Three years ago, Hazel Vance made a choice that changed everything. One night of passion with a mysterious stranger at a masquerade ball left her with more than just memories—it left her with a son whose rare violet-blue eyes are a constant reminder of the father she'll never find.

Now a struggling single mother, Hazel desperately needs the executive assistant position at Sterling Group. The salary could finally give her two-year-old Leo the life he deserves. But her new boss, CEO Liam Sterling, is nothing like she expected.

Demanding, brilliant, and devastatingly handsome, Liam has a reputation for being impossible to work for. Most assistants don't last a week. When Hazel refuses to be intimidated by his cold demeanor and sharp tongue, something shifts between them. The attraction is immediate and electric, crackling through every professional interaction.

But it's his eyes that stop her cold. The same striking violet-blue shade that stares back at her every morning when she looks at her son.

As the tension between them builds and the lines between professional and personal begin to blur, Hazel finds herself caught between her desperate need for this job and her growing attraction to the one man who could destroy everything she's worked for.

She doesn't know that Liam has been searching for the mysterious woman from the masquerade ball ever since that night changed him forever. And he has no idea that the composed, fiery assistant who challenges him at every turn is the same woman who haunts his dreams.

When the truth finally comes to light, will it bring them together or tear apart the fragile new life Hazel has built for herself and her son?

I stood in the corner of the Community Guild's reception lounge, my phone pressed against my ear for what felt like the hundredth time. Oscar Dalton's voicemail greeting mocked me once again. Ten attempts at apologizing, and the bastard wouldn't even pick up.


All because I'd made a pass at his daughter without realizing who she was. But instead of understanding it was an honest mistake, Oscar decided to deliver some self-righteous speech about respecting women regardless of their connections. Then he had the audacity to tell me our decades-long friendship was finished.


My jaw clenched as fury coursed through my veins. This was all Adrian's fault. My pathetic excuse for a son had hired Dalton's precious daughter without bothering to inform me, and now I'd lost a valuable ally because of his incompetence. But Adrian would pay for this humiliation.


Chapter 255 - S2 Chapter 39 - Orchestrated Deception and Ph