Ava - a smart and driven young female exec - just waits until she finds something amiss at the top of her company's ladder and unwinds the web of deceit and rancid power practices at the highest levels of her leadership. Ava digests deeper into the mystery, landing herself in the line of fire of the dirty and sharp-witted CEO Saint Clair who will do everything in his power to guarantee he isn't in competition anymore. Ava must stay one step ahead of Julian and his ilk with the help of a mysterious ally but with the help of all her wits and resourcefulness she must also bring the truth to light. Yet still the stakes keep growing higher, and as they begin to rack up and Ava starts to think her quest isn't as simple and simple as she dreamed it was, she begins to figure out the truth is anything but simple-and much more simple sinister than she had dreamed. Ava will she be able to find out the truth, or bring Julian to justice and will he become her next victim... The Shadow CEO is a heart-pumping, twist-filled thriller that is not only going to keep your toes on the edge of your seat; it will make you continuously wonder who is real and who is a fraud.
Chapter 1 The Reckoning Begins
The wind tore Ava Moreno's hair into misery and she stood atop the rooftop on its edge. The city pulsed with light, life, underneath her, but her heart was storming with it. Five years had gone wasted since her life came apart since every good thing that happened had ended. Her family. Her fortune. Her name. Those days still cast their shadowed wreckage, but tonight, she was here for a reckoning.
This was the night she decided to be herself again. No more running. No more hiding. Ava was singing her swan song to any definition attached to her by headlines or whispers. Standing there, on the outskirts of the world, she had worked her fingers to the bone putting that world back together, brick by fragile brick, and was ready to take the world on once more now.
She turned and walked out, taking a steadying breath, but a man stepped from the shadows. She was tall and composed, her gaze so sharp she almost hesitated. She couldn't put a finger on why she felt uneasy when she looked at him.
He murmured, "Ava Moreno." "You've kept me waiting."
Her heart skipped to a gallop. His tone of speaking her name gave it something almost tethered like... She didn't know him. Did she? However, he was strangely familiar.
Facing her was her clipped voice, with her guard up.
His smile was faint, almost mocking. "It was a chance to change your life," he said. "To show that you're more than a tabloid headline."
Anger ignited her stomach. This stranger dared to come dancing into her strength and the promise of redemption. He did not know what she'd been through.
'We don't need your charity,' she snapped. "Least of all from people who hide in the dark."
He murmured 'ah' as though her defiance amused him. "I was hoping that fire had not gone out-that."
Her glare didn't waver. "You never answered my question." What do you want?"
Looking serious for the first time, his tone lost its teasing edge. Quietly, he said, "I want to give you a deal." "It might change everything."
Suspicion and curiosity drove Avery's breath, to catch, in her lungs. Always, folks, the deals came with strings and consequences. She wouldn't deny the tug of his words.
She asked, her voice was stronger than she thought she was feeling.
His presence was unsettling but magnetic and he stepped closer. And then he said: 'You'll find out soon enough.' It involves taking the risk if you're brave enough."
Every part of her wanted to walk away but the unspoken promise in his eyes kept her paused. She nodded once, against her better judgment.
"Talk," she said.
Again the stranger smiled, this time with triumph in his eyes. "Follow me."
The penthouse was sleek, almost surreal, but he led her there. Whatever Ava was thinking about, it was keeping her thoughts spinning faster with every step behind. This wasn't accidental-that was the beginning of something dangerous.
It was thick, electric air she could feel in the air. If whatever lay ahead could be anything, it would tell her much she couldn't yet imagine. Ava Moreno's first step into the unknown was just that, for better or worse.
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