1.

Today is the day I make the devil notice me. Or better yet, get stuck with me.

God, I hate him.

I hate his perfectly pressed suits. I hate how he walks like he owns every molecule of air in this building. I hate his cold stares that make grown executives stammer like kindergarteners.

If I had three wishes, I'd wish for financial security, better dancing skills for Maya, and... well, I'd spare him the third one. I might've wished his dick shrank and made every woman on Earth repulsive to him, but he's not even the womanizing type. The bastard's too busy being a heartless machine to chase skirts.

Two weeks I had been in this damn cafeteria, serving soup, biting my tongue and swallowing every curse word that clawed at my throat whenever his face showed up on the company monitors.

But today, I attacked.

The health inspection team had arrived twenty minutes ago and were already poking around the kitchen with their frowns of disapproval. They were there because of countless anonymous emails about expired products and fake meat the cafeteria had been using.

Who spammed their inbox until they had no choice but to show up?

I hid my smirk behind my hairnet.

My eyes scanned the room for the next piece of my puzzle. There, sitting with his usual crowd of ass-kissers was Greg, the executive who thought he owned the place. A young junior staff—or his today's victim—stood awkwardly beside his chair as he ate, her expression a mixture of discomfort and forced politeness. Perfect.

The third piece walked up to my station. The man whose face didn’t match his work ID. He adjusted his glasses and flashed me a smile as he held out his lunch tray.

“Soup, please.”

"Sure, Blake," I smiled back, spooning the liquid into his bowl. Even more perfect.

Now where was my last piece?

He never came to the cafeteria—too good for peasant food, I guessed—but today he had no choice. The health inspection needed to be handled, and the CEO had to make an appearance. Other than my stalking sessions online, I had only seen him once when he was leaving HQ all red and angry, and his car had zoomed off before I could even get close to him.

My heart hammered as the cafeteria door swung open. The air changed and conversations hushed, because there he was, striding in like he was entering a battlefield.

Lucien Hayes in the flesh, all six-foot-three of him filling the room. His eyes swept the cafeteria as employees rose on their feet and bowed their heads in greeting. I didn’t bow my head. His gaze met mine for barely a second, but it was enough to make my skin prickle.

The monster behind the night that ruined my life.

“Get it together, Camila.”

I had never seen him this close before, never breathed the same air as him… but it was time to change that.

I watched him as he moved to join the inspection officers, his shoulders a rigid line under that thousand-dollar suit. Most people wouldn’t notice, but I could practically feel the rage radiating off him. His fingers twitched at his sides, not nervous, but like he was calculating how many heads would roll by sunset.

His right-hand man, Rafael, suddenly turned back, as if he had felt the heat of my glares burning into his boss’s back. I didn’t bother hiding it. Instead, I flashed him my brightest, most unsettling grin. His eyes narrowed in confusion before he turned away.

Showtime.

I set down my ladle with a clank, ripped off my hairnet, and tossed my apron aside. My fingers worked quickly through my auburn curls, smoothing them into something presentable. I tugged at my jeans and took a deep breath.

Across the cafeteria, Greg had already started his usual bullshit. On any other day, I would have watched him force some poor woman to pick up a pen he had “accidentally” dropped fifteen times, or worse, slide his sweaty hands up her skirt while his minions snickered.

Today, probably because the CEO was present, he had toned it down—if you could call having his hand resting under the table on what was clearly the woman’s thigh “toning it down.”

Her smile was forced, and her eyes darted around, silently pleading for help nobody ever gave.

I marched toward their table. Greg didn’t even notice me coming, too busy whispering something that made the woman’s face flush with humiliation.

I grabbed the back of his balding head and slammed it straight into his bowl of soup.

“What the—” His words gurgled into the liquid.

“You know what your problem is, Greg?” I said loudly, making sure I was heard. “You think having a corner office gives you the right to treat women like they’re part of the furniture.”

His head jerked up, soup dripping down his red face and soaking his collar. “You crazy bitch—”

“Crazy? Please. I’m just the first person with enough spine to call out your disgusting behavior.” I leaned in closer. “Maybe you compensate with all this harassment because you’re balding faster than you can get your dick up.”

A collective gasp rippled through the cafeteria. Greg tried to stand, his chair scraping against the floor, but I planted my hand on his shoulder and shoved him back down.

“Sit,” I commanded, and then picked up his bowl, tilting what remained of the soup directly onto his head. “Cool off.”

Another gasp, louder this time. I could feel all eyes on us now, including, I hoped, a certain pair of golden ones.

I grabbed the woman’s trembling hand. “Stand behind me,” I told her quietly, then turned back to Greg. “Your days at Hayes Corp are over.”

Greg rose from his chair, his face twisted with rage. Just then, his palm landed on my cheek in a stinging slap that whipped my head to the side.

The pain bloomed hot across my face, and for a moment, I was too stunned to speak. This wasn’t part of the plan, but I could work with it.

“You have any idea what you just did?” I straightened up, touching my burning cheek. “You just slapped the CEO’s girlfriend!”

Greg burst into laughter, droplets of soup flying from his face. “Girlfriend? My foot. You disgusting-looking kitchen rat—” His hands shoved my chest, pushing me backward.

“What the hell is going on here?!”

The deep, furious voice cut through the cafeteria chaos.

Finally…