by Ivy Layne
“Oh, it’s secure,” Aiden affirmed. “Still, I like to be thorough.”
There was no hiding the suggestive meaning in his words. I fought a shiver as my brain flashed through all the ways Aiden Winters could be thorough. I don’t think I’d ever been so grateful to see my car.
Surprise stole his laughter when we stopped behind my electric blue Volkswagen Beetle. I had daisies appliquéd on the back window and a pink-haired troll doll hung from the rearview mirror. The car was cute, spunky, and seriously fun to drive.
I’d made a dent in my savings account buying it a few years before. Most people would think it wasn’t me, but I knew different. Maybe my Beetle didn’t match my outside, but it went with my inside just fine.
I ignored Aiden’s considering gaze and unlocked the doors, carefully fitting the cardboard box in the back beside my purse before opening the driver’s door and preparing to get in. Sending Aiden a dismissive glance over my shoulder I said, “We’re at my car. You can go now.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Violet. Don’t be late.”
My hands were steady as I slid the key into the ignition, but my heart was pounding so hard I was sure he could hear it. He stepped back from my parking space and dropped his hands into his suit pockets, waiting, watching, as I put the car in gear and pulled out. I felt his eyes on me as I drove away.
Thirty minutes later I’d changed into yoga pants and a T-shirt and was waiting in front of the microwave for my frozen dinner, a glass of wine in hand. I’d pulled the pins from my hair and washed my face.
Professional Violet was gone, left in the closet and bedroom along with my suit and hairpins and makeup.
Alone in the condo, there was no one to see. I didn’t have to be perfect. For a little while, at least, I could just be me—messy and emotional and scared to death. In the morning, I was going to get up, put on my armor and carry that box up to the tenth floor where I was going to take my position as Aiden Winters’s newest executive assistant.
I couldn’t afford to be messy, emotional, or scared.
Not until this was over.
After a night of fitful sleep, I opened my eyes to the blare of my alarm and a suffocating sense of dread. It wasn’t too late to quit. I didn’t even have to quit, I could simply not go back. I could just stay here, holed up in the condo until I found a new job, one far away from Winters, Inc.
I could forget about CD4 Analytics and justice for Chase.
Except that I couldn’t. Chase had always looked out for me. He always had my back. He’d worked so hard building that company. I had to try to fix this.
There was no way Aiden Winters was innocent. I just had to keep looking and I would find what I needed.
Resolved, I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. The scent of sweet peas, flowery and clean, woke up my brain and I went about the business of erasing the Violet who left her hair loose and wore yoga pants and bought a bright blue Volkswagen Beetle.
I pulled my hair back into a tight chignon and dressed in my plainest, most severely professional black suit, embellished simply by pearls at my ears and around my neck. Only my dangerously high heels gave a nod to any sense of feminine fashion.
I got off the elevator on the tenth floor to see the first desk, the one normally occupied by the most junior of Aiden’s assistants, unoccupied. The other four executive assistants were already there, their desks arranged in a quadrangle, facing each other.
That they intended to exclude me couldn’t have been more obvious, but just in case I missed the message, all four of them studiously ignored my entrance.
Fine. I wasn’t here to make friends.
More than that, I could see where they’d be irritated. I didn’t have an MBA. I hadn’t fought tooth and nail for the opportunity to work side-by-side with Aiden Winters. I’d been plucked from project management in a new division for no reason anyone but Aiden and I could fathom.
I might have understood their attitude, but I wasn’t going to put up with it.
Setting my box of things on the empty desk, I turned to face the others and said, “I’m Violet Hartwell. I’m assuming Mr. Winters told you I’d be joining you?”
The one closest to me, a dark-haired man in his mid-20s with a rumpled shirt and a cup of coffee at his elbow gave me a sideways look and said, “Sure. I’m Thomas.” Pointing at the other executive assistants in turn, he said, “that’s Marisela, Henry, and Peter.”
The other three gave me cool nods but stayed silent. Thomas went on, “Until you’re assigned specific work, you can answer phones and do the filing. Notes on phone protocol are in the top drawer of your desk. Coffee, copier, and fax are in there.” Thomas gestured to an open door on the far side of the room. “The rest of us have full plates, so don’t expect us to hold your hand.”
“Understood,” I said. Turning my back to them, I unpacked my things. I desperately wanted to put my coffee mug to use, but I had a feeling that phone was going to start ringing any minute, and I had no idea what phone protocol involved. I pulled the file from the top drawer and began to read.
I’d handled at least a dozen calls, most of them correctly, and finished reading the protocol file before I gave in to the need for caffeine. Standing from the desk, I picked up my mug and said to the room, “I’m getting coffee. Cover the phones for a few minutes.”
I knew better than to wait for agreement. I doubted any of them would ignore Aiden’s phone while I was away from my desk, but asking permission to get coffee would be a mistake.
They already hated me. If they thought they could bully me, my life would be a misery.
The coffee machine was sleek, high-end, and I was pretty sure it could make any coffee drink on earth. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to make that happen. I stood in front of the touchpad and screen, squinting as if that would make the button’s purpose clear.
