CHAPTER 1

Elliot's Pov

"You have exactly two hours to complete this task, if you fail, you can leave the building and never come back."

I stared at the stack of papers Aiden Blackwood had just shoved into my hands, my brain went completely blank. This was not how the first days were supposed to go, I had been in his office less than ten minutes, he was already trying to get rid of me. The papers felt heavy, like they were made of lead instead of paper. I looked up at him, standing there in his perfect suit with his cold blue eyes, I knew he expected me to fail.

"Well?" he said, his voice lacking any patience. I realized I hadn’t said anything, I was just standing there like an idiot.

"I understand," I said, trying to keep my voice steady, but inside, I was screaming. What kind of person does this to someone on their first day? What kind of test was this? Why did his eyes look like they could see right through me and figure out every lie I ever told?

"Good," Aiden said. He turned back to his desk, sat down and started typing on his computer as if I weren’t even there. I stood frozen for another second, waiting for him to say something else, but he didn’t. Finally, I turned and walked out of his office on legs that felt like they might give out any second.

I closed the door behind me, leaned against it, took a deep breath, and looked down at the papers in my hands. The first page said competitor analysis, market projections, and financial forecasting. My stomach dropped, this was not a two-hour job, this was a two-week job. He knew it, he wanted me gone. I didn’t understand why, but I couldn’t fail. I needed this job, I needed to stay hidden, I had nowhere else to go.

"You must be the new one," a voice said. I looked up and saw a guy about my age standing near the coffee machine. He had brown hair and glasses and looked tired.

"Yeah," I said. He shook his head.

"He gave you the test already," he said, it was not a question. I nodded.

"Two hours," I said. The guy laughed, but it wasn’t a happy laugh.

"He gave me three hours on my first day, and I still failed," he said. He walked over, looked at the papers in my hands, and whistled.

"That’s worse than what I got," he said with something like pity in his eyes.

"How many people has he done this to?" I asked. The guy shrugged.

"Twelve assistants in the past year, and nobody makes it past the first week," he said. Then he glanced at the closed door of Aiden’s office and lowered his voice.

"He doesn’t want an assistant," he said. I frowned.

"Then why did he hire me?" I asked. He shrugged again.

"His father and the board made him because he can’t do everything alone. But he hates it, so he makes it impossible. Then when you quit or get fired, he gets to say he tried," he said and patted my shoulder.

"Good luck," he said and walked away. I stood there holding those papers, feeling anger burn in my chest. Aiden Blackwood thought he could break me on my first day, he thought I would just give up and leave. But he didn’t know who I really was. He didn’t know what I could do.

I walked to the empty desk in the corner that someone told me was mine this morning. I sat down, opened my laptop, cracked my knuckles, and looked at the clock on the wall. One hour, fifty-eight minutes left.

Let’s see what you’ve got, Mr Blackwood, I thought and I started working.

My fingers flew across the keyboard. I opened spreadsheets, pulled up competitor websites, and searched financial databases. The information came easily because I grew up doing this stuff. My family owned businesses just like this one. I spent my childhood learning about markets, projections, and profits, even though I hated it then. Now, I was grateful because I could do in two hours what would take a normal person days.

I didn’t look up, didn’t stop. I barely breathed. The numbers filled my screen, I organized them into charts and graphs. I wrote an analysis that would make any business professor proud. My hand was cramped from typing fast, but I didn’t slow down.

One hour left.

I kept going, added more data, double-checked everything, made it look professional, clean and perfect.

Thirty minutes left.

I formatted the whole document, added a table of contents, printed it out, put it in a folder, stood up, and looked at the clock. Two minutes to spare.

I walked to Aiden’s door and knocked. My heart pounded so hard I thought it might explode.

"Come in," his voice said. I opened the door and walked in. He looked at his watch, then at me. I saw his eyebrows go up just a little before his face went blank again.

"Done," I said and walked over to put the folder on his desk. He stared at it like it might bite him, then slowly opened it and started reading.

I stood there, watching his face. He showed nothing, but his eyes moved quickly across the pages. I tried not to fidget and tried not to think about what would happen if he said it wasn’t good enough.

He turned page after page. The silence in the office was so thick I could feel it pressing down on my chest. Finally, after what felt like a year, he closed the folder and looked up at me.

"This is acceptable," he said flatly, but his eyes stayed on mine longer than necessary. I felt something strange stir in my stomach, like butterflies or electricity or fear.

"Thank you, Mr Blackwood," I said without smiling because I didn’t feel like it. I just stared back, and I saw something flicker in his eyes, gone before I could figure out what it was.

“You can leave,” he said and I walked out.

The rest of the day was busy. Aiden kept giving me tasks, and I kept doing them. Every time I brought him something, he looked at me like he was trying to figure me out. It made me nervous and excited at the same time, and I didn’t understand why.

By six o’clock most people had left. The office was quiet. I finished the last email, shut down my computer, grabbed my bag, and stood up. The lights in Aiden’s office were still on. I could see him standing at the huge window, looking down at the city.

I should just leave, I thought. But something made me stop.

I stood watching him. He looked alone, standing in that big empty office with nothing but glass and metal around him. For some reason, I felt sad, even though he had been cold to me all day.

Then he turned his head, and his eyes found mine in the reflection of the window. We both froze, neither of us looked away. The moment stretched out long and strange.

My heart started beating faster. I didn’t know what was happening, but I knew something changed today.

I broke the eye contact first, turned, and walked to the elevator.

I pressed the button and got inside. The doors closed, and I leaned against the wall, closed my eyes, and thought about those blue eyes staring at me in the reflection.

I knew I was in trouble.