The Billionaire's Cursed Love

Lena had worked in the Hail Tower for six years. She started as a junior assistant and slowly became the private secretary of Leonard Hail, one of the richest men in the city. She knew his schedule better than her own. She knew which coffee he liked in the morning and which papers he wanted signed first. For six years her life moved around his life.

Then Leonard died.

It happened in winter, quietly, in his sleep. The whole company wore black for a week. Lena cried too, not just because she lost her job security, but because the old man had been kind to her in his own strict way. After the funeral, everyone waited to see who would take his place. The answer was simple. His only son, Edward Hail, came back from London and took control of everything his father had built.

Lena had seen Edward before, many times, but never up close. She had seen him on the news, standing beside his father at company events, wearing dark suits that fit him like they were made only for him. She had seen him once at the old Hail mansion, walking down the stairs while she waited in the hall with some documents for Leonard. He had looked at her for two seconds that day, said nothing, and walked past. She still remembered those two seconds.

Now he was her boss.

On his first day in the office, Lena stood outside his new cabin with a file in her hand, her heart beating faster than she wanted to admit. She smoothed her skirt, took a breath, and knocked.

“Come in.”

His voice was deep, calm, the kind of voice that did not need to be loud to be heard. Lena pushed the door open and stepped inside. Edward was standing near the window, looking down at the city, his hands in his pockets. When he turned around, Lena forgot for a second why she had come in.

He looked even better than she remembered. Tall, with sharp eyes and dark hair that fell just slightly over his forehead. His jaw was clean, his shoulders wide under his white shirt, and there was a quiet confidence in the way he stood, like the world already belonged to him.

“You must be Lena,” he said. “My father spoke about you.”

“Yes, sir.” Her voice came out smaller than she wanted. “I was his secretary. I can help you settle in, if you like.”

He studied her for a moment, the kind of look that made her feel like he was reading something written on her face. “Good. I need someone who knows how this place works. You’re hired, officially, as my secretary now.”

“Thank you, sir.” Lena bowed her head slightly, mostly to hide the heat rising in her cheeks.

For the rest of the morning, Lena moved through the office like she was walking on glass. Every time Edward called her name, her stomach twisted. Every time he looked up from his laptop and caught her eye, she looked away first. She told herself it was nothing, just nerves from a new boss, but she knew that was a lie. She had liked him from the first time she saw him on television, long before she ever thought she would work beside him.

Around noon, the door of the office opened without a knock. A woman walked in, wearing a red dress and heels that clicked sharply against the floor. She was beautiful in a way that seemed practiced, every strand of her hair in place, her lips painted a deep red. Lena recognized her at once. Elena. Edward’s girlfriend. She had seen her photographs in magazines often enough.

“Eddie,” Elena said, walking straight to his desk and placing a hand on his shoulder like she owned the room. “I told you I’d come by.”

Edward smiled, and something in Lena’s chest sank when she saw it. It was not the same smile he had given her that morning. This one was warmer, easier, the smile of a man looking at someone he loved.

“I was going to call you,” Edward said, standing up.

“You always say that.” Elena laughed softly and glanced at Lena, giving her a short, uninterested look before turning back to Edward. “Come on, let’s have lunch. You’ve been working since morning.”

Lena stood by the filing cabinet, pretending to sort papers she had already sorted twice. She watched Edward pick up his jacket, watched Elena loop her arm through his, watched them walk out of the office together, laughing about something Lena could not hear.

A small, ugly feeling twisted inside her. She hated that she felt it, but she could not stop it. She wished, just for a second, that Elena would disappear from his life. She wished she was the one walking beside him, her arm through his, her name the one he said softly across a room.

“Stop it,” she whispered to herself, shaking her head. “He’s your boss. That’s all.”

She went back to her desk and buried herself in work until the ache in her chest dulled into something she could ignore.

• • •

By the time Lena reached her apartment that evening, the sky outside had turned a deep orange. She dropped her bag by the door and had barely taken off her shoes when the doorbell rang. She did not need to look through the peephole to know who it was.

Roy stood outside with a bunch of flowers, the same hopeful, nervous smile he wore every time he came here.

“Lena, hi,” he said, holding out the flowers before she had even fully opened the door. “I was in the area. I thought maybe we could get dinner tonight.”

“Roy.” Lena sighed, not unkindly, but tired. “I told you, I have work in the morning. And I told you before, I don’t feel that way about you.”

“I know, I know,” Roy said quickly, still smiling, still holding the flowers out like she might change her mind if he just waited long enough. “But feelings can change, right? I just want a chance.”

“I already gave my answer.” Lena kept her voice gentle but firm. “Please stop coming here like this.”

Roy’s smile faltered for a moment, but he nodded, lowering the flowers. “Okay. Okay, I understand. I’ll go.” He turned and walked down the hallway, glancing back once before disappearing around the corner.

Lena closed the door and leaned against it, letting out a long breath. Roy was not a bad man, just a man who could not accept that her heart was not his to win. And even if he had been the kindest man in the world, it would not have mattered. Her mind was somewhere else. It had been somewhere else since the moment Edward Hail walked into that office.

She changed into her night clothes, made a simple dinner she barely tasted, and finally lay down on her bed, staring at the ceiling. The image of Edward’s face kept returning to her, the way his eyes had looked at her that morning, the way his hand had rested on the desk, the way he had smiled at Elena.

“If only,” Lena whispered into the dark room, “he was mine instead of hers.”

It was a foolish wish, the kind young girls made about actors on screens, not about real men who already belonged to someone else. Lena knew that. Still, she closed her eyes and let herself imagine it, just for a moment, before sleep began to pull her under.

Then, from somewhere in the quiet room, a voice spoke.

“What if you could?”

Lena’s eyes snapped open. Her heart slammed against her ribs. She sat up fast, looking around the room, at the shadows near her wardrobe, the corner by the window, the space beneath her door. Nothing moved. No one was there.

“Hello?” she said, her voice shaking. “Is someone there?”

Silence answered her, thick and complete, broken only by the sound of her own breathing.