Amelia Hayes stared at the towering glass building before her, clutching her resume as if it were a shield. She had no intention of becoming anyone's secretary, especially not for Adrian Blackwood—a man whose reputation preceded him like a dark cloud. The whispers about him painted a picture of a brilliant yet insufferable tycoon. But bills needed paying, and freelance marketing gigs weren't cutting it. This wasn't her dream job, but it was her only option.
Inside, the air was thick with tension. Employees bustled about, keeping their heads down, almost as if avoiding an unseen storm. Adrian's voice boomed from his office, sharp and unyielding.
"Does no one understand how to follow instructions?" his voice growled through the partially open door. Seconds later, the door swung open, and a young man stumbled out, pale and shaken. "You're fired," Adrian added, cold and final, before slamming the door shut.
Amelia's stomach churned, but she held her ground.
Amelia's interview with Adrian was as hostile as she expected. He leaned back in his leather chair, dressed in a crisp navy suit that fit like a second skin. His sharp blue eyes scanned her resume before looking up at her with a smirk.
"You're overqualified," he said bluntly. "Why are you here?"
She straightened her spine. "Because your company needs someone who can fix the mess your marketing department has made. That's why you're hiring a consultant, isn't it?"
His smirk faltered for a moment, replaced by a flicker of intrigue. "Secretary first, consultant later. Let's see if you last a week."
And just like that, Amelia found herself hired.
Amelia quickly learned that Adrian Blackwood ruled his company with an iron fist. He had no patience for mistakes and fired employees without hesitation, often for trivial errors. His words were cutting and precise, designed to make the recipient feel small.
"Is this the best you can do?" he barked at a junior manager during a meeting. "I'm not paying you to embarrass this company."
But there was something contradictory about Adrian's behavior. Despite his arrogance, many female employees idolized him. Amelia noticed their lingering stares and whispered conversations.
"He's so handsome," one of the interns giggled as she watched him walk by.
"I don't care if he's rude," another added. "He's Adrian Blackwood."
Amelia rolled her eyes. To her, Adrian was just a man who hid his flaws behind wealth and power.
Amelia wasn't blind to the way Adrian treated women outside of work either. Gossip circulated about how he used his wealth to sweep women off their feet, only to discard them once he grew bored. Expensive gifts, lavish dinners, private jets—he lured them in with opulence, but the relationships never lasted more than a few weeks.
"He's incapable of commitment," Amelia overheard someone say. "I heard he broke up with a model just because she asked for more time together."
Amelia couldn't decide if Adrian was broken or just selfish. Either way, she vowed not to get caught in his orbit.
Despite his cold demeanor, Adrian had one soft spot: his younger sister, Lila. Pictures of her adorned his office—a stark contrast to the otherwise minimalist decor. Amelia learned through office gossip that Lila had a chronic illness, and Adrian spared no expense in ensuring she received the best care.
"She's the only person he truly cares about," one employee confided to Amelia. "Everything he does, it's for her."
Amelia found this hard to reconcile with the man who seemed to have no regard for anyone else.
Amelia overheard fragments of a conversation that hinted at Adrian's past. A trusted senior employee, perhaps the only one Adrian didn't intimidate, spoke in hushed tones outside his office.
"Still hung up on her?" the man asked.
Adrian's reply was clipped. "I don't have time for attachments. They only lead to betrayal."
The words stuck with Amelia. Beneath his arrogance, Adrian seemed haunted by something—or someone.
Adrian's life outside of the office resembled that of a celebrity. Paparazzi frequently captured him at high-profile events, surrounded by glamorous women. He spent weeks jet-setting to luxury destinations, returning with little more than a tan and headlines in gossip magazines. His business trips were as much about pleasure as work, and he seemed to revel in the attention his lifestyle brought.
Amelia couldn't understand how someone so intelligent could be so reckless. To her, Adrian Blackwood was a man who lived behind a facade of charm and power, hiding a broken core that few people ever glimpsed.
