The Phantom CEO

Benjamin had helped her bring up her luggage into her penthouse even though she said she could do it on her own. The kind man had simply insisted. 

Once everything was in place, Benjamin stood by the door while Selene collapsed on the couch, letting out a huge sigh.

"Would you like me to get anything for you?" Benjamin asked.

"No, thank you Ben," She smiled, "I can take it from here,"

The man nodded politely, then took his leave. 

The moment the door closed behind him, Selene let her raised shoulders sag and it felt like all the weight she had been carrying, all the pain she had been processing, all came crashing down on her mercilessly. 

Tears ran down her face uncontrollably, and she sobbed into the small pillow. 

Five years of love, endurance and pain down the drain. Adding the years she crushed on him in college would make it a total of nine years!

Her body shook uncontrollably, a heavy lump settling along her throat that refused to go. She cried for many hours, dreading and regretting every second of strength and hard work and put into that man, and into that company. 

And now that she was gone, they were all gonna feel the wrath that came with her absence. 

.

.

.

The headquarters of Blackwell Industries stood at the heart of the city like a monument built for power.

Forty-seven floors of glass and steel pierced into the cloudy morning sky while hundreds of employees moved through the building beneath the weight of a name that dominated entire industries.

At the very top sat the executive floor, and inside the largest conference room on that floor, three men waited.

Or at least, pretended to.

Ajax Blackwell stood beside the floor-to-ceiling windows with one hand buried inside his pocket. The city stretched beneath beautifully, but his attention wasn't on any of it. His gaze remained fixed on the storm clouds gathering in the distance.

Jayden sat at the conference table lazily spinning a pen between his fingers while scrolling through the information Carter had dug up concerning Lunaris Biotech.

Which wasn't much.

For a company worth almost a trillion, there was almost nothing on its CEO. No interviews. No public appearances. No photographs. No scandals. No records.

Nothing.

It was as though the woman had appeared from thin air five years ago and decided to conquer the corporate world for fun.

"Still think she's fake," Jayden muttered.

"She's not fake," Ajax replied without looking away from the clouds. 

"Then she's hiding."

"Obviously."

Elliot sat comfortably at the other end of the room with his feet resting on the table despite the expensive furniture. He was turning a silver lighter between his fingers absentmindedly, "I like her already."

"You like every woman." Jayden snorted.

"Not true."

"Name one you didn't."

Elliot thought for a second, "...Your ex."

"That's because she tried to stab you."

"Exactly."

A small knock interrupted them, then the door opened and their secretary stepped inside.

Rebecca Cross was one of the few employees in the building who wasn't too intimidated by the Blackwell triplets anymore. Mostly because she'd worked with them long enough to become slightly immune.

"The CEO of Lunaris has arrived." She said, and the room instantly fell silent. Even Elliot stopped playing with the lighter.

Rebecca glanced between them, watching their surprised expression, "Do you not want me to send her in?"

"Send her in," Ajax replied, his expression going cold again. 

Rebecca nodded and walked out of the room. 

For some reason, none of them spoke, with everyone immersed in their own imagination and disbelief. The room had become way too quiet, and the air was quite heavier too. 

It felt like waiting for a war to start, or a hunt. Just that in this case, they were unsure if they were the hunters...or the hunted. 

The door to the conference room opened again, and everyone instantly looked at it. The woman who stepped inside wasn't what any of them expected.

She wasn't old like Elliot had predicted this morning, wasn't severe or trying too hard, and she definitely wasn't nervous. 

Her heels echoed softly across the polished floor as she walked into the room with the calm confidence of someone who knew exactly who she was and didn't need anyone else's approval.

A fitted black blazer hugged her figure perfectly while matching tailored trousers fell cleanly to her ankles There wasn't a single unnecessary accessory on her.

No diamonds. No flashy designer labels. No desperate display of wealth.

Just power.

Pure power.

The kind that made people announce it for you.

Her dark curly hair flowed down her back in soft waves and framed a face beautiful enough to silence a room. Beautiful enough to silence them

But it wasn't her beauty that really struck them hard, but rather, it was her eyes. They were the most peculiar shade of amber they'd ever seen, and held a kind of dangerous intelligence they couldn't decipher. 

The eyes of a woman who noticed everything, and feared absolutely nothing.

For one brief second, the world around the triplets stopped. 

Ajax stared, Jayden forgot to breathe, and Elliot's easy smile disappeared completely as something slammed into all three of them.

It was an extremely hard and violent force that surged through their veins before vanishing just as quickly. 

The wolves inside them stirred to that odd feeling, and their awareness of this woman quadrupled. 

Selene felt the strange heat beneath her skin too, and her wolf shifted restlessly for a few seconds...then she settled back. 

What a weird feeling. 

She ignored it almost immediately. 

Years of controlling herself from pouncing on Vivian and Camille made it easy.

Selene continued walking until she reached the opposite side of the conference table, before she stopped and offered the men a small, professional smile, "Good morning." Her voice was smooth.

"Good morning." Ajax recovered first, his eyes never leaving hers. 

Neither did his brothers'.

Selene stared at each one of them, making sure her heart wasn't beating too fast. With one look, she could tell that they were even more powerful than she had assumed. 

Their pictures were all over the internet and she had seen them countless times. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, they were actually...much more devastatingly handsome in real life. 

And yet, so different. 

Ajax looked like he had been carved from authority itself. He had sharp features, cold silver eyes and a face that rarely betrayed emotion. Jayden wore danger like a second skin. His handsome face was usually twisted into a smirk that promised trouble, but there was something much wilder beneath it, and although Elliot looked the most approachable, Selene knew that was probably the biggest lie of all. His wolfish grin and relaxed posture hid a frightening intensity, and the confidence rolling off him was enough to make most people lose their footing. 

They were sweet temptations wrapped in wolf energy. Her life would have been much easier if they were ugly.

"Please," Ajax gestured toward the chair opposite them, "Have a seat."

Selene sat gracefully. The moment she did, Jayden finally leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

His gaze moved over her openly, as if he was trying to solve a puzzle. 

"Before we begin," He said, "I have to admit something."

Selene raised an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"We were expecting someone older."

The corner of her mouth twitched, then she tilted her head slightly, "Disappointed?"

"No," Elliott laughed heartily, "Surprised."

Selene folded her hands neatly atop the table, "I get that a lot."

Another brief silence followed, then Ajax asked the question everyone wanted answered, "Your name."

Her gaze met his directly. Selene looked neither intimidated, impressed and definitely not yielding. And for some reason that made the pull inside him stronger.

"My name," She said calmly, "is Selene Vale,"