Chapter 1
The soft sound of rain against the windows slowly pulled Leah Carter out of sleep.
She reached for her phone beside the bed.
6:12 a.m.
“Great,” she muttered softly, rubbing her eyes. “Another beautiful day of corporate slavery.”
After getting ready, Leah grabbed her coffee and laptop bag before leaving her apartment.
By exactly 8 a.m., her car entered the parking area of Kingswood Technologies.
The moment she stepped inside the building, a few employees greeted her.
“Morning, Ms. Carter.”
“Morning,” Leah replied politely.
She entered the elevator and pressed the button for the forty-fourth floor.
As soon as she reached her office, she placed her coffee on the desk and opened her laptop.
Emails.
Reports.
Schedules.
Meetings.
The usual chaos.
Barely five minutes later, the office doors opened.
Ace Kingswood walked in while checking something on his tablet.
“Morning, Leah.”
“Morning.”
Ace stopped near her desk.
“My office.”
Leah grabbed her tablet and followed him inside.
The moment the cabin doors closed, Ace placed a file on the desk.
“The government announced a semiconductor manufacturing project.”
Leah looked up immediately.
“How big?”
“Big enough for every tech company to lose sleep over it.”
That made Leah sit properly.
“Including Grimwald.co?”
Ace gave a small smile.
“Especially Grimwald.co.”
Leah opened the file and quickly scanned through the documents.
“AI-integrated chip production… long-term government partnership… global distribution rights…”
“Exactly,” Ace said. “If we secure this project, Kingswood Technologies moves to an entirely different level.”
“And if Grimwald.co gets it?”
Ace leaned back in his chair.
“Then Ares Grimwald stays untouchable.”
Leah closed the file.
“When’s the conference?”
“Tomorrow morning.”
“And you want full preparation.”
“All of it,” Ace replied. “Cybersecurity risks, supply chains, AI integration, scalability reports. I need every possible advantage before tomorrow.”
Leah nodded calmly.
“I’ll handle it.”
Ace looked at her for a second before sighing dramatically.
“See, this is why I’d collapse without you.”
“You’d survive,” Leah said while standing up. “Barely.”
“That was rude.”
“That was honest.”
Ace laughed softly as Leah walked out of the cabin.
The next few hours passed in complete silence.
Leah worked nonstop, switching between reports, presentations, analytics, and projections. Multiple tabs filled her screen while papers slowly covered her desk.
By lunchtime, her head was already hurting.
The moment she entered the cafeteria downstairs, Damian loudly waved at her from across the room.
“There she is! The CEO of suffering herself.”
Leah immediately rolled her eyes.
At the table sat her two closest friends in the company — Elena and Damian.
Elena worked in the finance department and somehow managed to look effortlessly perfect every single day. Confident, playful, and impossible to embarrass, she had a habit of flirting her way out of almost every situation. Relationships never lasted long in her life, not because she didn’t care, but because she refused to settle for the wrong person.
Beside her sat Damian, the human definition of chaos. Loud, dramatic, and constantly unserious, he had an unmatched talent for turning every stressful situation into comedy. Beneath all the jokes, however, was someone deeply loyal to the people he loved — especially Elena, though he would rather die than admit his obvious crush on her.
Leah dropped into the chair beside them.
“I hate both of you already.”
“That’s because you skipped breakfast again,” Elena said while sliding fries toward her.
Leah immediately stole some.
Damian gasped dramatically.
“Wow. No hello. No affection. Straight to stealing my food.”
“You’re still alive. That’s affection.”
Elena burst into laughter.
The three of them quickly fell into their usual chaos.
“So,” Elena said casually, “Ace looked stressed this morning.”
“There’s a government semiconductor project,” Leah replied.
Damian nearly choked on his drink.
“The one everyone’s talking about?”
Leah nodded.
“Elena,” Damian whispered dramatically, “if Leah becomes rich and powerful after this, we’re getting abandoned.”
“I already plan to abandon you,” Leah replied calmly.
“That hurts.”
“No, that’s reality,” Elena added.
Damian placed a hand over his chest.
“You know what? One day I’m leaving both of you and finding better friends.”
Elena raised an eyebrow.
“You cried for two hours when Leah took leave for one week.”
“That was different.”
Leah smirked slightly while opening her drink.
The three continued arguing and laughing loudly enough to make nearby employees stare at them.
For a few moments, the pressure of tomorrow’s conference almost disappeared completely.
Eventually, lunch break came to an end, and the three returned to their respective departments.
The rest of the day passed quickly inside the busy walls of Kingswood Technologies.
Meetings continued, employees rushed between floors, and preparation for the conference slowly took over the entire company.
Meanwhile, Leah remained focused on her work, completely unaware that tomorrow’s meeting would become the beginning of something that would change her life forever.
