Anna Reyes had perfected the art of invisibility.
Neutral clothes. Soft voice. Head down. Do your job. Go home.
Vale Industries was too big for someone like her — all glass walls, black marble floors, and executives who looked like they were carved from ambition itself.
She was reviewing financial projections when the elevator doors opened at the end of the hallway.
The energy shifted.
People stood straighter.
Quieter.
He stepped out.
Adrian Vale.
Tailored charcoal suit. Silver watch. Eyes like controlled violence.
He wasn't supposed to be on her floor.
He never visited analytics.
But he stopped walking.
Because she laughed.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't polished. It was soft — real.
And it cut through him like something alive.
Adrian turned his head slightly.
And saw her.
Brown hair tied loosely. No makeup except mascara. Sleeves rolled up. Focused.
Unaffected by power.
Unaffected by him.
His jaw tightened.
"Who is she?" he asked quietly.
His assistant followed his gaze.
"Junior analyst. Anna Reyes. Started three months ago."
Adrian didn't respond.
But something in his chest shifted.
Not attraction.
Not yet.
Recognition.
As if something dangerous inside him had just found its target.
"Have her moved to executive analytics," he said calmly.
The assistant blinked. "Sir?"
"Today."
And then he walked away.
Anna didn't know it yet.
But her life had just been reorganized by a man who had never been denied anything.