Chapter 6 - The Ex-Fiancée’s Return
The trap sprung on Thursday evening at 7:00 PM.
The rest of the office had cleared out. I was sitting at my desk finishing the final summary of the European expansion metrics when the private elevator chimed.
I looked up, expecting Cameron, who had been locked in a budget meeting with the CFO for the past two hours.
Instead, out stepped a vision in designer haute couture.
Tall, impossibly elegant, with honey-blonde hair cascading over the shoulders of a white Chanel coat and ice-blue eyes that could freeze boiling water, Victoria Sterling stepped into the executive suite.
I knew her face instantly from society magazines and corporate gala spreads. Victoria Sterling—society heiress, top-tier fashion executive, and Cameron’s recently departed fiancée.
My stomach plummeted straight to the floor.
“You must be the assistant,” Victoria said, her voice smooth as chilled silk, carrying an underlying tone of utter contempt as she swept past my desk without breaking stride.
“Ms. Sterling,” I stood up automatically, my professional instincts kicking in despite the adrenaline spike in my veins. “Mr. Reed is currently in a budget meeting. I can let him know you’re—”
“I don't need an appointment to see my own fiancé,” she interrupted coldly, pushing open the heavy oak doors of Cameron’s office and walking straight in.
Panic seized me. I rushed after her, stepping into the office just as Cameron looked up from his desk, sheer shock freezing him in place.
“Victoria,” Cameron said, standing up slowly. His voice was dangerously guarded. “What are you doing here?”
Victoria closed the distance between them with feline grace, placing a manicured hand against the lapel of his suit jacket. “Cameron, darling, don't be ridiculous. You didn't return my calls for three days. You can't honestly expect me to believe a little temper tantrum means we’re over.”
I stood near the door, feeling like an intruder in a Greek tragedy. Every insecurity I had ever harbored rushed to the surface. Standing next to Victoria Sterling, I felt like a child playing dress-up in kitten pajamas.
Cameron looked down at Victoria’s hand on his chest, then slowly raised his gaze, looking past her shoulder straight at me.
The unspoken message in his dark gray eyes was absolute.
With deliberate, agonizing slowness, Cameron reached up, took Victoria’s wrist, and physically removed her hand from his chest.
Victoria gasped, stepping back in disbelief. “Cameron? Have you lost your mind? Look at her! She’s a glorified secretary! What could she possibly offer you that I don't?”
“Peace,” Cameron answered quietly, his voice cutting through the office like a razor blade.
The silence that followed was absolute.
Victoria’s face twisted from shock into vicious fury. “You’re throwing away our families, our status, our entire life for an assistant? The board will eat you alive, Cameron. Without my family’s backing, your position as CEO is vulnerable, and you know it!”
“Let them try,” Cameron replied coldly, walking around his desk until he was standing beside me. He didn't hesitate. He reached out, taking my hand in his, intertwining his fingers with mine in front of his ex-fiancée.
“It’s over, Victoria,” Cameron said, his voice final. “It has been over since the day you walked out. Leave the building before I have security escort you out.”
Victoria stared at our joined hands, her chest heaving with rage. With a guttural gasp of pure humiliation, she turned on her heel, grabbed her Chanel coat tightly, and stormed out of the office, slamming the private elevator button with enough force to crack the glass panel.
The elevator chimed, whisking her away.
Alone with Cameron again, the adrenaline slowly faded, leaving behind a profound, breathless quiet.
“You realize,” I whispered, looking down at our intertwined fingers, “the board really is going to try to eat you alive now.”
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Cameron smiled, lifting my hand and pressing a soft, lingering kiss to my knuckles.
“Let them,” he murmured, his eyes shining with absolute devotion. “I’ve spent my entire life building an empire of glass and steel. But for the first time, I finally have something real to protect.”
