From day one, Elena realized how much of the company revolved around Alexander Cole. The whispers in the break room, the way women straightened their blouses whenever he passed, the glances traded like currency whenever he entered a meeting.
Some of the younger assistants practically competed for his attention dressing sharper, laughing louder, angling for the rare smile he occasionally bestowed. It was almost a sport, a quiet contest that everyone pretended didn't exist but played anyway.
Elena?
She wanted none of it.
He was exactly the type of man she avoided wealthy, confident to the point of arrogance, untouchable. A man who lived in glass offices and made decisions that sent half the building into a frenzy. She buried herself in her work, determined to rise by merit, not by the flutter of lashes or flirtatious smiles.
And yet… she caught herself noticing him.
The way he commanded a room without raising his voice. The way his sharp mind sliced through reports that left others fumbling. The way his cufflinks glinted as he signed documents with effortless precision. Even the low rumble of his voice when he issued instructions had a way of lingering longer than it should.
She told herself it wasn't attraction. Just observation. Purely professional.
Still, when he entered the conference room during her first departmental presentation, her pulse tripped over itself. His gaze lingered not on the slides, not on the charts, but on her. Long enough that she lost her place for a second. Long enough that Sophie nudged her under the table with a knowing smirk.
By Elena's third month at Cole Investigations, she had learned two things about Alexander Cole: he was brilliant, and he was also insufferable.
He demanded perfection from his staff. Reports with missing details were sent back with curt notes. Presentations were torn apart if a single number was questionable. He didn't shout he didn't need to. His disapproval was sharper than any raised voice. Crisp. Precise. Unrelenting.
The others seemed to thrive on it. Some whispered that his standards kept them sharp. Others treated every tiny nod of approval from him like winning a prize. A few even looked proud when he corrected them it meant he had noticed their work at all.
Elena, however, found him exhausting.
Yes, his mind was impressive, but his arrogance? Unbearable. The man never smiled unless it was sarcastic. He rarely gave praise, and when he did, it was so minimal it felt like an insult. Once, after she spent an entire weekend fixing a mess another team created, he'd said, "Acceptable work."
Acceptable.
She had nearly thrown her pen at him.
"He thinks he's God's gift to the corporate world," she muttered one day to her colleague and close friend Sophie, after yet another meeting where Alexander had cut her off mid-sentence.
Sophie stifled a laugh. "Careful. Half the office worships him. You'll get yourself exiled."
"Let them worship," Elena snapped, slamming a file shut. "I'm here to work, not to join his fan club."
But no matter how much she dismissed him, she couldn't ignore how often he challenged her. It was as though he sought her outpicking at her reports, questioning her strategies, making her defend every decision. He would stand behind her during team meetings, arms crossed, eyes sharp, asking questions no one else dared to ask.
And the worst part?
He was usually right.
Which only made her dislike him more.
Sometimes, when everyone else left the office, she caught herself replaying their arguments not because she was frustrated, but because, beneath the irritation, there was something undeniably exhilarating about matching wits with him. Something that felt like wildfire under her skin.
Still, she told herself she didn't like him.
She told herself she would never like him.
But Alexander Cole the brilliant, infuriating storm of a man had already noticed her. And no matter how hard she tried to pretend otherwise, she felt the shift in the air every time he entered a room.