NATALIE'S POV
"I know who your father is."
Elias's words echo in my head as I stare at him in the empty hallway. My heart hammers against my ribs.
"I don't know what you're talking about," I whisper.
"Yes, you do." Elias steps closer. "Marcus Cross. That's your father's name, isn't it?"
Everything inside me goes numb. This is it. Everything's over.
But then Elias does something unexpected. He glances back toward Adrian's office and lowers his voice even more.
"I haven't told Adrian yet. But I will—unless you give me a good reason not to."
"Why?" My voice shakes. "Why haven't you told him already?"
"Because I want to hear your side first." His eyes soften just a little. "Six months ago, you walked into that office behind us for an interview. I saw the look on your face. You weren't here to cause trouble. You were desperate. So tell me—why are you really here?"
My mind races back to that day. Six months ago. When everything changed.
SIX MONTHS AGO
I stood outside Steele Tower, staring up at the building that seemed to touch the sky. Fifty floors of glass and steel. A monument to power and money—two things I'd never had.
My phone buzzed. Another call from a debt collector. I ignored it. They'd been calling every day since Mom died three weeks ago.
Three weeks. That's all it had been since I held her hand in that hospital room and watched her take her last breath. Cancer had eaten away at her body for two years, and the medical bills had eaten away at everything else.
One hundred and fifty thousand dollars. That's what saving her had cost. That's what I now owed to people who didn't care that she died anyway.
I was drowning in debt, in grief, in a life that felt like it was crushing me from all sides.
And then my father called.
The father who'd abandoned me when I was eight. The father I hadn't heard from in eighteen years. He told me he could help—if I helped him first.
"Get a job at Steele Industries," he'd said. "Adrian Steele destroyed our family. He owes us everything."
I didn't believe him at first. But he sent me proof. Documents, old newspaper articles, evidence that the Steele family had ruined his business. He made it sound like justice. Like fixing a wrong.
And I needed the money. God, I needed the money so badly.
So there I stood, outside Adrian Steele's tower, wearing a suit I'd borrowed from my friend Simone, carrying a resume full of half-truths, about to interview for a job with a man I was supposed to destroy.
My hands wouldn't stop shaking.
I walked inside.
The elevator ride to the fiftieth floor felt like it took forever. When the doors opened, a woman with perfect hair and a cold smile greeted me.
"Natalie Cross? Mr. Steele will see you now."
She led me through glass doors into the biggest office I'd ever seen. And there, behind a desk that looked like it cost more than my entire apartment, sat Adrian Steele.
He didn't look up when I entered. Just kept reading something on his computer screen.
"Sit down, Ms. Cross."
I sat in the chair across from him, gripping my resume so hard the paper crinkled.
Finally, he looked at me.
Those gray eyes hit me like a physical force. Sharp. Intelligent. Dangerous.
"Why do you want this job?" he asked.
I'd practiced my answer a hundred times. Something professional about career growth and learning opportunities.
But when I opened my mouth, the truth came out instead.
"Because I'm drowning, and this is my only lifeline."
The words hung in the air between us. I wanted to take them back, to say something normal, but it was too late.
Adrian leaned back in his chair, studying me. "Explain."
"My mother just died. She had cancer. The treatment cost everything we had and more. I'm buried in medical debt with no way out. I saw your job posting, and the salary..." I swallowed hard. "The salary would change my life."
"So you're desperate."
"Yes."
"Desperate people make mistakes. They cut corners. They steal."
"I won't do any of those things."
"How do I know that?"
I met his eyes directly. "Because my mother raised me better than that. She worked three jobs to keep us afloat after my father left. She taught me that you earn what you get through hard work, not shortcuts. I'm desperate, Mr. Steele, but I'm not a thief."
The lie tasted bitter on my tongue. Because I was about to become exactly that—a thief who'd steal his secrets for my father.
Adrian studied me for what felt like hours. Then he did something that shocked me.
He smiled. Just a tiny curve of his lips, but it transformed his whole face.
"You're honest. I like that." He stood up and held out his hand. "You start Monday. Six AM sharp. Don't be late."
I stared at his outstretched hand, frozen. "What? Just like that?"
"Just like that. Do we have a deal, Ms. Cross?"
I shook his hand. His grip was firm, warm, and sent a strange tingle up my arm.
"Yes. Thank you, Mr. Steele. You won't regret this."
"I better not." He released my hand but held my gaze. "I'm very good at spotting liars, Natalie. So whatever secrets you're keeping—and we all have them—make sure they don't interfere with your work. Understood?"
My blood ran cold. Could he already know? Was this some kind of test?
"Understood," I whispered.
As I left his office, my phone buzzed again. A text from my father.
FATHER: Did you get the job?
I typed back with shaking fingers.
ME: Yes.
FATHER: Good. Now we can finally make him pay.
"So?" Elias's voice snaps me back to the present. "Why are you really here, Natalie?"
Before I can answer, Adrian's office door opens behind us.
"Elias." Adrian's voice cuts through the hallway. "What are you doing with my assistant?"
Elias and I both turn. Adrian stands in his doorway, his eyes moving between us with suspicion.
"Just having a conversation," Elias says calmly.
"About what?"
The silence stretches. I can feel my entire world about to collapse.
Then Elias says something that makes my
heart stop.
"About her father's funeral. She just got word he's dead."