.

“They always are.”

The doors closed.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

“What the hell was that?”

“That,” Margaret said, returning to her desk,

“was a cautionary tale about what happens when people don’t take no for an answer.”

“She said she was his friend.”

”She wants to be much more than that. They dated briefly a year ago. Kael ended it. She didn’t take it well. ”

Margaret pulled up her calendar. “She’s shown up here four times since then. Each time, Kael has had her removed.”

“Why doesn’t he get a restraining order?”

“Her father’s on the city council. It’s…complicated.” Margaret glanced at Kael’s closed door.

“You should probably go in. He doesn’t like to be kept waiting.” I knocked on Kael’s door at exactly five minutes.

“Come in.”

He was standing at the window, hands in his pockets, staring out at the city. He didn’t turn when I entered.

“I apologize for that scene,” he said. “It won’t happen again.”

“It’s fine. I just-”

“It’s not fine.” He turned, and his expression was harder than I’d ever seen it. “Vanessa Blackwood is persistent. She doesn’t understand boundaries. If she approaches you again-in the office, outside the office, anywhere-you call security immediately. Don’t engage with her.”

“Okay.”

“I mean it, Miss Draven. She’s not stable. The last assistant she cornered ended up quitting.”

So that explained Sarah. Or was it Jennifer?

“I understand.”

He studied me for a long moment. “Did she say anything to you before I arrived?”

“Just that you go through assistants quickly.”

Something flashed in his eyes. “And what did you say?”

”Nothing. Margaret intervened before I could respond.”

“Good.” He moved to his desk, all business again. “I need you to research three companies-Meridian Tech, Blackstone Holdings, and Westfield Development. Twenty pages,comprehensive analysis. Due Friday.”

Twenty pages. I’d barely survived the ten-page Sterling report.

“Any particular focus?” I asked.

“Financial stability, leadership structure,potential weaknesses. I’m considering acquisitions.” He pulled out a file folder thick enough to be a weapon.

“Background reading. Start with Meridian- they’re the priority.”

I took the folder, my arms immediately complaining about the weight. “Anything else?”

“Yes.” He leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled.

“Marcus mentioned you looked unwell yesterday. Are you sick?”

My heart stopped. “No. Just… didn’t eat enough breakfast.”

“Make sure you eat properly. I can’t have you passing out during meetings.”

“I won’t pass out.”

“See that you don’t.” He turned to his computer, dismissing me. “That’s all.”

I made it back to my desk before the shaking started.

He noticed. Of course he noticed. He notices everything.

Margaret appeared beside my desk with a cup of tea and a knowing look. “Ginger tea. Drink it.”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re pale as a ghost. Drink the tea, eat something, then start that research. In that order.”

I wanted to argue, but she was right. I sipped the tea —it helped immediately-and pulled out one of the ginger cookies I’d started keeping in my desk drawer.

My phone buzzed. A text from an unknown number:

We need to talk. -V

Vanessa. How did she get my number?

I deleted it without responding and blocked the number.

*She’s not stable*, Kael had said.

Great. My first week, and I’d already made an enemy.

Wednesday, 2:00 PM

I was deep in Meridian Tech’s financial reports when the elevator dinged and someone new stepped onto the fifty-eighth floor.

Not just someone.

A woman who looked like she’d stepped out of a fashion magazine.

Silver hair styled in an elegant updo, a cream Chanel suit, pearls at her throat. She had to be in her seventies, but she moved like someone much younger.

And she radiated power. Pure, undiluted Alpha power that made my wolf sit up and take notice.

Margaret stood immediately. “Mrs. Thorne. What a pleasant surprise.”

“Margaret, dear.” The woman’s voice was warm honey over steel. “Is my grandson available?”

Mrs. Thorne. Kael’s grandmother.

“He’s on a conference call, but I’ll let him know you’re here.” Margaret picked up her phone.

Mrs. Thorne’s sharp eyes landed on me. “And who might you be?”

I stood, smoothing my thrift-store skirt. “Sage Draven, ma’am. I’m Mr. Thorne’s new assistant.”

