James's POV
The car ride up Manhattan feels longer than it should.
James's body still aches. His ribs hurt when he breathes. His head throbs in a way that medicine doesn't quite fix. The doctors said he needed three more weeks of rest. He gave himself two. The company can't wait any longer and neither can he. Not when there's a ghost he needs to find.
Marcus sits beside him in the back of the car. Marcus looks like he wants to say something but keeps stopping himself. This is a man who knows what's waiting at the office. Who knows the chaos James is about to walk into. The board meetings. The decisions made in his absence. The rebuilding that has to happen.
But James doesn't care about any of it.
"I need personnel files," James says to Marcus. "Everyone hired in the past three years. I need to know who works in my office."
Marcus shifts uncomfortably.
"We can handle that later," Marcus says. "You need to focus on getting settled. On meeting with the board. On understanding what happened while you were gone."
"Personnel files first," James says. "Then we handle everything else."
The elevator ride to the forty-fifth floor takes forever. James watches the numbers climb. Floor fifteen. Floor thirty. Floor forty-two. His heart is moving faster than the elevator. Part of him thinks Rachel might be in this building. Part of him thinks he might find her on the next floor or the one after that.
The doors open to his office.
Nothing has changed. That's the first thing that hits him. His desk is exactly as he left it. Same chair. Same files stacked in the same places. The computer is still open with his last emails visible. It's like the past three years happened somewhere else entirely. Like he stepped out for a few minutes and came back to find that the world kept spinning but his corner of it just froze.
Except.
There's a woman standing near the front desk. She's arranging files with quiet precision. She moves through the space like she belongs there. Like she knows where everything is because she lives here every single day. Her hair is short and dark. She's wearing professional clothes that are careful and unremarkable. She looks up when she hears the elevator doors close.
For a second, James can't breathe.
Something shifts inside him. Something he can't name. Something that feels like recognition without actually knowing what he's recognizing. His heart does something weird. Jumps sideways. Accelerates. Demands attention.
The woman's face changes when she sees him.
For just a moment, she looks terrified. Like she's seeing a ghost. Like something she's been dreading has finally arrived. Then she smooths her expression. Becomes professional. Becomes a wall.
"Mr. Ashford," she says. Her voice is controlled. Careful. "Welcome back. We didn't expect you today."
"Why not?" James asks. "This is my office."
"The doctors recommended more rest," she says. She's not looking at him directly. She's looking at a point somewhere past his shoulder. "Everyone thought you'd take at least another week."
"I'm fine," James says. He's not fine. His body is screaming. His mind is confused. But something in this woman's reaction tells him that asking questions is more important than admitting weakness.
She brings him coffee without being asked. Black with one sugar. Exactly how he takes it. Exactly how only one person in his entire life knew to make it.
When she hands him the cup, their fingers almost touch. James watches to see if she pulls away quickly or holds the contact. She pulls away. Faster than necessary. Like touching him burns.
"Welcome back, Mr. Ashford," she says quietly. "We missed you."
Something about that sentence. Something about the way she says it like she's mourning him. Like she's been missing him in a way that goes deeper than missing a boss you haven't seen in two weeks.
"What's your name?" James asks.
"Emma Wells," she says. "I've been your secretary for the past three years."
Three years.
The exact amount of time that's missing from his memory.
The exact amount of time since Rachel left.
James stares at her face trying to understand why she affects him. Trying to figure out what his broken brain is trying to tell him. He knows this woman. Not in a way that makes sense. Not in a way he can explain. But he knows her the way you know a song you haven't heard in years. The way you know a place you visited once and can't forget.
"Have we met before?" James asks.
"No," Emma says quickly. Too quickly. The lie lives in the space between the word and her eyes. "I started here after you finalized your divorce. We haven't met before."
But she's hiding something.
James can hear it in the careful construction of her words. He can see it in the way she won't hold his gaze for longer than a second. She knows something about him. Something important. Something that's making her look at him like her entire world is about to break apart.
"You seem to know me pretty well for someone I've never met," James says.
Emma starts organizing files again. Creating a barrier between them out of work and responsibility.
"I'm good at my job," Emma says. "I anticipate your needs. That's what secretaries do."
But that's not it. That's not why she brought him coffee the exact way his ex-wife used to make it. That's not why she's looking at him like she knows his secrets. That's not why every time he moves, she moves. Like they're connected by something invisible.
