Twenty-one and ready to take on the world, orphan Lizzie Gold didn't expect her chance encounter with a stranger to lead to a damnable task - to take down a rising business tycoon.
Ryan Pierce - her viciously handsome target and her new boss - might...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
L I Z Z I E 35 | no one can
Mr. Pierce: Miss Gold, I don't see my schedule on my calendar.
The text from Ryan drops early the next morning while I am debating going back to the office. It stills me, exhilarating every bone in my body. I stare at my phone for an insurmountable amount of time. No doubt the text is uncharacteristically formal and not the usual 'Lizzie, be a good girl and send me my schedule. I'll pay you with an orgasm' but it is enough to make me scream with joy into my pillow.
I shoot him the schedule in his email and then take my time showering and preparing myself for the day.
Maybe, just maybe — I think — he has changed his mind and knows he cannot live without you. Maybe he is as much in love with you, Lizzie, as you are with him.
I lock those thoughts in the back of my mind, choosing an outfit with a baby pink shirt and a white pencil skirt for the day. I want to be as professional as I can be. If he is letting me keep my job, then I will do my best to stay out of his way and do my job, instead of dreaming about doing him.
My plans foil unfortunately though as I step into the building and click the button for the employees' elevator. The doors slide open and I step in without looking. I gasp audibly, the oxygen getting knocked out of my lungs when I turn to see their reflection in the closed elevator doors.
I am not alone apparently and both Ryan and Reece are behind me, the three of us the only people in the elevator. I turn pale as I watch with a horrifying stare their casual poses as they are both busy typing on their phone. Reece takes one glance at me, doing well to mask his surprise on seeing me, as he goes back to looking at his phone.
I debate if I should get off the next floor but considering that it wouldn't be professional at all to take the stairs all the way up, I tell myself to stay put. A part of me wonders how come both of them are together.
Did they make up already? Am I really the only victim of their games now?
Ryan, as always, looks startlingly perfect in a royal blue suit with a white shirt underneath paired with a matching tie, his shoulders sharply cut broad like a looming knight behind me. His dress pants are custom made, well-fitted to his long legs before halting at his black polished shoes.
I wonder if he woke up and thought the same as I did — to remain professional with me no matter the history between us.
Seeing him after everything that went down between us is like a dagger to my heart. It is a punishment that nearly causes me to tear up. I gulp the ache of heartbreak down, not willing to ruin my eyeliner for a man. I am above that.
The only problem is that I have to ride with both of them to the top floor which is the 50th floor and we are only on the 10th.
The elevator stops at the 25th floor and I see the young intern, Logan Harlow, who has recently joined the staff, step in with a stack of papers in his hands. Logan grins at me when he sees me, his boyish face cute with a crooked tooth at the front. He opens his mouth to say something to me when he spots Ryan and Reece behind us.
