RIVAL HEARTS: FORBIDDEN LOVE TRIANGLE

"Oh shit! I'm late!" I shot out of bed and rushed into the bathroom. I was supposed to be at the office by 7 a.m., but it was already 6:50 a.m.

I'd told myself last night that I would leave early, be composed, be the version of myself who had this handled.

But here I was jumping from one pair of trousers to another, with my hair still rolled in a messy bun.

"So let me get this straight." Emilia lay in bed, watching me in total confusion. "You got a job as the secretary to the CEO. From the same Starlak who told you to your face you weren't what they were looking for."

"Yeah."

"And this doesn't feel weird to you at all?" 

"I don't know, babe." I dragged a brush through my tangled hair as I slid into my heels at the same time. "All I know is, I'm the secretary to the goddamn CEO. But when I get there, I will figure it out."

"Okay, Miss Starlak. If you say so."

I stared at myself in the mirror- blazer straightened, ponytail tight, a girl who was given a position overnight. 

"Byeee...get going already. You can do it." Emilia said. She had put down her phone; all her focus was on me bearing a warm smile on her face.

Emilia's words meant a lot. She had a way of putting herself out there- bold, courageous, glamorous Instagram influencer.

I nodded softly and grabbed my bag.

***

The cab dropped me in front of the tower, and for a second I just stood there, the same glass and marble that had rejected me yesterday now waiting to let me in.

"I can do this," I whispered to myself and dashed in.

The second I got in, I spotted Elena Woods. She stood by the receptionist desk like she had been waiting for my arrival.

"Good morning, Miss Ama. I've been expecting you." Her tone was calm, the same as yesterday, but this time with a very bright smile.

But I wasn't moved by any of that. "I want to understand. You had told me I didn't get the position. Then hours later I get an email saying I have a job I never applied for. Secretary to the CEO." 

Elena sighed. "Believe me when I say this, Miss Ama, I was surprised.  The board simply told me to send the offer. But you're here, and you look ready, so." She gestured toward the elevators. "Shall we?"

"Fine."  

"Good. I will take you to see the CEO first. He is waiting for you. He doesn't tolerate lateness, but it's your first day; he may let it slide." 

I followed her as she filled me in on things to know- pointing in every direction, names of floors and different areas. Half of me was listening, but the other was still wandering in the strangeness of it all. Rejected at nine. Hired by midnight. A text from a stranger who already knew my name.

"Here we are." We stopped in front of a double door. "Ready?"

I swallowed hard. This is it. Time to meet my boss, and as they; First impression is important. "Yes."

She knocked once and didn't wait for an answer before pushing the door open.

The office swallowed me the second I stepped inside - half the walls white and clean, the other half floor-to-ceiling was glass looking out over the city.

A man stood with his back to us, phone pressed to his ear, tall, broad-shouldered. His reflection glimmered on the glass wall.

"I'll call you back." The voice stopped me cold. Just a few words, and I recognised that voice from yesterday.

Oh my God.

He turned around.

"Good morning, sir. This is Ama Wellington, your new secretary."

My stomach dropped.  The man I'd drenched in coffee. The man whose expensive suit I'd insulted, calling it Primark, in front of a room full of people.

Now, standing in front of me- A desk nameplate coated in black with the writing inscribed in gold. 

CEO STARLAK CORPORATION. 

My boss.

Somewhere in between, I wanted to run away. My fingers fussed around with the strap of my bag. 

He looked at me the way you'd look at a stain you hadn't finished cleaning - slow, deliberate, head to heels - and I stood very still, praying to whatever was listening that he wouldn't place my face.

To Elena, it probably looked like an ordinary introduction. Between him and me, it was something else entirely.

So much for first impressions.

No word was said. He just turned back to the window-and that was it, a dismissal.  I took it and let myself breathe again.

Elena led me out, down to my desk. She ran through the basics - an intercom that only he could ring, a landline, a stack of forms and files to begin with. "One more thing," she said, already halfway turned to leave. "The CEO isn't known for his kindness. Good luck."

"What's his name?" I questioned.

"Marcus Voss."

The name landed heavy against my chest. Marcus Voss. My nightmare. 

I sat down slowly, hands trembling against the edge of the desk, replaying every version of how badly this could go. What if he already knows? What if this whole job is just his way of making me pay for the coffee?

"You're fine, Ama," I whispered to myself, though I didn't believe it. "Just do the work. There won't be a problem."

My phone buzzed in my bag before I'd even finished the sentence.

Louis(Mom).

I stared at the screen. She hadn't called once since I'd left Boston-not that night, not the next day. A month had passed since I got here; why was she calling me now?

["Mom?"]

["Ama." Her voice came out thin, stretched. "You need to come home, please. Today."]

["What are you saying? I can't. I just got a job, and New York is turning out how I want things to be."]

Something in her voice made the hairs on my arms rise. 

["Please, you have to come home... Boston is safe. It's a trap- just come home-"]

["Louis! Mom! I can't hear you. What is a trap? Nobody is telling me anything."]

Something in her tone made the hair on my arms rise - not pleading this time, but frightened, in a way I'd never heard from her, not even the night everything fell apart.

["They're on-to-you. I don't have time to explain. But you need to-"]

The line went dead.

I stood there with the phone still pressed to my ear, the dial tone humming against my skull, my mother's voice already gone. 

They're on to you. Who were they? On to me for what? I hadn't done anything except get on a bus and try to build something out of the wreckage she and Tom had caused me.

I called back. Straight to voicemail.

 Called again. Same thing.

I bit my fingernails, trying to figure out what she meant when the intercom on my desk screamed to life.

Everyone's heads turned towards me. I forced a smile I didn't feel. I knew it was Marcus calling, and I picked up immediately, afraid of any mess-up when it came to him.

"Hello?"

"My office."

The line went dead.

I set my phone down. 

My mother's warning and Marcus's summons sat side by side in my chest now, two separate threats that had, somehow, in the space of one buzzing phone, started to feel like the same kind of danger that finds you no matter how far you run.

I smoothed my blazer, because it was the only thing I could control, and made myself walk.

"He remembers," I muttered under my breath.

I knocked softly on his door.

"Come in."

My heart slammed against my ribs as I pushed it open.