~ Ava ~
Two days later, I was standing in front of the Cole Media buildingm
The building was massive. Forty floors of glass and steel rising up into the Manhattan skyline, the kind of place that made you feel small just looking at it. The logo was etched into the entrance in sleek silver letters, and people in expensive suits streamed through the revolving doors like they belonged there.
I didn't feel like I belonged there. I felt like a fraud in a blazer I had bought on sale three weeks ago.
Come on, Ava. You earned this. You interviewed four times. You beat out dozens of candidates. You deserve to be here.
The pep talk didn't help much, but I forced myself to walk through the doors anyway.
A woman at the front desk checked my name against a list, handed me a visitor badge, and directed me to the eighteenth floor for new hire orientation.
The elevator was packed with people who all seemed to know each other. They talked about meetings and deadlines and someone named Patrick who had apparently gotten drunk at the company holiday party last year. I stood in the corner and tried to look like I wasn't eavesdropping.
Eighteenth floor. The doors opened and I stepped out into a long hallway with glass-walled conference rooms on either side. A sign pointed toward Orientation - Room 18C, and I followed it until I found a room full of people who looked just as nervous as I felt.
There were maybe fifteen of us, all sitting in chairs arranged in a semicircle facing a presentation screen. A woman in a crisp gray dress stood at the front, tapping on a tablet.
"Find a seat anywhere," she said without looking up. "We'll get started in a few minutes."
I took a seat near the back, next to a guy with red hair and a tie that was slightly crooked. He gave me a nervous smile.
"First day?" he asked.
"That obvious?"
"I've been sitting here for ten minutes trying not to throw up, so I recognize the look."
I laughed, and some of the tension in my chest loosened. "I'm Ava."
"Derek. I'm starting in the finance department. You?"
"Marketing."
"Nice. I heard the marketing team is intense, but the CEO is supposed to be pretty hands-on. Like, actually involved in campaigns and stuff, not just sitting in his office counting money."
My stomach flipped at the word CEO, though I wasn't sure why. Probably just my nerves.
"That's good, I guess," I said. "Better than a boss who doesn't care."
The woman at the front clapped her hands together, and the room went quiet.
"Good morning, everyone. I'm Sandra Chen, Head of Human Resources. Welcome to Cole Media. You've all been through a rigorous hiring process to get here, so congratulations. You've earned your spot."
She launched into a presentation about company history, benefits, and policies. I tried to pay attention, but my mind kept drifting. I had barely slept the past two nights. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Daniel and Jessica on my bed, or I thought about the stranger at the hotel, or I spiraled into panic about the wedding I still hadn't officially canceled.
My mother had called six times yesterday. I hadn't answered. I didn't know how to tell her that the wedding was off, that Daniel had been cheating, that I had spent my first night as a single woman sleeping with a man whose name I didn't even know.
God. What was wrong with me?
Focus, Ava. You're at work. This is your fresh start. Don't screw it up by zoning out during orientation.
Sandra was talking about the company structure now, something about departments and reporting lines. A chart appeared on the screen showing the executive team.
"Cole Media was founded twelve years ago by Ethan Cole," Sandra said. "He's still our CEO and is very involved in day-to-day operations. In fact, he likes to personally welcome all new hires, so he should be joining us shortly."
The door at the back of the room opened.
I didn't turn around at first. I was still staring at the presentation screen, trying to focus, trying to be a normal professional person on her first day of work.
Then Sandra smiled and said, "Perfect timing. Everyone, this is Ethan Cole, our CEO."
I turned around.
And my heart stopped.
He was standing in the doorway in a charcoal gray suit, looking exactly like he had two nights ago except more polished, more put-together. His dark hair was neatly styled instead of messy from sleep. His jaw was clean-shaven. His gray eyes swept across the room, calm and confident, like he owned the place.
Because he did. He owned the place.
No. No, no, no. This isn't happening. This cannot be happening.
His gaze moved across the new hires one by one, polite and distant, the kind of look a CEO gives to employees he'll probably never speak to again.
Then his eyes landed on me.
He stopped.
For a split second, something flickered across his face. Surprise, maybe. Or recognition. His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly, and then it was gone, smoothed over by a professional mask that gave nothing away.
But I saw it. I saw the moment he recognized me.
The stranger from the hotel bar. The man I had taken back to my room and slept with and left before morning without even learning his name.
Ethan Cole. CEO of Cole Media. My new boss.
I couldn't breathe. My whole body had gone cold, my fingers gripping the armrests of my chair so hard my knuckles were white. The room felt like it was spinning, and I had to fight the urge to get up and run.
He looked away from me like nothing had happened.
"Good morning, everyone," he said, and his voice was exactly the same as I remembered, low and smooth, except now it carried an authority that hadn't been there in the bar. "Welcome to Cole Media. I know Sandra has already given you the overview, but I wanted to take a moment to personally welcome you to the team."
He talked for a few minutes about the company's mission, about innovation and creativity and pushing boundaries. I didn't hear any of it. I was too busy trying not to hyperventilate.
This can't be real. This has to be some kind of nightmare. I'm going to wake up any second now.
But I didn't wake up. Ethan finished his little speech, shook a few hands, and answered a couple of questions from eager new hires who wanted to impress him. He didn't look at me again. Not even once.
Maybe he didn't recognize me. Maybe I was imagining things. It was dark in that hotel room, and we had both been drinking. Maybe he had already forgotten about me and the moment I thought I saw was just my own paranoia.
The thought should have been comforting. It wasn't.
"Before I go," Ethan said, "I'd like to speak with one of you briefly. Ava Chen?"
My stomach dropped.
Every head in the room turned toward me. I felt my face flush, heat creeping up my neck and into my cheeks. Derek gave me a look that was half impressed and half confused.
"Yes?" My voice came out steadier than I expected. Small miracle.
"Could you stay after for a moment? I have a few questions about your previous work."
It was a perfectly reasonable request. CEOs talked to new hires all the time, right? Maybe he had seen my portfolio and wanted to discuss it. Maybe this was normal.
Except I knew it wasn't.
"Of course," I said.
Sandra wrapped up the orientation a few minutes later. People filed out of the room, chatting and introducing themselves, blissfully unaware that my entire world was collapsing for the second time this week. Derek gave me a thumbs-up on his way out, like being singled out by the CEO was a good thing.
If only he knew.
The door closed behind the last person, and suddenly it was just the two of us.
Ethan stood by the window, his back to me, looking out at the city below. He didn't say anything for a long moment, and the silence stretched between us like a wire about to snap.
Finally, he turned around.
"Ava." He said my name like he was tasting it. "I wasn't sure you'd actually show up."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
He walked toward me, stopping a few feet away. This close, I could smell his cologne, the same scent from that night, and my body reacted before my brain could catch up. My pulse spiked. My skin felt warm.
I hated it.
"It means I knew you were starting here," he said. "Before you ever walked through the door."
The words hit me like a punch to the chest.
"What?"
"After you left the hotel room, I tracked you down. Security footage from the lobby gave me your name. A quick search told me you had just been hired at my company." He paused, watching my face like he was cataloging every reaction. "I could have reassigned you to a different department. I could have made sure we never crossed paths. But I didn't."
I stared at him. My brain was struggling to process what he was saying.
He had known. Before my first day, before the orientation, before any of it. He had known who I was and where I would be and he had done nothing to stop it.
"Why?" I asked. "Why would you do that?"
He took another step closer. I could feel the heat of his body, I could see the flecks of silver in his gray eyes.
"Because I wanted to see you again," he said simply. "And I always get what I want."