Harper Quinn
* Flashback *
They say your life can change with one decision. I didn't realize mine had until I stopped dating, stopped dreaming, and started orbiting the world of Dominic Vale.
It wasn't supposed to be forever, just a job, just a few months to build my resume, get on my feet, and then move on. That was three years ago.
Three years since I first stepped into Vale Industries in worn-out flats and a department store blazer. I still remember the nerves in my throat when the receptionist called me up for the final interview. I had no idea the man behind the glass wall would become the center of my universe.
I expected a panel. Instead, it was him.
Dominic Vale.
Tall, angular, ice-eyed and unsmiling, seated behind a sleek obsidian desk like a king on a throne of silence. He didn't stand when I walked in. He didn't smile. He simply looked up, appraising me like I was a file he hadn't yet decided whether to shred.
"You're late," he said. I wasn't.
I checked my watch. "The interview was at ten. It's 9:59."
He arched a brow. "Ten is when we begin. Not when you arrive."
I should've walked out. Instead, I sat down.
And somehow, that moment, when I chose to stay was the moment I handed my freedom over to him.
I worked in the sales department before i was Dominic personal assistant. I heard his P.A does not last up to 3 months and I took it up as a challenge and I'm here today.
The interview lasted seven minutes. He asked exactly three questions: "How fast can you type?" "Do you know how to lie without blinking?" and "Are you easily offended?"
I answered honestly: "Ninety-two words per minute." "Yes." "Not anymore."
He stared at me for a beat longer than necessary. Then: "Start Monday."
And just like that, I entered his world. A world of tight schedules, terse commands, red-carpet meetings, and endless expectations. It was glamorous in the way a high-end prison might be: you're dazzled, but never free.
Within two weeks, I learned how he liked his coffee (black, two shots, no lid), how he preferred his meetings (short, sharp, decisive), and how he viewed small talk (useless). I became fluent in his silences and sharp with my comebacks. . . quietly, of course.
But I didn't realize I was losing pieces of myself until it was too late.
---
My first date cancelled on me after I rescheduled three times because of late-night calls from Dominic.
My second date left mid-dinner when Dominic called during our appetizer. I stepped away to take it; instinct, really and came back to an empty seat and a text that read: "You're clearly dating your boss."
Maybe I was, in a way. Not romantically, of course. Dominic didn't flirt. He didn't notice. Or if he did, he ignored it. But he took up space in my life, in my head, in my calendar.
He never asked about my weekends, yet I planned mine around him just in case. I stopped going to Friday movie nights with friends because of just in case. I stopped wearing red lipstick, which he once commented was "distracting" in a meeting. I even stopped using my vacation days.
Once, I tried taking a Monday off for my birthday. He scheduled a full-day investor review.
"You didn't clear your absence," he said when I reminded him of the date.
"It's my birthday."
He didn't blink. "And yet the world spins."
I didn't fight him. I came in. In a gray blazer. On my twenty-seventh birthday.
---
Somewhere along the way, I stopped looking for anyone who wasn't him. No one could keep up with my schedule. No one understood why a text from my boss at 1:00 a.m. wasn't weird. No one tolerated my half-distracted smiles or the way I checked my phone every ten minutes.
Eventually, I gave up.
That was me. . . Harper Quinn, invisible outside the walls of Vale Industries, untouchable inside.
And still, I stayed.
Because I told myself it was just a job.
Because deep down, part of me liked the challenge.
Because sometimes… sometimes, when the glass office door closed and it was just us, he looked at me like I was more than an assistant. Like he saw me.
But nothing ever happened. He never crossed the line.
Until yesterday.
Until that moment in the mountain cabin where everything changed and nothing was safe anymore.
---
*Present Day *
I sat in my living room now, back in the city, my phone in my lap like it might bite me. I'd stared at my phone . Looking at the message, he sent. " Wear something white and your job starts tomorrow. Be fully prepared "
Typical Dominic. He always wants to control every single thing around him. I wonder sometimes if he has a softer side.
Wondering what this decision I made holds for me and I was thinking if I should cancel this contract and arrangement. "No I can't, I've given him my word" I said to myself
I told myself it didn't mean anything to be close with the cold Dominic.
Then I remembered all the times I've been in contact and alone with the CEO. It's not like anything would change. It is strictly business and I hope it would come taunting me in the future .
"Let me stop thinking about this, let tomorrow unfold by itself" , I told myself.
I curled my legs beneath me, grabbed the remote, and turned on the TV just to drown out the silence. That was when my phone lit up again
Dominic Vale.
My breath caught.
I opened the message.
Tomorrow. Seven PM. The black car will pick you up. Wear something white.
That was it.
No explanation. . Just a command.
I stared at the words for a long time.
Wear something white?
For what?
A date? A public event? A wedding?
My fingers hovered over the screen. I should've asked for details. I should've demanded answers.
But instead, all I could do was whisper, "What the hell are you planning, Dominic?"
And somewhere deep down, a quiet voice answered: Something that will change everything.. I hoped the quiet voice was just one of my irrational thinking.