GRACE POV
Victoria cornered Grace in the hallway before the announcement even went out.
"You're making a massive mistake," Victoria said, pulling her into an empty conference room.
Grace had known this was coming. Had prepared herself for Victoria's concern. But there was no way to prepare for watching your best friend look at you like you'd lost your mind.
"He's earned it," Grace said.
"He's earned your trust. That's not the same thing as earning power."
Victoria sat on the edge of the table with her arms crossed. She looked tired. Protective. Like she was watching someone she cared about walk toward a cliff.
"You're giving him a platform again," Victoria continued. "You're giving him access to your business, your deals, your strategies. That's exactly how men like him become dangerous. They gain your confidence and then they exploit it."
"He's not exploiting anything."
"Not yet. But once he has power, once he's important again, what happens then? What happens when he realizes he could take this company from you?"
Grace felt her frustration rise. "He's not going to do that."
"How do you know?"
Grace opened her mouth and then closed it. Because she didn't have a logical answer. Victoria was asking all the right questions. Was pointing out all the dangers that Grace had chosen to ignore.
The truth was that Grace didn't know. Couldn't know. Could only trust her instinct about who Marcus was becoming.
"Because I've watched him," Grace said finally. "I've watched him work when he thinks nobody's looking. I've watched him turn down opportunities that would have benefited him because they would have compromised his integrity. I've watched him choose what's right over what's easy."
"You've also watched him smile and your heart rate increases," Victoria said quietly. "I'm not blind, Grace. Neither is anyone else in this office."
Grace felt her face flush.
"That's not what this is about," she said.
"Isn't it?" Victoria stood and walked closer. "You hired him to watch him suffer. Instead you're falling for him. And I need you to understand how dangerous that is. Not for the company. For you."
After Victoria left, Grace sat alone in the conference room and tried to convince herself that her best friend was wrong.
But she couldn't.
Because Victoria had named the thing Grace had been avoiding for weeks.
Grace couldn't stop thinking about Marcus. Found herself creating reasons to work late when he was in the building. Felt her heart race every time he smiled. Caught herself watching the way his hands moved when he was concentrating. Noticed the way he looked at her like she was the answer to a question he'd been asking his entire life.
She'd hired him to watch him burn.
Instead she was burning.
By 9 PM, after everyone else had gone home, Grace found herself in her office unable to focus on anything. The promotion letter was signed. The announcement would go out tomorrow. Marcus was now officially her equal in the company she'd built from nothing.
She heard him before she saw him.
Marcus appeared in her doorway holding two glasses and a bottle of expensive champagne. The kind she'd seen in photos from his old life. The kind that cost more than most people's monthly salary.
"Is that from your personal stash?" she asked.
"I saved it," Marcus said. "From before. I was going to throw it away but I thought maybe we should celebrate instead."
He held up the bottle like it was a peace offering.
Grace knew she should send him home. Should maintain the professional distance she'd been clinging to like a life raft. Should remember that he was the man who'd destroyed her brother's life and she needed to keep her guard up.
Instead she said, "Pour it."
They sat in her office with the city lights glowing below them. Marcus had loosened his tie and looked genuinely happy in a way Grace hadn't seen before. Not the relief of survival. But actual joy at the opportunity to build something.
"Thank you," he said, raising his glass. "For believing in me when I didn't believe in myself."
Grace clinked her glass against his. "Don't thank me yet. The hard part starts now. This promotion comes with real responsibility. Real stakes."
"I know," Marcus said. "And I'm grateful anyway."
They talked about the Paris deal. About market expansion and competitive positioning and the strategy Marcus had developed. But underneath the business conversation was something else. Something electric that made it hard for Grace to concentrate on the actual words.
She was hyperaware of Marcus. Of the way he looked in the lamplight. Of the way his voice deepened when he talked about something he cared about. Of the space between them that felt like it was getting smaller every time he leaned closer.
"Can I ask you something?" Marcus said around midnight.
"Of course."
"Why did you really hire me? Not the official story about wanting to see if redemption was possible. But the actual reason."
Grace considered lying. Considered giving him the answer that made the most sense professionally.
"Because I was angry," she said instead. "Because I wanted to watch the man who destroyed my brother suffer. I wanted to see him brought low. I wanted him to understand what he'd taken from us."
Marcus nodded like he understood.
"And now?" he asked.
"Now I'm not sure anymore. Now I'm watching you rebuild and I'm starting to believe that maybe people can actually change. That maybe my brother was right about second chances. That maybe the man you're becoming is more real than the man you were."
She looked at him directly. "But I'm also terrified."
"Of what?"
"Of a lot of things," Grace admitted. "Of trusting you and being wrong. Of this company being destroyed because I let someone in who might turn on me. Of..."
She stopped herself.
"Of what?" Marcus prompted.
Grace couldn't say it out loud. Couldn't admit that she was terrified of how she felt about him. That she'd broken her own rules about maintaining distance. That the man she'd hired to suffer had somehow become the only person who mattered.
"Of disappointing my brother," she said instead, which was true but not the whole truth.
Marcus set down his champagne glass and reached across the desk toward her. Grace watched his hand move like it was happening in slow motion.
His fingers brushed against hers.
Just barely. Just enough to create electricity that traveled up her arm and made her entire body respond.
Grace didn't pull away.
"I would never hurt you," Marcus said. "I would never hurt anyone connected to you. I've hurt enough people, Grace. I'm done hurting people."
His hand was warm. Real. His touch was gentle in a way that made her understand he was being honest with her.
Grace wanted to believe him. Wanted to lean into the feeling of his hand against hers. Wanted to stop fighting the pull that had been growing stronger every single day.
But she was also terrified.
Because if she let herself fall completely, if she admitted that she was in love with him, then everything became complicated. Every decision would be questioned. Every choice would be scrutinized. And if he ever hurt her, if he ever reverted to the person he'd been, she would be devastated in ways she'd never recovered from.
She pulled her hand away slowly.
"We should go home," she said. "It's late."
Marcus pulled his hand back but didn't stand. Just sat there looking at her like he was memorizing her face.
"I know what this is," he said quietly. "I know what's happening between us."
Grace's heart stopped.
"And I know you're terrified," Marcus continued. "So am I. But I also know that whatever you're feeling, I'm feeling it too. And if you'll let me, I want to explore it. Not as your employee. Not as your redemption project. As someone who's completely and irrevocably falling in love with you."
The words hung between them in the quiet office.
Grace couldn't breathe.
She couldn't think of a single thing to say that would protect her.
So she stood and walked toward the elevator without responding, leaving Marcus sitting alone in her office with two empty champagne glasses and the knowledge that he'd just gambled everything on a confession she hadn't asked for.