“New assistant.” She moved closer, and I fought the urge to step back. Her gaze was assessing, taking in every detail.

“How long have you worked here?”

“Just over a week.”

“Interesting.” She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“The last assistant barely lasted three weeks. What makes you think you’ll do better?”

“I’m stubborn.”

That earned me a genuine laugh. “I can see that. Tell me, Miss Draven-are you mated?”

The question caught me completely off guard.

“I-no. Ma’am.”

“Good. Kael needs someone focused on work, not distracted by pack politics.” She turned as Kael’s office door opened.

“There’s my grandson.”

“Grandmother.” Kael’s expression was carefully neutral, but I caught the slight tightening around his eyes.

“I didn’t know you were coming.”

“If I called ahead, you’d find an excuse to be in a meeting.” She crossed to him, cupping his face in her hands. “You look tired. Are you eating properly?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re working too hard.” She glanced back at me.

“Your new assistant seems competent. Pretty, too.”

“Grandmother,” Kael said, a warning in his voice.

“What? I’m not allowed to notice?” She smiled innocently. “Bring her to dinner Sunday. I want to get to know her.”

“She’s my assistant, not-“

”I’m aware of what she is. But if she’s going to be working closely with you, I should meet her properly.” She patted his cheek. “Sunday. Seven o’clock. Don’t be late.”

She swept toward the elevator, then paused.

“Oh, and Miss Draven? Wear something nice. It’s formal.” The elevator doors closed, and silence fell.

Kael rubbed his temples. “I apologize for my grandmother. She’s… determined.”

“Is dinner mandatory?” I asked.

“Unfortunately.” He looked at me, and something in his expression softened slightly.

“She means well. She just worries I work too much and doesn’t have enough social life.”

“Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Have a social life?”

He almost smiled. “I have you and Marcus. That’s more than enough.” He headed back to his office, then stopped.

“Sunday. Seven PM. I’II text you the address. Don’t be late-she actually means it when she says that.”

“What’s the dress code?”

“Formal. Cocktail dress, heels if you have them.If you don’t…” He hesitated. “There’s a boutique on Fifth Avenue. Tell them you’re my guest. They’ll take care of you.”

“I can’t afford a boutique on Fifth Avenue.”

“It’ll be billed to my account. Consider it a work expense.”

“Dinner with your grandmother is a work expense?”

“Everything involving me is a work expense.” He disappeared into his office before I could argue.

I sank into my chair, staring at my computer screen without seeing it.

Dinner with Kael’s grandmother. In a dress I couldn’t afford.

While hiding the fact that I was pregnant with her great-grandchild.

This was fine. Everything was fine.

“You look like you’re about to throw up,” Margaret observed.

“I might be.”

“Go to the bathroom. I’ll tell him you’re feeling unwell.”

I made it to the bathroom before the nausea hit.

When I emerged ten minutes later, pale and shaky, Margaret was waiting with more ginger tea.

“You can’t keep doing this,” she said quietly.

“Hiding it, I mean. You’re three months along. Soon you’ll start showing.”

“I know.”

“Tell him before Sunday. Before you have dinner with his grandmother.”

“What if he fires me?”

“He won’t.”

“How do you know?”

Margaret smiled. “Because I’ve worked for Kael Thorne for ten years, and l’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”

“He looks at me like I’m an inconvenience.”

“He looks at you like you’re the most interesting inconvenience he’s ever encountered.” She squeezed my shoulder.

“Tell him, Sage. Before someone else figures it out.”

Thursday Morning

I was at my desk by seven-thirty, determined to make progress on the Meridian report before Kael arrived.

The office was quiet, peaceful. I had my ginger tea, my crackers, and twenty pages of financial analysis to complete.

Then the elevator dinged.

Jade Sterling stepped out, looking immaculate in a dove-gray suit. Her ice-blue eyes swept the empty reception area and landed on me.

“Sage. How lovely. You’re here early.”

Everything in me went on high alert. “Miss Sterling.

Did we have a meeting scheduled?”