Chapter 5
Eloise's POV
For one horrible second..
I genuinely thought Zev might fire me.
Or worse.
The look in his eyes as he stood near the office door wasn't normal anger.
It was something darker.
My pulse jumped painfully inside my chest.
"I can explain," I said quickly.
"Can you?"
His voice remained calm as he walked toward me slowly.
And somehow that calmness felt more threatening than shouting.
My eyes flickered once toward the photograph again.
"I wasn't trying to invade your privacy."
"Yet somehow you continuously end up inside my office touching things that don't concern you."
"I wasn't touching anything."
"Semantics."
God.
This man was impossible.
I forced myself to stay calm.
"I only came to drop the files from the board meeting."
"Then you should've dropped them and left."
My frustration finally pushed through the nervousness.
"Well maybe I would've if you didn't keep disappearing mysteriously every few hours."
The silence afterward felt deadly.
Oops.
Zev stopped walking.
His gray eyes locked onto mine coldly.
"You are dangerously curious for someone new here."
I crossed my arms instinctively despite the anxiety crawling through me.
"And you're suspicious , for someone running a legal company."
The second the words left my mouth…
I regretted them.
Immediately.
His eyes went hard, the joke was over.
"You should learn something quickly, Eloise."
Hearing my first name from him made the moment worse.
"The less you involve yourself in my personal affairs, the longer you'll survive inside this company."
Survive.
A chill crawled slowly down my spine.
My eyes moved briefly toward the photograph again.
"That picture," I asked carefully. "Why do you have a picture with my father?"
The silence stretched heavily between us.
"Leave."
I blinked.
"What?"
"I won't repeat myself."
His voice had gone ice cold again.
"Get out!."
Something about the look in his eyes told me pushing further would've been a terrible idea.
So I grabbed my bag quietly and walked toward the door.
But just before I left…
Zev spoke again.
"This is your final warning."
I paused.
"Stop searching for things you don't understand."
Then he looked directly at me, his stare pinned me in place.
"Some truths ruin people."
Those words followed me all the way home.
********
"I think your boss is secretly a serial killer."
Ivy almost choked on her drink.
"What?"
I dropped onto the couch .
"I'm serious."
"You've been working there for two days."
"And already I've seen bruised knuckles, blood, terrifying board meetings, suspicious disappearances and secret photographs of my father inside his office."
Ivy slowly lowered her glass.
"Wait."
Her expression changed slightly.
"What photograph?"
I frowned.
"There was an old picture inside Zev's office. Harold was in it."
Ivy was silent.
"Ivy?"
She looked away too quickly.
"Maybe it was business related."
"Then why did Zev look like he wanted to bury me alive after I saw it?"
Ivy didn't answer immediately.
Which honestly made everything worse.
I leaned back against the couch tiredly.
"I swear that man is hiding something."
"You're overthinking."
"No," I muttered quietly. "I don't think I am."
The apartment became silent for a moment.
Then Ivy sighed softly.
"Maybe you should quit."
I looked at her immediately.
"Seriously?"
"You've only worked there two days and already weird things are happening."
I laughed quietly.
"You sound paranoid."
"You sound reckless."
I opened my mouth to respond… then stopped.
Because suddenly memories hit me unexpectedly.
Three years ago.
The betrayal and humiliation.
Walking out of the Ashton mansion with two suitcases and nowhere else to go.
I swallowed slowly.
"No," I said quietly. "I'm not quitting."
Ivy's expression softened instantly because she understood immediately.
I had already rebuilt my life once.
I wasn't running away again.
Three years earlier.
If someone had told me I would one day be living inside a small apartment working a corporate job…
I would've laughed.
Back then I was Harold Ashton's daughter.
Ashton 's daughter.
Rich.
Protected.
Engaged.
Stupid.
I thought Nolan loved me.
I thought Camille loved me too.
Until the night I walked into the hotel suite and found them in bed.
My fiancé and my sister.
I closed my eyes briefly against the memory.
The worst part wasn't even the betrayal.
It was my family's reaction afterward.
Camille crying.
Nolan apologizing.
And Harold told me calmly…
"Don't create a scandal over emotions."
Like my humiliation was an inconvenience.
Like I should quietly accept it.
I left three days later.
And I never went back.
I never went back to the life everybody expected me to continue living.
I met Ivy in high school.
She was the only person who didn't care about the Ashton name.
And somehow…
She became a family long before I realized I needed one.
My phone vibrated suddenly beside me.
Unknown Number.
Again.
Every muscle in my body tightened instantly.
I opened the message slowly.
And my blood ran cold immediately.
«This is the last time I will warn you.
Stay away from Zev Castor.
One day you'll regret not listening.»
For a second I couldn't breathe.
"Ivy…"
She looked up immediately.
Then she saw my face.
And this time…fear appeared in hers too.
Two weeks.
Two entire weeks working under Zev Castor.
And somehow…
I still hadn't decided whether he was a genius, a psychopath or both.
The anonymous numbers had stopped messaging me days ago.
No more warnings.
No more threats.
Nothing.
But strangely enough that silence unnerved me more than the messages.
Because people usually stopped warning you right before something bad happened.
"You're glaring at that dress like it slept with your ex," Ivy said from my bedroom doorway.
I looked up tiredly.
"I don't want to go."
"You don't have a choice."
Unfortunately that was true.
Tonight was Aether Global's luxury launch event for one of Zev's newest international projects.
Meaning there will be executives, investors, politicians, rich and powerful people pretending to enjoy each other.
Hell.
I adjusted the dark green dress reluctantly while staring at myself in the mirror.
Still elegant.
Still expensive looking.
Still not me anymore.