Normally I’d ask a coworker for help, but not today. Not when my coworkers looked like they’d be just as happy to poison me as help me make a cup of coffee. I pressed a few experimental buttons, one that looked like a mug of coffee and another that looked like it would add cream, and listened to the voices filtering in from the outer office.
“I can’t believe we have to put up with her,” a female voice said. Marisela.
“I pulled up her résumé. She’s got no business sitting at that desk,” a male voice put in. Not Thomas.
“She must be fucking him. How else would she have gotten the job? He doesn’t even need another assistant.” Marisela again.
“Her?” That was Thomas. “The ice queen? No way. I’d be surprised if she fucked anyone, much less the boss.”
The other assistant, the one who hadn’t spoken yet said, “You guys know Winters doesn’t do that. I’ve got no clue why he would have hired her, but there’s no way he’s sleeping with her.”
“Probably not,” Marisela agreed. “Anyway, she’d have to melt enough to pry her legs apart. She won’t last long.”
“And hey,” said the one who’d stood up for Aiden, “now we have someone to stick with the phones, and the files, and whatever other grunt work we don’t want to do.”
At that insight, the conversation ended. They probably thought sticking me with the phones and the filing was a punishment. If I’d actually wanted the job, it would have been. As things were, I was more than happy to be out of the loop. That just gave me more time to dig around on the computer and in the file room. If they were going to freeze me out, I’d have a better chance to continue my investigations.
I left the small break room with a cup of black coffee. Not quite what I’d been going for, but it was caffeine and it smelled like heaven. My four coworkers studiously ignored me, and I returned the favor.
The ice queen comments used to sting. I was over it. When I was alone, or with Chase, I could relax. Laugh. Sometimes I was almost fun.
Around other people I froze up, my shyness translating into a chilly formality I could never quite break down. I’d ha
d friends in college, girlfriends, even dated some. It had been easier back then, finally away from home and surrounded by other kids trying their wings for the first time.
Maybe if things had gone differently at that first job, maybe if everything that came after, with my boss and my parents had worked out, maybe then I’d be different. Maybe I’d be better at joking around and laughing. Maybe I’d be able to loosen up. Make mistakes.
But things hadn’t gone differently. I’d spent my entire life trying to make my parents happy—trying to be perfect—and the first time I made a mistake my life had fallen apart. When the dust settled, all I had left was Chase. He was the only one I could trust.
I wouldn’t take that risk again. Not with my heart. Not even with friendship. The only person I trusted was Chase. Everyone else was on the other side of a thick wall and I had no interest in letting them in.
If that made me a frigid bitch of an ice queen, then fine.
I could live with that.
I didn’t need friends.
I just needed to bring down Aiden Winters.
Chapter Four
Violet
If I thought working for Aiden Winters would be exciting, I would have been wrong. In the two weeks since I’d been promoted to Aiden’s newest and most unnecessary executive assistant I hadn’t done much of interest.
To tell the truth, it was boring. I was used to being busy, even more so in my job as a project manager since half the time I was scrambling to keep up while not wanting to let anyone know I didn’t know what I was doing. In contrast, answering Aiden’s phone and filing had me half-asleep.
Not so for the other four assistants, who, as Thomas had said, had their hands full working with Aiden on various projects, drafting proposals, and a variety of other tasks that put them right in the heart of Winters, Inc’s global business. I could understand now why people fought for the opportunity to sit in one of those desks. Aiden worked them hard, but they were gaining experience and making connections they wouldn’t have without his mentoring.
All four of them continued to alternately ignore and irritate me. The one who’d stuck up for Aiden that first day, Henry, mostly left me alone, but Marisela and Peter loved playing little pranks. Silly, childish tricks I would have thought too immature for two business school graduates with executive aspirations.
Maybe a part of us never grows up, because they seemed to gain great amusement from stealing my stapler, switching the sugar for salt in the break room, disconnecting my phone, and other annoyances they thought would drive me off.
I didn’t respond to their provocations. Ever. I could fight back, and if it went on much longer, I would. I was willing to put up with it for the time being, because as long as those two were occupied with their pranks, they weren’t interested in what I was doing at my workstation when I wasn’t answering the phone and filing.
Not that what I was doing was fascinating. Aiden’s email was boring. None of the business messages seemed at all shady, and his personal communications were all about rebuilding a house on their estate in Buckhead and preparations for his cousin’s wedding.
There were a few emails between Aiden and Cooper Sinclair of Sinclair Security that alluded to a search for someone I thought might be family. I couldn’t tell—those emails were worded in the shorthand friends share when they already know what they’re talking about—but nothing about them seemed particularly sinister or criminal.
Aiden was trying to find someone who’d gone missing. It was curious, but I didn’t think there was anything there I could use to get Chase back his company.
Even worse, this enforced proximity to Aiden Winters was making me doubt my whole plan. I was starting to think it might be possible that he was actually a decent person. Despite the way he’d stolen Chase’s company, I couldn’t see any evidence that he was the cutthroat corporate shark I’d imagined him to be.
