Chapter 3 The playboy CEO

No one spoke for a full 60 seconds after he walked in. It wasn’t silence from respect. It was silence from recognition.

Everyone in the room knew who Adrian Vale was. 

He wasn’t just rich, he was visible, painfully, constantly visible.

And he carried that visibility like a second skin.

He moved to the front of the room slowly with his hands in his pockets, his eyes sweeping across us with disinterest of a man who had seen better things than a room full of nervous new hires.

Then his gaze reached me again. I felt it like it was a physical touch. My fingers tightened around the folder on my lap. I dropped my eyes immediately, staring down at the company logo printed on the paper as if it contained the secrets of the universe.

"Don’t look up".

"Don’t react".

A woman beside me leaned slightly and whispered, “Oh my God, he’s even finer in real life.”

I didn’t answer. My heart was beating so loudly I was afraid the entire room could hear it. 

He cleared his throat softly, and the sound alone commanded attention.

“Welcome to Vale Group,” he said.

That was his voice, I remembered his voice, Low, calm and controlled.

The same voice that had murmured in my ear in the elevator that night. The same voice that had asked, “Are you sure?” before anything happened.

Except now it carried authority and weight.

“I won’t take much of your time,” he continued. “You were hired because you’re qualified. Do your jobs well, and we will never have a problem.”

A few people chuckled nervously.

He didn’t smile.

“This company runs on results, not excuses.”

My stomach made a loud noise as a result of hunger, I remembered I had skipped breakfast this morning.

I risked a glance up. He wasn’t looking at the room anymore, he was looking at me again, like he was speaking to me alone.

I looked down so fast almost hurting my neck.

Why was he staring? I kept wondering 

Did he remember me that clearly?

Or was he just trying to place me?

I wished desperately that I had changed my hairstyle, worn glasses or done something to make myself less recognizable. But it was too late.

“I’ll leave you with HR,” he finished. “Good luck.”

He stepped back.

The tension in the room dissolved instantly into whispers.

“Wow.”

“That was short.”

“He’s so serious.”

“Did you see his watch?”

“Did you see his face?”

I didn’t join in.

I couldn’t.

As he turned to leave, his eyes stole a glance at me one last time.

And this time, there was no confusion in them, only certainty. He remembered me.

I was sure he did.

The rest of the orientation passed in a blur. Names, departments, policies, benefits. I could barely pay attention or listen to anything. All I could think about was the way he had looked at me, not surprised or shocked but interested.

When we were finally dismissed, everyone stood up at once, chairs scraping loudly against the floor as conversations broke out.

I stayed seated for a moment longer, pretending to arrange my papers.

I didn’t want to walk out into the hallway and risk running into him.

I didn’t want to exist anywhere near him.

“Hey,” the woman beside me said. “Which department are you in?”

“Admin,” I replied automatically.

“Same! I’m Tasha.”

“Nina.” I responded.

She smiled brightly. “We’re going to be fine. If the CEO himself came to orientation, this place must be serious.”

I forced a smile.

Serious wasn’t the word I would use.

We walked out together into the corridor, joining the stream of new employees heading toward the elevators.

My eyes scanned the hallway instinctively to make sure he wasn’t there.

I felt relief. Maybe that was it, maybe he would go back to his office and forget I existed again. Maybe he had only stared because I looked familiar. Maybe he wouldn’t approach me.

Maybe..

The elevator doors opened.

And he stepped out.

Right in front of us. I almost collapsed.

Tasha stopped talking mid-sentence.

People parted automatically, creating a path for him without being asked.

He walked forward, and for one horrible second, I thought he would pass by.

But he didn’t, He stopped right in front of me, up close, he was even more overwhelming. Taller than I remembered, sharper. The faint scent of his cologne hit me, and my mind betrayed me by remembering how close I had been to him before.

He looked at me steadily like he was assessing me.

“You,” he said quietly.

My throat went dry.

Tasha looked between us in confusion.

“Yes… sir?” I managed.

He tilted his head slightly, studying my face like a puzzle he had already solved.

“Nina,” he said. It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Cold shivers ran down my spine. How did he know my name.

He had probably memorized the list of new hires or maybe he had asked.

That thought made my chest tighten.

“You work in admin,” he continued.

“Yes, sir.”

A pause followed.

His gaze didn’t move away from my face.

“Are you settling in well?”

This was not a normal CEO conversation.

People were staring now.

Tasha was staring hardest of all.

“Yes, sir,” I said again.

He nodded once, slow.

“Good.”

He stepped aside and just like that, the moment ended.

He walked past us and down the hallway without another word. The elevator doors closed behind him and the corridor exploded into whispers.

“Did you see that?”

“He knows her name?”

“Are they related?”

“Maybe she’s someone important?”

Tasha grabbed my arm. “What was that?!”

“I… I don’t know,” I said truthfully.

But my hands were shaking, because that had not been a casual interaction.

That was a confirmation that he clearly remembered me and he wasn’t pretending otherwise.

The rest of the day felt like walking through fog.

I was shown to my desk and introduced to my supervisors. I was given login details and passwords.

Every time someone said “Mr. Vale,” my heart jumped, every time footsteps passed behind me, I stiffened, every time my phone buzzed, I somehow expected it to be him.

By lunchtime, I realized something else, people talked about him constantly.

Not like a boss, but like he was a celebrity.

“Did you see who he came with to the charity ball last week?”

“They say he bought his last girlfriend a car after two dates.”

“He never dates the same woman for more than a month.”

“I heard he once sent flowers to five different women on the same day.”

There was laughter awe and admiration.

I kept my eyes on my computer screen.

My head felt heavy because I had not known any of this that night.

I had just thought he was a confident stranger with kind eyes and an easy smile.

I did not known I was stepping into a headline. By the time work ended, I was exhausted, not from tasks but from tension.

As I packed my bag, my phone buzzed with a news notification. Curiosity made me open it, a photo filled my screen.

Adrian Vale...

From last night, walking into a restaurant with a tall, elegant woman in a red dress hanging onto his arm.

The caption read:

#Playboy CEO Spotted With Mystery Beauty Again.

I stared at it for a long time. So this was his life, women, cameras, headlines and somehow, unbelievably, I was now tied to it, in a way no one else was.

I locked my phone and slipped it into my bag. I had to go home to think. I had to figure out what I was going to do.

Because one thing was very clear now.

Adrian Vale did not just remember me.

He had recognized me the moment he saw me, and the way he looked at me in that hallway…

It wasn’t the look of a man who had forgotten a one-night mistake.

It was the look of a man who had just found something he thought he lost.