Chapter 5

Tessa

I walked out of the elevator, Chloe beside me chattering away, but my mind was too far away to even listen to what she was actually saying. My thoughts kept drifting to our encounter yesterday.  Why was I so rude to him? He was my boss after all but He didn't deserve to be upset when he behaved like a jerk all day.

"Hey," Chloe nudged me back to reality. "What's with all this constant drifting away?"

She nudged me more, a silly smile plastered on her face. "Are you still thinking about your one-night stand?"

I almost gagged on my coffee as I realized I hadn't told Chloe my one-night stand was none other than our new boss, or we had just recently had the most heated conversation.

I waved at Chloe as we both parted ways. She was the assistant in the marketing range, and I was the assistant who screwed my boss. As I reached my office door, I waited, staring at his door. Is he already in the office yet, or is he out somewhere screwing someone on a bright Wednesday morning? I sighed, gave up, and entered my office, staring at the unfinished work sitting on my desk and his schedule I had to rearrange and edit before facing him.

I got into work, minutes turning into hours as I grew impatient, staring at my telephone. Why hadn’t he called me to fill him in on his routine for today? Was he scared? Was he preparing a way to fire me from my job? I contemplated going to meet him myself. As I finally decided, standing up from my desk, I walked to the door with some files and stopped abruptly at the door handle.

There was a notification on the intercom placed in everyone's office. It said, “All Sterling staff, from clerks to executives, are expected to meet in the conference room for an urgent meeting.” I was lost. Why were they calling the low ranks for a meeting alongside the higher ranks? What could be so urgent that they couldn’t just say it over the intercom?

As I was battling with my thoughts, Chloe barged in, almost slamming the door in my face. "Babe, what are you waiting for? Let’s go," she said excitedly. "I heard there's a new CEO."

"A new what?" I said, alarmed, but she just shrugged as she pulled me.

She paused at the conference door. "Help me hold this," she said as she placed a cup of coffee in my hand and she straightened her skirt. "Do I look good?" She tucked her hair behind her ears. "I want to leave a good impression on him. Help me hold the coffee till we’re done with the meeting, please, pretty please."

I just nodded, slightly exhausted by her constant flirting with men she wouldn’t last a day with. As we walked inside the conference room, I realized the employees in this company were extraordinarily many. My eyes caught Aiden looking exquisitely handsome in his well-tailored suit, his face hardened, and his jaw clenched as he spoke. I noticed his father was there, my former boss. This must be an important meeting for him to have come.

"We invited all of you here to give a special announcement," Aiden began. "Starting from today, the new COO, Chief Operating Officer, will be none other than my brother, Damien Ryan."

I didn’t know what made my brain cells go mute, but as I stared at the figure who stood up and was applauded by others, the coffee in my hands slipped away, creating a shattering sound.

Everybody stared at me, but my eyes were focused mainly on him. Damien Ryan, He was standing right in front of me, staring at me. My ex-boyfriend, the monstrous, toxic devil himself, was my boss's brother.