She vowed to keep her head down, do her job, and steer clear of his complicated world. But something told her that Adrian wouldn't make that easy.
***
Amelia settled into her role at Blackwood Enterprises, observing how the man at the helm ruled his empire with a mixture of fascination and growing disdain. Adrian Blackwood's standards were impossibly high, and his patience for anything less than perfection was non-existent.
Adrian's voice echoed through the office halls like a relentless storm. No mistake was too small for him to notice, and no employee escaped his wrath when they slipped up.
"Is it that hard to understand basic instructions?" Adrian barked at a junior analyst, who had fumbled a minor detail in a report. The poor man stammered an apology, but Adrian waved him off with a dismissive glare.
In meetings, Adrian was no different. He ruled the room with sharp commands, and even the slightest mishap became fuel for his fiery tirades. When Amelia handed him a revised presentation one morning, he flipped through it without a word, then tossed it onto his desk.
"Next time, make sure it's flawless," he said coldly. "I don't have time for mediocrity."
Amelia met his icy tone with a calm nod, refusing to let his words faze her. She had quickly learned that Adrian thrived on control, and she wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of seeing her ruffled.
The breaking point for many employees came during a high-stakes meeting with a potential investor. The room was tense, everyone eager to secure the deal. Amelia sat quietly, taking notes, when a young assistant, clearly nervous, accidentally tipped a glass of water onto the table.
Time seemed to freeze. Adrian's piercing blue eyes locked onto the assistant, his expression a mix of irritation and contempt.
"You're dismissed," he said curtly, barely containing his anger.
The assistant's face drained of color. "I— I'm so sorry, Mr. Blackwood—"
"Don't make this worse," Adrian snapped, his tone icy.
The rest of the meeting proceeded as if nothing had happened, but the mood in the room had soured. Adrian sealed the deal with his usual charm, but the staff left the room subdued, shaken by the incident. True to his word, Adrian fired the assistant by the end of the day.
The next morning, Amelia arrived to find an unusual quietness in the office. Whispers filled the air as employees discussed the latest casualty of Adrian's wrath.
"It was Mrs. Caldwell," one of them murmured.
Amelia frowned. "The cleaner?"
"She showed up late this morning," the employee explained. "Blackwood noticed and told her not to bother coming back."
Mrs. Caldwell had worked at the company for over a decade, and though her job was humble, she was beloved by the staff for her kindness. Hearing about her dismissal left a bitter taste in Amelia's mouth.
No one was immune to Adrian's sharp tongue, not even the vice president, Mr. Harold Bennett. A man in his late sixties, Harold had been with the company since its inception and had watched Adrian take over after his father's retirement. While Harold carried a wealth of experience, Adrian treated him with open disdain.
During a staff meeting, Adrian interrupted Harold mid-sentence.
"Spare us the history lesson, Harold," Adrian said with a smirk. "Maybe if you spent less time reminiscing about the past, we'd actually get things done around here."
The room fell silent, the tension palpable. Harold clenched his fists but said nothing. Adrian leaned back in his chair, looking every bit the smug ruler of his domain.
"Honestly, I don't even know why you're still here," Adrian continued. "If you can't keep up, you're welcome to retire anytime."
Amelia's blood boiled, but she kept her expression neutral. She could see Harold's humiliation in the slight slump of his shoulders.
Adrian's constant tirades didn't seem to bother Amelia personally. Every insult, every cutting remark, slid off her like water off a duck's back. She refused to let his arrogance get under her skin, much to Adrian's frustration.
One evening, after yet another outburst where he criticized her for a trivial formatting issue, she simply said, "Anything else, Mr. Blackwood?"
He blinked, momentarily thrown off by her composed response. "No, that'll be all," he muttered, turning back to his work.
But Amelia wasn't unaffected by his behavior toward others. The firings, the insults, the way he belittled his staff—it gnawed at her sense of justice. She couldn't understand how someone so intelligent could be so blind to the damage he caused.
Still, Amelia had a job to do, and she was determined to survive in Adrian Blackwood's world—no matter how ruthless he was.