THE TWENTY PERCENT RULE
Nia lived by two unbreakable rules in the boardroom. Never sweat. And never let a billionaire see you blink.Right now, she was failing both.
Her palms pressed flat against the swatches of hand-milled cedar, raw linen, and the watercolor elevations of the grand atrium pinned beneath her trembling fingers. Around her, twenty executives in dark suits sat frozen in silence.
None of them mattered.
Only one man did.
Alexander Windsor sat at the head of the table. He did not lean back. He did not move a single muscle. He was a statue carved from ice and cold money.
His eyes, a piercing pale blue, tracked her every move.
"Read it again," Nia demanded. She kept her head high, catching the bright light in her eyes. "Tell me I read that document wrong."
Alec did not even blink.
The corporate attorney at his side cleared his throat. "Miss Chen, Mr. Windsor signed off on the revised budget. We are slashing your interior design funding by twenty percent. Effective immediately."
Nia’s pulse spiked, roaring in her ears. Twenty percent. That was not a budget trim. That was an execution. It meant gutting the curved skylights, firing her master carpenters, and swapping hand-cast terrazzo for hollow laminate. It reduced her flagship architectural vision to a cheap corporate shell. Her gaze locked onto Alec. "You cut my budget? You approved every bespoke finish yesterday. Today you butcher the entire build?"
Silence slammed down on the room. Nobody spoke to Alexander Windsor in that tone. Nobody even raised their voice in his presence.
Alec slowly lifted his arm, casually adjusting his silver cufflink. His broad shoulders shifted beneath his tailor-made suit. He offered no explanation. He simply stared, waiting for her to break, waiting for her to submit and walk away.
Nia took a sharp step forward, her fingers curling over the edge of the glass. "Say something! You do not get to strip my life's work down to drywall and bargain fixtures with the wave of a hand. SPEAK!"
A sharp collective gasp echoed through the room.
Alec tilted his chin up, his gaze darkening. When he finally spoke, his voice came out low, gravelly, and deep. It vibrated straight through the floorboards.
"The decision is final, Miss Chen. Adapt. Or walk out."
Alec stood. Instantly, every executive in the room stood with him like clockwork. He buttoned his jacket, turned his back on her, and headed toward his private exit.
"We are NOT done!" Nia shouted.
She slammed her heavy portfolio straight onto the glass surface. The loud crack echoed like a gunshot. Three executives flinched, jumping back in fear.
Alec halted at the door frame. He turned his head just enough to display the sharp, razor line of his jaw. He threw one last freezing glance over his shoulder, then stepped out into the private corridor.
Blood rushed to Nia's face, pure fire scorching her veins.
She grabbed her bag, shoved past two stunned vice presidents, and burst through the heavy double doors. She did not care about his empire. She did not care about his billions.
She rounded the marble corner just as the metallic elevator doors began to slide shut.
Nia thrust her foot straight into the gap. The sensors tripped, and the doors bounced open with a sharp chime.
Alec stood inside alone. He turned around slowly, his pale eyes burning with dangerous, suppressed fury.
"You are crossing a line, Miss Chen," he warned softly.
Nia stepped into the enclosure and slammed her hand directly down on the emergency stop button.
The heavy cab jolted violently, deadlocked between floor levels. The bright ceiling lights flickered and dimmed into a shadowy yellow glow.
"You think my work is just lines on paper?" Nia closed the distance, forced to tilt her head up to meet his eyes. "I spent eighteen months building that concept from nothing. And without the completion bonus from this contract, my mother's clinical trial stops next month. Her treatments do not wait for your boardroom games."Alec closed the distance in one step. He slammed his palm against the wall beside her ear, bending down until his breath brushed her skin."Your personal life is not my responsibility," he rasped, his cold composure finally cracking. "This is business."
"You are a coward," she whispered, refusing to shrink back. "You hide behind your money because you are terrified of anything real."
His jaw clenched hard. A muscle twitched in his cheek. The cold CEO persona cracked, exposing something primal, hot, and dangerous beneath the surface.
His inner coat pocket vibrated.
Alec pulled out his phone, angling the screen away. One glance - his jaw locked, shoulders going rigid. He killed the screen and shoved it back into his jacket.
Nia watched his breathing change. "Who was that?"
"No one," he said, too fast.
The power died mid-breath. Absolute darkness - and the floor dropped.Nia gasped, her heart leaping into her throat as she lost her balance, slipping backward into the void.
Strong, rock solid arms caught her around the waist, yanking her flush against a massive chest. Her back slammed into his hard torso. She could feel the violent, rapid pounding of his heart beating against her shoulder blades. His hot breath rattled against her neck.
"Don't move," Alec growled directly into her ear.
"Get your hands off me," Nia whispered, but her voice trembled. The intense heat radiating off his body was overwhelming.
"If you move, the emergency brakes could snap," Alec commanded softly. His arms tightened like steel bands around her waist, locking her body against his. "Do you want us to plunge twenty floors?"
Silence pooled in the pitch black box, filled only by the sound of their ragged breathing.
"Mr. Windsor!" a security guard shouted down from the corridor above. "The main power grid blew out! Are you trapped in the private express cab?"
Alec did not utter a word.
Instead, his hand rose and pressed firmly over Nia's mouth. His palm was warm against her skin, his chest flush against her back, trapping her completely."Not a single sound, Nia," he whispered into the curve of her ear. His voice was dark, velvety, and absolute.
"Why?" she mumbled into his palm, straining against his grip. "Why are we hiding?"
Alec leaned in closer, his lips brushing the sensitive skin of her neck, sending a shiver straight down her spine.
"Because the people up there are the least of my concerns," he murmured, his grip tightening. "And right now, you and I have unfinished business."
