Veronica’s face changed.
I had never told him what she said.
“How did you—”
“My office door was open when I came off the elevator.”
He had heard.
Every word.
The shoes.
The hair.
The little mouse.
Invisible.
Veronica recovered quickly.
“I was teasing her.”
“No.”
One word ended that excuse.
“You were cruel because you believed she had no power to answer you.”
Veronica’s jaw tightened.
“And now you’re defending her because she works for you?”
Preston looked at me.
Something in his face changed.
It was the same shift I had noticed for months and always convinced myself I imagined.
Except this time he did not hide it.
“No,” he said.
My fingers tightened around the edge of the folder.
Veronica stared at him.
Preston came around the table until he was standing beside me.
Close, but not touching.
Never assuming.
Then he addressed Veronica with the same calm voice he had used during the negotiation.
“I’m defending Paige because she deserves respect.
I’m keeping her in that room because she earned her place.
Those are professional facts.”
He paused.
“What I’m about to say is personal.”
I could hear my heartbeat.
Veronica’s lips parted.
Preston looked directly at me.
“I have noticed you from the first week you worked here.”
The folder nearly slipped from my hands.
He continued before I could speak.
“I noticed you stayed late to rebuild a schedule after three departments changed it in one afternoon.
I noticed you never blamed anyone when the error wasn’t yours.
I noticed you read every contract you organized instead of treating the pages like paper you were paid to move.”
My throat tightened.
“I noticed you, Paige.”
Veronica’s face had gone completely pale.
Preston’s eyes never left mine.
“And since apparently there has been some confusion about whether I could ever see you as more than my assistant, I’ll remove the confusion.”
The room seemed impossibly quiet.
“You are the woman I want.”
I forgot how to breathe.
He did not say it possessively.
He did not announce that I belonged to him.
He said it like a man placing his own secret on the table and accepting whatever happened next.
Veronica stared between us.
“You cannot be serious.”
Preston finally looked at her.
