Different Feelings & Things Get More Serious

Working in Adrian Voss’s office is hard to take. A special kind of hard.

I have been here six days now. I fix his files. I answer his phone. I get his coffee. And all the time … I feel him watching me. Waiting. Waiting for me to make a mistake.

But the hardest part is not him. It is her.

Sophia Laurent is in his office again today. She sits on the edge of his desk. Her legs are crossed. Her laugh sounds like little bells made of glass. Every time she looks at me … her smile gets sharper.

“Adrian, darling, does she really need to be here?” She waves her hand at me. Her nails are perfect. “We are having a private talk.”

“Elena stays,” Adrian says. He does not look up from his computer. “She is my assistant.”

“Temporary assistant,” Sophia says. “I heard she came from some agency. She is not right for executive work.”

I keep my face calm. My hands do not shake on the keyboard. But inside … my stomach is turning.

“She gets things done,” Adrian says. “That is all I need.”

Sophia looks at me again. Something ugly moves behind her eyes. “Gets things done. Right.”

She stands up from the desk and walks to me. Her heels click on the floor. She stops right next to my desk. Close enough that I can smell her perfume. It smells expensive.

“Listen to me,” she says. Her voice is low so Adrian cannot hear. “I have seen women like you before. Pretty. Desperate. Thinking if you work hard enough … he will notice you.”

I look at her eyes. “I am just here to work.”

“Of course you are.” Her smile is not real. “But let me tell you something. Adrian Voss does not look at women like you. He is going to marry me. And when that happens … I will make sure everyone who wasted his time is gone. Including you.”

She stands up straight and walks back to Adrian. Her voice changes. It becomes soft and sweet. “I will see you at dinner, yes? My mother is waiting for us.”

Adrian nods. He still does not look up. “Eight o’clock.”

She kisses his cheek. Then she looks at me one more time. Her eyes are sharp. Then she walks out.

The room feels heavy after she leaves.

“She is not usually this mean,” Adrian says. He still does not look up.

I almost laugh. “Sure.”

He finally looks at me. “You do not like her.”

“It is not my job to like or not like.”

“But you do not like her.” He leans back in his chair. “Tell me.”

I stop for a second. Then … because I am tired of being careful … I say, “She looks at me like I am her enemy. But that is crazy. Because I am not fighting for anything.”

“No?”

“I am here to work. That is all.”

Adrian looks at me for a long time. Then he says, “My mother wants me to marry Sophia. The business deal depends on it.”

My chest feels tight. “That sounds like business. Not marriage.”

“In my world … they are the same thing.”

I look down at my keyboard. “Then I hope it goes well for you.”

“Do you?”

I do not answer.

He stands up and walks to the window. His back is to me. “You never told me why you left that morning.”

My hands stop moving. “You left first.”

“I left a note. And my number.”

“You left a first name on a paper. And enough money to make me feel like … like something you paid for.” The words come out harder than I meant. “What did you want me to do with that?”

He turns around. I cannot read his face. But something moves in his eyes. “I did not know how to … I am not good at this.”

“Good at what?”

“At wanting someone to stay.”

The words hang in the air between us. I want to say something sharp. Something to protect myself. But when I open my mouth … I say, “Why did you look for me?”

He is quiet for a moment. Then he says, “Because I woke up and you were gone. And for the first time in my life … I felt sorry that I was alone.”

My heart stops for a second.

“I looked for you for weeks,” he says. “You disappeared like you were never there. And now you are here. In my office. And you still will not tell me why you ran away.”

I press my hand on my stomach without thinking.

He sees it.

“What are you hiding, Elena?”

Before I can answer … his phone rings. He looks at it. Then he looks at me. For a moment I see it in his face. He wants to know. But his world is pulling him away.

He answers the phone. “Voss.”

I let out my breath. I did not know I was holding it.

He talks for a short time. His words are fast. When he hangs up … his face looks harder than before.

“My mother is coming to the office tomorrow,” he says. “She wants to talk about the wedding plans.”

My stomach feels tight. “Then I will get the meeting room ready.”

“Elena.” He walks to me. He stops very close. “Whatever you are hiding … it will not stay hidden forever. When I find out … I want to hear it from you.”

I lift my chin. “There is nothing to tell.”

He looks at my face. For a moment I think he will push me. Ask me more. Then he steps back.

“Tomorrow,” he says. “Do not be late.”

I nod and turn back to my computer. But my hands are shaking. And the baby moves in my stomach. A small flutter. A reminder that my secret is getting harder to hide. Every day it gets harder.