Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 21 - Chapitre 30

Aria’s POVIt was my first work day of my new position at the Beaumont Group. I arrived twelve minutes early because I didn’t trust myself to arrive on time. New environments had a way of producing unexpected delays, wrong elevator bank, unfamiliar badge protocol, the particular disorientation of a building that looked navigable from the lobby and revealed its complexity only once you were inside it trying to find a specific floor with a start time breathing down your neck. I had learned this the hard way at the accounting firm on my first day, when I’d spent seven minutes finding the bathroom and arrived at my desk flushed and slightly breathless, which was not the impression I’d intended to make.The Beaumont Group Tower was considerably more complex than the accounting firm.The HR coordinator, a pleasant woman named Chloe, met me at reception and walked me through the access setup. I was given a permanent badge, different from the temporary contractor card, with clearance to the

Aria’s POVI stayed longer than working hours.The Harrington reconciliation had pulled me past five-thirty, then past six, the kind of work that expanded the longer you looked at it.Each corrected entry revealing two more that needed attention, each resolved discrepancy opening a question about a related account that Marcus had flagged as secondary priority but which clearly needed to become primary. By the time I saved the file and shut down my laptop, the accounts floor had emptied completely, the overhead lights switched to their after-hours setting, low and ambient, leaving only the desk lamps of the handful of people scattered across the building still finishing their evenings.I gathered my bag, sent Marcus a brief summary of where the reconciliation stood and headed for the elevator.The building at this hour had a different quality, it’s quieter and less performative, the daytime energy replaced by a more settled evening. My footsteps were audible in the corridor in a way

Aria’s POVI arrived at the office today at exactly eight fifty-three, seven minutes before the normal resumption time.I stopped by at Priya’s desk to pick some files, then I went to my desk and got busy almost immediately with the Harrington file, focus with the attention of a woman who had decided that professional competence was the only currency that mattered today. No room for unnecessary distraction and internal replay at work.By ten-thirty I had cleared another section of the reconciliation.By eleven, Marcus had forwarded me a secondary account to review alongside it, which I took as confirmation that the first week’s impression had held and focusing on the work was both a right decision and a functional distraction.By eleven forty-five, Xavier’s EA called down to the accounts floor.“Ms. Ashford? Mr. Beaumont would like to see you. Right at the moment.”Priya looked over from her desk with an expression she didn’t bother fully neutralizing.“It’ll be about the Harrington

Xavier’s POVI didn’t know what I was thinking as I drove down to her apartment . But I just want to be there. I just want to apologize to her and tell her, none of those words Ivanna said truly describe her.When she opened the door, she stood in the doorway with her hand on the frame and looked at me with those eyes I’m starting to fall for but still find it hard to admit too. Hold on.She just said my apology was not accepted. Even when I was very sincere about it.No please.I know she has every right to be angry but I’m sincerely sorry.“I’m sincerely sorry,” I said.“Oh no! The words weren’t for you, Mr Beaumont. I was just answering to a question Bryan asked me earlier.”Relief surge through me.“Oh, I’m glad.” I took a glance over her shoulder into her sitting room. “Speaking about Bryan, where is he? I can’t seem to see him around. Is he at grandfather’s estate?”“Bryan’s asleep,” she replied. “He came back from Arthur’s estate today.“Oh really? Good.” I looked into the si

Arthur’s POVI gave Bryan three rules over the weekend.The first was that he could go anywhere on the ground floor of the estate without asking. The second was that the koi pond was for looking, not touching, after the incident two weekends ago where he had attempted to personally introduce himself to the largest fish and we had nearly lost a shoe. The third was that the east corridor’s rarely used wing was off-limits, nothing dangerous lived there but the last time a new staff went to that side of the estate unsupervised, we spent about forty minutes locating a missing staff member who had only gone there for a lightbulb but lost his way around the layout.Bryan nodded at all three rules with the solemn attentiveness of a child who was already calculating which ones had the most flexibility.Soon, he had tested the first one enthusiastically, he already learnt from the past incident with the second one, so, he only watched the fishes as they swam in the water, with a considerably