Chapter 2 - The Glass Corner OfficeThe executive boardroom on the 40th floor smelled of ozone and fresh paper.
Mark sat at the mahogany table, flanked by three senior partners who looked at him with the vacant, predatory smiles of men who ate small companies for breakfast.
"Your numbers are clean, Sterling," Arthur Vance, the aging patriarch of the firm, said lazily, spinning a heavy gold pen between his fingers. "The logistics restructuring in Ohio saved us four million. You have the killer instinct. That’s what we look for in our directors."
Mark’s chest swelled. "Thank you, sir. I’ve always believed that personal distractions must be pruned if a man wants to grow. You can't carry dead weight."
Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Dead weight?"
"My personal life," Mark said smoothly, playing his cards. "I finalized a domestic separation last night. Clean break. No baggage. I am entirely devoted to the expansion of Vance & Co."
A ripple of silent approval moved through the partners. This was the corporate cult Mark had studied for years—ruthless, unburdened, single-minded.
"Good," Arthur murmured. "Because our majority owner is a strict believer in alignment. If you can't manage your own household, how can you manage a billion-dollar asset?"
Suddenly, the heavy double doors at the end of the boardroom swung open.
The room went dead silent. Even Arthur Vance shifted his posture, straightening his tie with an involuntary twitch of deference.
A woman walked in.
She wore a bespoke charcoal-gray pantsuit that cut a razor-sharp silhouette against the morning light. Her dark hair, usually pinned back in a loose, messy bun while she sat in her garage, was now straightened and worn loose over her shoulders, framing high, aristocratic cheekbones. Her eyes—cold, clear, and utterly devoid of warmth—scanned the room like a security system.
It was Elena.
May you like
Mark froze. His breath caught in his throat, a sharp, metallic taste filling his mouth. No, his brain screamed. No. That’s impossible. That’s the librarian. That’s the woman with the green paint on her sleeve.
"Allow me to introduce our Principal and majority shareholder," Arthur Vance said, standing up and bowing slightly. "Miss Elena Vance."
