One

Brie

I looked around at the extravagant banquet that the company had thrown in honor of our new boss, feeling both excited and anxious. As one of the executives of the company and the head of the human resources department, I sat at the foremost table just before the stage, along with my colleagues. I was in my zone and sat relaxed, back straight, and chin up.

As I glanced around the room, I noticed a tall figure with short blonde hair in a snug gray suit striding confidently to the podium. The way he looked as he moved with quick, confident strides first to the old chairman who sold the company to him and then stepping on the podium brought back a flood of memories, from the shape of his shoulders to the way he moved, fluid like pure water. While I still tried to place where I had seen this very person before, he turned to face the crowd.

And I gasped, ignoring the puzzled looks of my colleagues, my eyes trained solely on the man, on the very person who made the first years of my life a living hell.

It had to be him. No one else had eyes so brilliant a shade of blue, yet so cold and condescending at the same time.

I could feel my heart racing, my limbs starting to shake, and adrenaline rushing through my veins as I watched him speak. The way he moved, the sound of his voice—all of it was too familiar. I tried to push those thoughts aside and focus on the present, but it was hard. I felt like I was reliving old wounds that had never really healed.

Of all the people in the world, it had to be Alex fucking Arterra.

As Alex continued his speech, half of which had flown right over my head in my confusion, I couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. Memories of our past flooded my mind, and my body reacted with a mix of anger and fear. I remembered the way he used to treat me—the way he used to make me feel small and insignificant. It was hard to believe that he was now going to be the CEO of the company I had worked so hard for, without doing anything more than buying his way through, as usual.

He's going to be my boss! I thought, almost hyperventilating at the thought. It felt too instant, like I was plunged face-first into ice-cold water with no room to try to swim.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see my colleague, Mary, the head of PR, looking at me with concern. "Are you okay?" she asked, noticing how tense I had gotten.

I forced a smile and nodded, trying to put on a brave face. "Yeah, I'm fine," I said, my voice waving slightly. I doubt she caught it. "Just a little overwhelmed."

Mary gave me a sympathetic look before turning her attention back to the stage. I tried to do the same, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. It was like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop—for Alex to do something that would confirm my worst fears.

I was waiting for him to notice me.

By some stroke of luck sent by a very benevolent deity, he didn’t even glance my way as he made his rounds, giving handshake after handshake, laughing with a few shareholders that I knew from experience to be very crafty and slippery people. They were the kind of people who would rip you off with a smile and a wave. I wasn’t surprised he could get along with them.

After all, it had only been nine years since he took what was mine and laughed about it to my face.

Watching the soft chandelier lights bounce off his hair, it transported me back in time, to a day that was as festive as this, so to say, but less elegant.

The sunlight streaming through the high windows of Savannah High’s cathedral-like gym building had made his hair shine that day too, almost as blinding as the polished trophies on display in the trophy case on the far side of the space. I sat with my spine ramrod straight on the hard bleachers with the other 12th graders. They all towered above me; that much was true, and I was always very uncomfortable when I had to spend any extended time that wasn’t lectures around them, but it was too important a day for me to miss.

Normally, I would have found a spot in our towering library building to wait out days like this. After all, I was a 14 year old who had to wear glasses or she couldn’t see five feet in front of her, wore braces and was always in a sweatshirt because I couldn’t be bothered to make myself more presentable for school. I was already the prime bully target, but add that I was bumped up – not one or two, but three whole classes – so I was taking classes with kids four to five years older than me, and my life was a living hell.

Most days, it wasn’t too bad. I wiped their asses and handed it to them in academics, all but one person.

Alex Arterra.

And I hated it more than I could say.

We were so competitive that if I topped a subject, he was only a mark or two behind. If he scored higher than me, I would never hear the end of it.

Our little rivalry – that wasn’t so little, not even by a long shot – had spilled into extracurricular activities too. Debates, chess, scrabble, even Model UN. He was there, a pain in my side. I always felt horrible when he did better than me, that much was true. But absolutely nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to experience that day in the gym.

I could see it clearly in my mind as I sipped the champagne I swiped off a passing waiter’s tray like it was yesterday. The bubbly and fruity taste could have as well been the sharp tang of anticipation that had lodged in the back of my throat as I watched and waited for what was supposed to be the gem in my crown, for what was supposed to be my crowning glory. Our principal stood in the middle of the makeshift stage, which was normally our basketball court, and the echoes of her voice filtered through the sound system above our heads. I had my fingers crossed as she held out a plain white envelope, and when she opened it I had thought my heart was about to fall out of my chest.

But the words that came next near well killed me.

“The candidate who has been chosen for a full scholarship at the Harvard business school is none other than Alexander Arterra!”

I winced into my glass, ignoring Mary’s probing stare as I remembered how my heart had stopped. It had felt like I had a spear of ice in my chest, and Alex’s condescending smile as he walked past me to the applause of our fellow students made the spear twist and turn until I was breathless and close to tears.

I had worked hard all year, studying and ignoring any form of social life, attending AP classes, just so I could have that one spot, and he just swooped in and stole it from me.

Heck, he didn’t even need it!

Everyone knew his family owned half of Sapphire Vale and large businesses operating outside our small town. They were hands down the richest people I could ever meet, and he could afford to go anywhere else. But I couldn’t. My father was dead, and my mother may have had only me to care for but it didn’t make our lives any easier.

I hated Alex more than I hated fate that day. The last few months of high school were nothing short of hell too. He had belittled me as much as he could in front of his friends, and although I had gotten another scholarship to UCLA I wished more than once I had beaten him to the Harvard scholarship.

My relief was at its highest when we graduated and he left town, and I had prayed to every god I knew to beg that I would never have to see him again.

I wanted to groan as he moved to greet a few lower executives two tables to my right. My prayer must have bounced like an invalid check, because here he was. Back in my life again.

As my boss.

I would have to call him Sir, I thought with a shiver. How embarrassing.

Still, my job was important to me. If it meant having to fight that primal part of me that wanted to claw out his eyes and cut out his tongue every time he did as little as opening his mouth, I would force myself to tolerate him.

I tore my eyes away as the former Chairman, Old Mr. Grey, climbed the stage and stood at the podium. He started the usual speech welcoming everyone to the event, and I found my attention slipping. I had been staring down at my phone hidden on my laps under the table, but the feeling of eyes on my neck made the little downy hairs stand and I looked up.

Into bright, jewel-blue eyes.

He gave me a little cocky smile, and all I could think of was how handsome he had grown to be.

I have no idea what you were thinking, universe, but this is a bad idea.