Chapter 3

SABLE

I never thought I would spend my first morning in the city trying to sneak back into my own apartment.

But I had a grandfather to consider.

The alarm had gone off at seven. By the time I woke up, the bed beside me was empty and the entire hotel had transformed overnight into a busy lobby. I had pulled myself together the best I could, called an uber, and came back.

This was my first day at Saratoga Corporations. I could not afford to be late.

So there I was with my heels in my hand, my stomach pressed against the window ledge and my head halfway through.

"Sable." Grandpa's voice came from directly in front of me."What exactly are you trying to do?”

I froze like a deer caught in headlights.

He sat in his wheelchair with both hands folded in his lap.

"Are you trying to burgle your own apartment?”

“Grandpa… it's not what it looks like.”

"My limbs may still be recovering, but my eyes work just fine. Where are you coming from?”

“I-I… Grandpa…”

“You're horrible when it comes to sneaking out, and lying. Think twice before you tell me a lie, child.”

I slipped through the window fully and stood in front of him. Thankfully the coat covered my dress and I had taken off my makeup and wig.

I hated lying to him. I really did.

But I had to.

“Ivanna and the girls wanted to celebrate us moving out of the ghetto and this new job, apartment… the entire relocation.” I scratched the back of my neck. “We did a lot of fun activities and I didn't even realize that we had ended up falling asleep out of tiredness.”

He crossed his arms.

“Why didn't you tell me about this party?”

“Uh… she told me about it late, past bedtime. I didn't want to wake you.”

Grandpa was quiet for a moment. But for some reason he settled on grumbling and not probing. Phew.

“Alright. I'll make you breakfast, go up and prepare for work.”

I shook my head stubbornly. He knew very well that I overly insisted he focused on recovering fully rather than doing anything else.

"Grandpa, no, let me do it, I'll scramble some eggs."

He blocked me with his wheelchair.

"Child," he said, "I love you more than anything in this world. But your eggs taste like peppery cardboard." He resumed his path to the kitchen. "I'll make congee and steamed buns. No arguments."

I pursed my lips into a line.

"But..."

He disappeared into the kitchen before I could argue any further.

"Okay, Grandpa," I called toward the kitchen. "I'm going to shower." And apply some pain relieving tube cream to my joints.

His voice floated back.

"Then stop standing there talking to me and get going.”

[AT SARATOGA CORPORATIONS]

The lobby of Saratoga Biotech was everything. High ceilings, pristine walls—i was too excited to name every peculiar feature. Unfortunately my nerves dulled the excitement when I realized that I looked like a mishap on a monday morning.

I had one shoe in my hand and I was limping barefooted on my left. Thirty seconds after I had gotten out of traffic, someone bumped into me. It was an awful collision.

At least my hair was still in place.

Christina was waiting for me at the desk with an expression that could only be described as profound professional disappointment. She was the outgoing assistant I was replacing.

A frown was evident on her expression.

“What is this?”

"I just need some glue for the heel. I'm so sorry I'm late I just moved into the apartment yesterday and the traffic was— "

"Excuses. Do you want to lose this job?”

I went weak in the knees with rising panic. .

“No, please, I cannot afford to lose this job.”

She looked at me for a long moment.

"Your resume was impressive. I'll give you that. But you have no prior experience and there were candidates with considerably more influence than you sitting in that waiting room." She crossed her arms. "The boss's cousin saw something in your application. I don't know what it was, nor does anyone else. But he took a chance on you, and I am telling you now that if you waste that chance, there will not be another one.”

My stomach tightened but I nodded.

"Come with me." She walked away and I followed, limping, past the reception desk and down a corridor lined with people who openly gawked as I passed.

We reached a supply closet and she pulled it open, scanned the shelf, and produced a pair of black heels.

"These should be your size." She held them out. "Return them to me first thing tomorrow morning. They are my spares. Do not expand them with your corn dog toes."

"I..I actually have medium sized toes..." She shot me a glare. "Thank you." I said instead and took them. "And congratulations on your promotion."

She grinned at that and then produced a clipboard and pen from under her arm and held them toward me.

"This is for his schedule. You'll use it to track everything ranging from meetings, calls, briefings, travel and all of that." She began walking again and I changed shoes on one foot and then the other while following her toward the staircase.

"He?" I nearly stepped on my feet. "I thought the boss was a woman?"

"The acting CEO was a woman, she is the boss's aunt. She has been transferred to oversee the Singapore branch. The person whose personal assistant you'll be is the head of the company himself. Do you have a problem with that?"

I shook my head.

"No. Not at all.”

"Good. His name is Alaric Evander Leighton. You will address him as Mr. Leighton at all times. You will be formal and composed in his presence and you will not be... whatever this morning was." She gestured briefly at all of me.

I nodded.

"Understood."

"Stop shaking like a twig."

"I'm not. " I was. "Okay. I'm sorry, I'm just nervous."

First day jitters were a pain in the bum.

We reached the top of the staircase and she pointed down a hallway to the left.

"The first door is your bus stop, he's expecting his new assistant so don't bother knocking, you're already late. Just go in." She stopped walking. This was as far as she went. "And Sable," She said my name for the first time. "Try not to fuck this up for yourself.”

“I won't. I promise. I'll try.”

She rolled her eyes at the fact that I was still a nervous wreck and turned back down the stairs. I did one last touch up at my appearance, especially at my hair to make sure that it was still in place. And then I held the doorknob and pushed the door open.

I walked the hallway alone. Clipboard in hand, Christina's heels on my feet, hair still in place by some miracle of God, and I crossed my fingers and pushed the door open.

My boss looked up from his computer the moment I entered. His eyes found me before I had fully crossed the threshold and stayed there.

"Good morning, sir. I'm so sorry I'm late on my first day. Circumstances beyond my control happened, but I promise you it won't happen again."

He answered immediately, slowly with a neutral expression on his face.

"I do not tolerate tardiness."

"I'm really sor—"

Wait a minute.

His voice,

His eyes…

That voice moved through me exactly the way it had on sunday night, like something poured into the base of my spine, and my response died halfway out of my throat.

No... It couldn't be.

My boss was... Mr. X?