Chapter 2 - THE MAN BEHIND THE PERFECT SUIT|
Sera discovered who Adrian Vale was the following morning, when her roommate, Tessa, nearly choked on her coffee.
“You spilled wine on Adrian Vale?”
“I spilled wine on a man.”
“A man who owns half the buildings downtown.”
“Then he can afford another jacket.”
Tessa stared at her.
“You really have no survival instinct.”
Sera ignored her and opened her laptop. Her manuscript was due for submission to a small literary agency in six weeks, assuming she could finish the last three chapters and stop picking up extra shifts to cover rent.
Writing was the only part of her life that belonged entirely to her.
She had spent eleven months creating a heroine who recognized the humanity hidden beneath a dangerous man's reputation. Unfortunately, her fictional hero had recently become boring, and her real-life encounter had given her several ideas she didn't particularly want to explore.
At lunchtime, the catering manager called.
“Mr. Vale's office contacted us. He wants to speak with you about your writing.”
Sera frowned.
“My writing?”
“Apparently, he saw something on your phone. There's an appointment available tomorrow afternoon.”
“I'm not interested.”
The manager lowered his voice.
“Sera, he personally requested you. The company would appreciate your cooperation.”
That was how she found herself the next day inside a private office on the forty-third floor of a building overlooking the Chicago River.
Adrian stood beside a window, his jacket replaced by a black shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows.
Without the formal suit, he looked less like a businessman and more like a man who had spent too many nights fighting battles nobody else could see.
“You came,” he said.
“I was told refusing might affect my shifts.”
His expression hardened.
“Who told you that?”
“My manager.”
“I didn't authorize anyone to threaten your employment.”
Sera studied him, searching for the manipulation hidden behind the statement.
“Then why am I here?”
Adrian placed a printed page on the desk.
It contained the sentence from her manuscript.
“I want to know why you wrote this.”
“Because it fit the character.”
“Which character?”
“The man who believes being feared is safer than being loved.”
Silence settled between them.
For an instant, she saw something shift behind his eyes.
Then Adrian pulled out a chair.
“Tell me about your novel.”
She should have left. Everything she'd read about him suggested that powerful men rarely offered opportunities without expecting something in return.
But he listened when she spoke.
He asked questions about her characters, remembered their names, and noticed when she became embarrassed about admitting she'd never published anything.
When she finally stood, Adrian said, “You shouldn't have to work three jobs to write a book.”
Sera froze.
“How do you know about my jobs?”
“I asked questions.”
“That sounds dangerously close to investigating me.”
“It is.”
She stared at him.
He didn't apologize.
Instead, he handed her an envelope containing the name of a literary consultant.
“No strings attached. She helped publish two authors I admire.”
Sera didn't take it immediately.
“Why would you help me?”
Adrian's voice softened.
“Because somebody once told me that people who never finish their dreams eventually become very good at destroying other people's.”
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For the first time, Sera wondered whether the rumors about him told the whole story.
She also wondered why a man with everything money could buy looked at her unfinished manuscript as though it contained something he'd lost.
