Chapter 4
LYRA
“Request denied.”
Julian’s tone is hard, leaving no room for discussion.
But before Anya even has a chance to react, Alexander's voice rings out.
“You will see me, Julian, whether you want to or not!”
Alexander pushes past Anya into the office. He’s dressed in a navy suit, his hair freshly cut, his cuff links catching the light. He looks polished and expensive.
He also looks like a man who’s already decided that he’s going to get exactly what he wants.
“Morning, J,” he says, sidling into the office.
He doesn’t sit. Instead, he stands in the center of the room, doing his best to project confidence and control.
But I know him well enough to understand the insecurity that lies just beneath the surface.
“Interesting night last night, don’t you think? Everyone’s talking about it.”
“Good,” Julian replies.
“Not for you, it isn’t.” Alexander’s gaze slides to me. “Lyra, what the hell are you doing here?”
“I’m working, Alexander. We’re working,” I say, keeping my voice calm and level.
“Are you?” he smirks. “Or are you playing a little role here with my half-brother, intending to make me mad? Maybe even a little jealous?”
I scoff and roll my eyes.
“You think too much of yourself,” Julian says before I can respond.
“The world doesn’t revolve around you, no matter how much you may believe otherwise.
” He nods toward me. “She’s here because you let her get away, like the fool you are.
I’m fortunate that she was willing to come back here after the way you treated her. ”
Tingles crawl up the back of my neck, but I stay silent. Nothing I could say would make the situation any better.
“I’m sure,” Alexander says, shaking his head as he regards me.
Julian narrows his eyes again. “Enough.” He doesn’t raise his voice. He doesn’t need to. “Say what you came to say.”
“Fine.” Alexander straightens. For a moment, the mask slips and I see something real underneath—not charm, not attitude, but a desperate, burning neediness, an overwhelming desire to matter.
It’s always been there, buried under all the narcissism.
“I want Sophia reinstated. She was doing a perfectly adequate job before you decided to make a spectacle—”
Julian cuts him off. “She was incompetent. You promoted her because you were fucking her.”
“How the hell would you know?” Alexander fires back. “You’ve been gone for three years!”
“You’re a damn fool if you think I haven’t been keeping a close eye on this company. That’s how I know how you’ve been running it into the ground.”
Alexander narrows his eyes into hateful little slits. He sweeps his hand toward me. “I don’t care what you say. She’s only here because you want to humiliate me.”
Something about him standing there, pouting like an immature little kid, pushes buttons I didn’t know I even had. I open my mouth to fire something back, but Julian gives me a pointed look, one that says to close it.
“Once again, you’re making the mistake of thinking the world revolves around you,” Julian says. “It doesn’t. This morning doesn’t even revolve around you. Now, if you’d—”
“Bullshit!” Alexander shouts. “You’re lying to my face, trying to tell me that bringing Lyra back is some noble business-centered decision. You did it to get to me, and I don’t appreciate the game—”
Before he can finish, Julian rises from his desk and strides over, closing the distance between them in an instant. He stops a foot away from Alexander, looming over him. The height difference is glaringly evident.
“I brought Lyra back because she’s the best event coordinator this company has had since my mother died. And you drove her away because your ego couldn’t tolerate a woman who outperformed you.” His tone is low, steady, and merciless. “You never deserved her, not for a single day.”
The air between them feels like it’s going to combust at any moment. I can see the vein throbbing in Alexander’s temple, the slight tremor to his hand. For one long moment, I think he might take a swing.
But he doesn’t. Instead, he takes a step back.
“This isn’t over,” he says quietly.
Julian says nothing.
“A board meeting’s been called,” Alexander says with a sneer.
“I know you love the idea of being able to stride back into this place and take your seat on the throne, but that’s not going to happen.
Your reinstatement isn’t ratified, and I’m going to make sure that it never is.
Enjoy the corner office while you still have it. ”
He snorts, then casts one more pissy little glance in my direction before striding out.
Julian stands motionless for a long moment. Then he turns, steps over to the window, and looks out in silence. A tense few moments follow before I break the silence.
“He’s bluffing,” I say.
“He’s not.” He doesn’t turn to face me as he slips his phone out of his pocket.
“But a board vote requires a quorum, and Alexander doesn’t have one.
Not yet at least. I need to make a few calls.
What Alexander can accomplish with a few social media posts, I can counter with hard facts and some pointed reminders. ”
“That sounds ominous.”
“It should.”
He sets the phone down and regards me with a strange look. The wall that he put up when Alexander arrived seems to be coming down. The room feels smaller—in a good way. The atmosphere is lighter.
He comes over to the other side of the desk and sits down on the edge.
“Lyra.”
“Julian.”
“You should go back to your office. I’m sure you’ve got quite a bit of settling in to do.”
“Yeah, I should. I do.”
But neither of us moves. His gaze drops to my mouth—just for a second, but it’s impossible to ignore. The tightness in my body that’s been a constant since I walked in amps up until it’s a full-body pull, magnetic and irresistible. I want to lean forward into his arms, close my eyes, and—
The door opens again.
“Julian.” A man’s voice, clipped and professional, fills the room. There’s an undercurrent of urgency to his tone.
I stand and step back, putting distance between Julian and myself, as if I’d nearly been busted in the act of doing something I shouldn’t have been doing.
Turning around, I see a tall, sharp-featured man in a dark suit standing in the doorway.
I’m guessing he’s in his mid-thirties, and he’s built like someone who knows how to handle himself.
His eyes flick to me, taking a quick assessment, then they slide back to Julian.
“Ethan,” Julian says.
I don’t know who this man is, but he must be high up on Julian’s list if he’s able to barge into his office without Julian protesting.
“Lyra, this is Ethan Kang, my head of security.” Julian says, introducing us. Ethan nods politely. “Ethan, Lyra Thibodeaux, head of event planning.”
I open my mouth to say, “Nice to meet you,” but Ethan’s already turned his attention back to Julian.
“We have a problem,” Ethan says. “The Morozov syndicate just declared for Dobrov. They’re backing his motion to contest your leadership at the council.”
The atmosphere shifts and Julian’s posture changes.
“How many votes does that give him?”
“Not enough. But it’s one more than he had yesterday. And it’s one that we didn’t expect to lose.”
Julian nods slowly. Behind his eyes I can see him recalculating, then he turns his attention to me.
“Lyra, go set up your office. The foundation binder has everything you need to get started. We’ll speak again this afternoon.”
“Of course.” I gather the binder from the chair and nod at Ethan. He nods back, and I hurry out.
Anya catches my eye from her desk and raises her eyebrows, then mouths, “All good?”
I give her a thumbs-up, but the truth of the matter is I don’t know. The meeting had been short, and I’m already learning how shaky things are underneath Julian’s feet.
And therefore, mine.
I hurry down one corridor and then another until I find my office. I slide into the chair behind my new desk, taking a second to allow myself a brief view of the city through my office windows before turning my attention to the binder.
But I don’t read a single word. All I can think about is the way Julian was looking at me before Ethan walked in, like I was the only thing in the world that mattered, like he wanted to stop time for thirty seconds just to see what would happen if he kissed me.
I shake my head, pick up my pen, and start reading.
There’s work to do.