Working With The Devil.

of the early morning. Outside the sprawling glass facade of Vance Global Enterprises, the Chicago skyline was

my desk by eight o'clock sharp, Elena, don'

row. I slowly lowered the receiver, letting out a long, shuddering breath that rattled my tightly wound n

frantic, practiced speed. Across the room, the office was virtually a ghost town, save for a handful of other exhau

y Elena, a broke, ambitious business graduate with average credentials, trying to claw her way up the corporat

desk, vibrating with an urgency that made my stomach drop.

culous charade at the office and come home. You belong at the

fury rising instantly in my chest. I tapped out a sharp reply.

ne built on decades of cutthroat politics and family expectations. I wanted to prove to myself and to the world that I could survive and conquer the corpor

len

expensive heels clicking frantically against the imported marble floor. "Mr. Vance is early. He's already in the executive suite, and fro

-black travel mug off my desk alongside the thick, leath

om corner of my screen: 7:5

nd hurried down the private corridor toward the top-floor executive suite. When I finally reached the heavy, soundproof mahogany doors

he already owned every single building, street, and soul within it. He wore a bespoke charcoal-grey suit that fit his broad, powerful s

nto the room, but predators of his ca

p, gravelly voice cut through the heavy silen

humping of my heart as I stepped forward to place his coffee and the leather folder on his immaculate, uncluttered desk. "

lowly, he t

reduced grown men, seasoned executives, and rival CEOs to stammering wrecks in high-stakes boardrooms. He walked slowly toward his desk,

slightly to meet his intense gaze. The crisp, clean scent of expensive cologne, rain,

cted, dangerous layer of warmth that felt entirely out of place in a corporate office.

, unyielding defiance flash in my eyes. "I am entirely focused on

corner of his lips, a predatory s

ck up to lock onto my eyes. "Because starting today, you aren't just handling the regional reports. You're going

e takeover. The exact strategic move my family's corpo

ional smile onto my face, stepping

et you down