Well, maybe the shark part. I heard him through the door in meetings, his voice raised, slicing through the opposition like a razor-edged sword. He worked insane hours. He was driven and ambitious, and he expected everyone who worked for him to be the same.
But so far I couldn’t find any evidence of him being underhanded. He didn’t take credit for others’s work. He always took the time to compliment his team when they did a good job, even thanked them for their dedication. The one time his younger sister Charlie had stopped by he’d greeted her with a smile of such tender affection it made me catch my breath.
I struggled to align these two visions of Aiden. The corporate shark who’d stolen Chase’s company and the hard-working, devoted head of his family. Could the man who joked with his little sister be the same man who’d tricked Chase out of CD4 Analytics? With every day that passed, I was finding it harder to believe the truth.
One evening, after the other four assistants had left for the day, I sat at my desk, a fresh cup of coffee at my elbow, scanning through contracts on Aiden’s server. I was trying to find the original agreement for the purchase of CD4 Analytics, but so far it had proven elusive. Aiden had been closeted in his office for hours on a conference call with Las Vegas, something about a real estate investment, and he’d been so quiet I’d forgotten he was there.
I managed not to jump out of my skin when the door behind me opened. Casually, I closed the document I’d been skimming and swiveled my chair around. Aiden’s brown eyes were distracted and his hair was tousled as if he’d been running his fingers through it. He looked rumpled and tired and all too human.
Aiden took in the empty desks before his eyes locked on me. “You the only one here?”
“It’s seven o’clock, Mr. Winters. I’m just finishing up myself. Is there something I can do for you?”
Say no, say no, I thought as hard as I could.
“I could use your help with something, if you can stay,” he said.
My heart sank. So far I’d avoided working one-on-one with Aiden, but it looked like my reprieve was over.
“Of course. What do you need?”
“For you to order dinner to start with. Pick one of the takeout menus in your desk, and call in the order. My favorites are highlighted on each menu, I don’t care which restaurant. Whatever sounds good to you. Let the front desk know, and they’ll go pick it up. In the meantime, I want you to compare these two contracts and highlight any differences in the second.”
He dropped two packets of paper on my desk. “When the food gets here, bring it in, along with those contracts.”
“I’m not in legal,” I started to say, but Aiden shook his head, dismissing my objection.
“I don’t need someone from legal. I just need a sharp eye to double check.”
He disappeared back into his office. I did as ordered, but I wasn’t sure I could call it an order. I usually thought on my feet better than that.
I should have told him I had plans.
A date.
Anything.
Anything except for sitting there and staring at him when he asked me to work late. He’d just looked so…oddly vulnerable. With his jacket off and his sleeves rolled up, his auburn curls in disarray and his eyes tired, I’d had the crazy urge to force him to take a break, to relax and get some rest.
The only person I ever took care of was Chase. Everyone else could fend for themselves. The last person I ever expected to want to take care of was Aiden Winters. But clearly, he needed it. He worked too much.
I knew he had family to go home to. Maybe not a wife and kids of his own, but his cousin Gage lived in their family home, along with Gage’s younger sister Annalise, who office gossip said had only recently returned home.
I could see working late when there was nothing but an empty house waiting for you. I’d done that myself often enough when Chase was away. Aiden didn’t need to drive himself so hard, but he couldn’t seem to stop.
Not your problem, I told myself. You’re not here to take care of him, you idiot. You’re here to find compromising information to force him
to give up Chase’s company.
Aiden Winters is the enemy.
It shouldn’t be so hard to remember that. Most of the time it wasn’t. Only when he caught me off guard.
I’d ordered dinner from one of my favorite restaurants, getting us both the spicy Ramen Aiden had highlighted. That place made old-school Ramen by hand, the broth rich and meaty, the noodles soft and filling, the meat spicy enough to make your eyes water.
It was as much comfort food as chicken and dumplings. I couldn’t stop myself from ordering something for Aiden that might help him relax.
I’d worried he might try to trip me up once he had me alone. I stayed on guard as we ate and reviewed the contracts he’d given me, but Aiden gave not the slightest hint he knew I was anything other than a regular employee. He thanked me for getting dinner, for paying such close attention to the contracts and catching a few errors he’d missed himself.
He’d been friendly, but professional, and entirely appropriate. I didn’t know quite what to make of that. The next day he acted as if I didn’t exist.
After that, I tried to avoid working late if he was in the office, even though it was easier to snoop when everyone else was gone. It’s not like I was finding anything anyway. While we were caught in this holding pattern it was hard to convince myself to give up, but as each day passed I knew my plan was less and less likely to pay off.
I still hadn’t been able to find the paperwork related to Aiden’s purchase of Chase’s company and the fact that it was missing was starting to bother me. Was it possible there was more to this than I knew? More than Chase knew? The only way to figure that out was to ask Aiden, and it was too late for the direct approach.
A week after that late dinner in Aiden’s office, I was still treading water, still searching and getting nowhere, when Aiden opened his office door to find me alone at my desk. As usual, the other four had gone to lunch without me. Every day they made a big production of agreeing on a restaurant and time as if deliberately not including me would hurt my feelings or scare me off.