Marcus clears his throat.
"Why don't we get you settled," Marcus says. He's steering James toward the private office. "We have a lot to talk about."
James lets himself be guided but he can't stop looking at Emma.
She's bent over her desk pretending to work but he can see her shoulders shaking slightly. He can see her hands gripping the desk a little too hard. He can see someone who is trying very desperately to hold herself together while something inside her is falling apart.
In the private office with the door closed, James sits down in his chair and looks at Marcus.
"Who is she?" James asks.
"Your secretary," Marcus says carefully. "That's all you need to know right now."
"That's not all I need to know," James says. "I need to know why she looked at me like I was a ghost. I need to know why she knows how I take my coffee. I need to know why she affects me like that."
Marcus sits down in the chair across from James's desk. He looks tired. So tired. Like he's been carrying something heavy for a very long time and he's finally about to put it down.
"You've been gone for two weeks," Marcus says. "You almost died in a car accident. You lost three years of memories. Your mind is looking for connections that might not be there. You're vulnerable right now. You're desperate to find Rachel. And you're seeing her in people because that's what your brain does when it's broken."
"That's not what's happening," James says.
"Then what is happening?" Marcus asks.
James tries to explain it. Tries to find words for something that doesn't make logical sense. That woman. Emma Wells. The way she looked at him. The way his entire body recognized something his mind can't remember.
"I don't know," James admits finally.
"Then I suggest you focus on work," Marcus says. "The company needs you. The board is waiting. Emma Wells is a good secretary and she's going to help you get up to speed on what happened while you were gone. That's all."
But James knows that's not all.
He knows there's something more happening here. Something his body understands even if his mind can't quite grasp it.
For the rest of the day, James watches Emma work.
He watches how she moves through his office with quiet confidence. How she knows where every file is before he asks. How she anticipates his needs. How she brings him water before he realizes he's thirsty. How she protects him from interruptions he doesn't know are coming.
She treats him like someone she cares about.
She treats him like someone she's mourning.
And by the time evening comes and Marcus finally leaves, James has made a decision.
He's going to figure out who Emma Wells really is. He's going to understand what connection exists between them. He's going to push until she tells him the truth about why she affects him so deeply.
And maybe in the process, he's going to find Rachel.
Or maybe he's going to find something else entirely.
Something that will change everything.
Emma is gathering her things to leave for the day. She's moving carefully. Precisely. Like she's trying not to make any noise. Like she's trying to disappear.
"Emma," James says. Her name feels strange on his tongue. Wrong somehow. Like it's not her real name.
She stops moving.
"Yes?" she says without turning around.
"Why do you look at me like that?" James asks.
"Like what?" Emma says.
"Like you're saying goodbye," James says. "Like you're seeing me for the first time and the last time at the same time."
Emma is very still.
"I'm just doing my job," Emma says. Her voice is quiet. Small. Like it's coming from very far away.
"No," James says. "You're doing something else. You're hiding something. And I'm going to figure out what it is."
Emma finally turns to look at him.
Her eyes are filled with so much pain that James almost can't stand to see it. It's the look of someone who has survived something devastating. Who has built a life on top of broken pieces. Who is terrified that the past is about to destroy everything she's constructed.
"Some things are better left hidden," Emma says quietly.
"Not this," James says. "Not whatever this is between us."
"There's nothing between us," Emma says. But she's lying. He can hear it. He can see it in the way her hands are shaking as she picks up her bag.
"Then why are you leaving like that's not true?" James asks.
Emma pauses at the door. She looks like she's about to say something. Something important. Something that will change everything. Her mouth opens. Her eyes meet his.
And then she stops.
She closes her mouth. She straightens her shoulders. She becomes professional again. Becomes a wall again.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Mr. Ashford," Emma says. "Rest well."
She leaves before James can respond.
After she's gone, James sits in his office and stares at the city below him. Somewhere out there is Rachel. Somewhere out there is the woman he lost. The woman he's desperate to find.
But he's starting to wonder if she's not somewhere out there at all.
He's starting to wonder if she's been right beside him the entire time.
Hiding in plain sight.
Pretending to be someone else.
Watching him fall in love with her all over again without knowing who she really is.
And the terrifying part is not knowing what he'll do when he finally figures it out.