COULD YOU DANCE WITH ME? MY EX IS WATCHING

The boardroom felt devoid of oxygen. Sarah stared at the silver cufflink resting on the polished mahogany, her mind spinning wildly.

Julian Sterling. The man who had held her, defended her, and looked at her with such profound intensity was the ruthless tycoon who had just acquired her life’s work.

“I value loyalty, precision, and honesty,” Julian began, his voice snapping her back to reality. He paced slowly behind the executive chairs. “Vanguard has been bleeding money for three years due to redundant leadership and stolen designs. That ends today.”

He read off four names. Four senior partners. “Your severance packages are with HR. Clear your desks by noon.”

The room erupted into panicked murmurs, but Julian’s gaze cut through the noise, silencing them instantly. He turned to the remaining staff.

“The rest of you will be competing for the lead architect position on the new Waterfront Initiative. I want proposals by Friday.” Julian closed his folder. “Miss Hayes. A word.”

Sarah’s stomach plummeted. The remaining staff shot her looks of pity as they hurriedly filed out. She stood up, her knees betraying a slight tremor, and walked to the head of the table.

Julian stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the rain batter the glass. In the cold daylight of the office, he looked even more imposing than he had at the gala.

“Mr. Sterling,” she started, trying to keep her voice professional, despite the memory of his hand on her waist burning in her mind. “If this is about Saturday night, I had no idea who you were. I would never have approached you if—”

“You wouldn’t have approached me?” He turned, his dark eyes locking onto hers. There was a challenge there. “Why? Because my title changes the fact that you needed a shield?”

“Because it’s a conflict of interest,” she replied, lifting her chin. She refused to let him see how much he rattled her. “And I don’t want anyone in this firm thinking I secured my job because I flirted with the new CEO at a charity gala.”

Julian took a slow step toward her. The air between them instantly thickened. “Did you flirt with me, Sarah?”

She swallowed, heat rising to her cheeks. “I asked for a favor.”

“And I gave it.” He reached out and picked up the silver cufflink from the table. “He dropped this when I grabbed his wrist. Your former partner. Marcus, correct?”

Sarah nodded, a knot forming in her stomach. “He’s… not a good person.”

“I am aware.” Julian walked back to the head of the table and opened his leather folder. “Because he works for our primary rival, Apex Design. And according to my security team, he has been accessing our servers for the past six months.”

Sarah froze. “What?”

“Apex has underbid Vanguard on our last four major projects. Their designs were remarkably similar to ours.” Julian held her gaze, his expression unreadable. “And the IP address used to access our servers was traced to your personal laptop, Miss Hayes.”

The room spun. Sarah gripped the back of a leather chair to steady herself. “No. No, that’s impossible. I would never steal from this company. I poured five years of my life into Vanguard.”

“I know,” Julian said softly. The harshness in his tone vanished, replaced by something that looked entirely too much like empathy. “I read your file. I looked at your original drafts. The timestamps prove you created the designs weeks before Apex submitted them. You didn’t steal them, Sarah.”

He paused, letting the silence stretch. “He stole them from you.”

The realization hit her like a physical blow. Marcus. During the last few months of their relationship, he had always complained his computer was broken. He had borrowed hers constantly. He had praised her work, asked to see her sketches, feigned interest in her career.

He hadn't been loving her. He had been harvesting her.

“He used me,” she whispered, the betrayal burning sharp and bitter in the back of her throat.

“Yes,” Julian said simply. “Which is why I cannot fire you. Because if I do, he wins. And as I mentioned on Saturday, I do not let bullies win.”

Sarah looked up at him, her vision slightly blurred with unshed tears of rage. “Why are you telling me this? You could have just quietly let me go. You don’t know me.”

Julian looked at her for a long, heavy moment. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, worn object, setting it gently on the table next to the cufflink.

It was a silver fountain pen. Tarnished, heavy, engraved with three distinct initials: A.T.H.

Arthur Thomas Hayes.

Sarah stopped breathing. Her hand shot out, her fingers trembling as they brushed the cool metal. “This… this is my father’s pen. He lost it ten years ago. How do you have this?”

Julian’s jaw tightened. He looked away, out into the gray rain. “We have a great deal to discuss, Sarah. But not here. There is a corporate retreat this weekend at the Sterling Estate in Aspen. The board will be there. You need to be there.”

“To present my proposal?” she asked, clutching her father’s pen to her chest.

“No,” Julian said, turning back to her with a look of absolute resolve. “To expose Marcus. But you must trust me completely.”

Sarah looked down at the pen, then up at the billionaire who seemed to hold all the pieces of her broken life in his hands.

“I’ll be there,” she said.

Before he could respond, the office door swung open. A little girl, no older than six, burst into the room. She had dark curls, Julian’s intense eyes, and was wearing a bright yellow raincoat.

“Daddy!” she cried, running straight into Julian’s legs.

Julian’s entire demeanor shattered. The ruthless CEO melted away, replaced by a man who scooped the little girl up, burying his face in her curls. “Lily-bug. What are you doing here? Where is Maria?”

A flustered nanny hurried into the room a second later, apologizing profusely.

But Lily wasn’t paying attention to her nanny. She peered over Julian’s shoulder, her big brown eyes locking onto Sarah.

Lily gasped. She wiggled out of Julian’s arms, ran over to Sarah, and pointed a small, trembling finger at the antique gold locket resting against Sarah’s collarbone.