Theon paced the length of his home office, turning at the edge of the rug only to retrace the same path again. He stopped at the edge of his mahogany desk, staring down at his smartphone. It sat perfectly centred. His reflection stared back at him from the screen, judging him as he presses his palms to the desk surface. He used his facial authentication to open it and the contact page opened again with the name Azaria Freeman staring back at him.
He had pulled it from the encrypted employee database an hour ago. It was a blatant breach of company policy, a move that would have earned any other executive a swift visit from HR and a legal reprimand. But Theon wasn't any other executive; he was the CEO, and he was a man drowning in the consequences of his own stupidity.
He had already memorised it like an obsessed stalker, which he wouldn't put past himself because he already was at that point.
His jaw tightened and he straightened and dragged a hand down his face, exhaling through his nose. "Dammit," he hissed, raking a hand through his hair. He shouldn't have let her quit. The realization had been curdling in his gut for days.
What he said to her before… it had been unnecessary. He wasn't aware he had insulted her, but he knew better now. He had to fix things, but what he was and what they were to one another complicated things. He couldn't just ask her back to the company then sprout out that he wanted to date her. That was suicide.
At the company, Idris was still dealing with the mess in the Operations department. The situation hadn't improved much. If anything, it had gotten a bit worse. One client had already pulled out. Others were asking questions and Idris was still trying to fix it. He was capable and the fact that he kept the others from pulling away as well was saying something.
Calling her would be so simple. A few taps was all it would take. He could explain things, or at least, he could try to. He could ask her to come back, offer her the promotion, adjust whatever needed to be adjusted to make it work.
His hand moved slightly, almost reaching for the phone before stopping halfway. His fingers curled, then dropped back to his side.
No.
He turned away from the desk again. There was already a plan in place. He had spoken to his mother the night before and gone over the plan more than once. It was straightforward. Nathan was already stationed outside Azaria's apartment. That had been another line crossed, another piece of information pulled from the same database. It was stalker-adjacent behavior, he admitted to himself with a grimace, but desperation had a way of blurring the lines.
Tomorrow morning, Lenora would "accidentally" be in Azaria's neighborhood. It would be a chance encounter. She'd never suspect a thing.
Theon stared at the phone one last time before locking the screen and tossing it onto the desk.
He just had to wait for the right moment.
__________________♤♤___________________
At Rhodes Industries the next morning, Aziel Rhodes sat behind his desk, the glow of his laptop screen reflecting faintly in his eyes as an email sat open in front of him. He leaned back in his chair, one hand resting against the armrest while the other hovered near the trackpad. His gaze moved over the contents again, taking in the details he had already read before.
The application had been forwarded to him by his assistant earlier that morning.
An Azaria Freeman wanted to work at his company. The name sat at the top of the document, clear and unremarkable on its own. It was everything beneath it that held his attention. He scrolled through the resume again, his eyes moving line by line checking her experience, qualifications and past roles. Each section was impressive.
The level of experience alone was enough to place her above most of his own skilled workers. But that wasn't why the application was sent to him, it wouldn't have been his business otherwise. He didn't review or hire anyone. He had subordinates to handle that. What brought this to his attention was that she had been in a high-ranking position at Aldrith Corp.
Why would someone with such an impressive resume and spent decades at Aldrith, come searching for work at his company? He was curious. Aldrith tried to keep everything to themselves, so who was this person and why leave Aldrith for Rhodes? She clearly stated she had resigned from Aldrith.
There were always reasons people moved on from their positions/company to another, but this felt suspicious. What were they planning?
He scrolled back to the top of the document.
The role she had applied for was Operations manager. He leaned forward a little, resting his forearms against the desk as he looked at the screen.
He reached for the intercom button on his desk and pressed it.
A soft click followed, then a voice on the other end. "Yes, sir?"
"Arrange an interview," Aziel said, his tone even. "Miss Azaria Freeman."
"Of course, sir. Shall I send the standard screening invite?"
"No," Aziel said, a slow, predatory smile spreading across his face. "Send her a personal invite from my office. I'll interview her myself."
There was a pause. "Uh…yes, sir."
He released the button without another word and the room returned to silence. Aziel leaned back again, his eyes still on the screen for a moment longer before he closed the email. The decision had been made. The next step was already in motion.
Now he would find out for himself.