Chapter 2 THE PAPER TRAIL

The following night, Elena expected the office to be empty.

She had convinced herself that the tension of the previous evening was a byproduct of the late hour and Julian's exhaustion.

But when the elevator doors hissed open on the 64th floor, she found a single lamp glowing on his desk. Julian was gone, but the room felt different. It didn't feel sterile; it felt lived-in.

As she began her routine, she noticed something peculiar. Usually, Julian's desk was an altar of organization. Tonight, a heavy crystal paperweight had been moved to the very edge of the mahogany, pinning down a small, hand-torn scrap of paper.

She leaned in, her heart doing a strange little kick-flip against her ribs.

"The 1924 translation is indeed better. I checked the Latin. You were right about the rhythm."

There was no signature. There was no "To Elena." But the handwriting was unmistakable-sharp, authoritative, and hurried. She touched the paper, her thumb grazing the ink. He had gone back to the book because of her.

For the next three shifts, they played a silent game. Julian was never there when she arrived, but he began leaving "accidental" breadcrumbs.

• Tuesday: A spilled cup of expensive, artisanal coffee beans. Not a liquid spill that would damage the wood, but dry beans scattered in a pattern that looked suspiciously like a heart-or perhaps she was just projecting.

• Wednesday: A discarded draft of a speech with a circled paragraph and a note in the margin: "Does this sound too arrogant? Be honest, Ghost."

• Thursday: A single, dark chocolate truffle sitting on top of her folded cleaning cloth.

Elena didn't leave notes back. She didn't dare. She simply cleaned. She polished the desk until it shone like a mirror, and she placed the chocolate in her pocket to eat slowly on the bus ride home, the sweetness blooming on her tongue like a secret.

On Friday, the slow burn turned into a flashpoint.

Elena was high up on a step-ladder, dusting the tops of the massive oil paintings that lined the executive corridor. The building was silent, the only sound the soft thwack-thwack of her microfiber cloth.

The stairwell door suddenly flew open. Julian stumbled out, but he wasn't alone. He was being trailed by Marcus, the Head of Acquisitions-a man known for having a voice like a foghorn and a soul like a shark.

"It's a twenty-million-dollar oversight, Julian!" Marcus bellowed. "We need to sign the termination papers tonight."

Julian stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes landing on Elena perched on the ladder. His expression shifted instantly from corporate fury to a strange, protective alarm.

"Not now, Marcus," Julian said, his voice dropping to that dangerous, quiet register.

"What do you mean 'not now'? The board is-" Marcus stopped, finally noticing Elena. He looked at her with the same disdain one might give a smudge on a window. "Oh, for God's sake. It's just the help. Ignore her and look at these figures."

Elena felt the blood drain from her face. She began to climb down, her movements stiff. "I'll come back later, Mr. Vane."

"Stay where you are, Elena," Julian commanded. It wasn't a request. He turned to Marcus, stepping into the man's personal space until the shorter executive had to look up. "Her name is Elena. And she is working. You, however, are making noise in my hallway. Take the papers to the boardroom. I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Julian, you're being absurd-"

"Ten minutes," Julian repeated, his jaw tight.

Marcus scoffed, threw a disgusted look at Elena, and retreated. The silence that rushed back into the hallway was deafening.

Elena stood on the third rung of the ladder, her hands trembling slightly on the rails. Julian walked over, stopping at the base. He looked up at her, and the anger that had been directed at Marcus vanished, replaced by a raw, searching intensity.

"He's an idiot," Julian said softly.

"He's right, though," Elena whispered, looking down at him. "I am just the help."

Julian reached out. This time, he didn't grab her arm. He placed his hand on the ladder, his thumb brushing against her shoe. It was a grounding gesture, intimate and steadying.

"You are the only person in this building who sees the world clearly," he said. "Don't let a man who can't even see his own reflection tell you who you are."

He reached up, offering his hand to help her down. Elena hesitated, then placed her hand in his. His palm was warm, his grip encompassing. As she stepped down, the proximity became unbearable. She was on the last step, which put her eyes exactly level with his.

The air between them charged with an electric tension. She could see the faint flecks of gold in his grey eyes. She could see the way his gaze dropped to her mouth and stayed there, a silent confession of hunger.

"Elena," he breathed, his hand tightening slightly on hers.

She knew she should pull away. She knew the "mjourney was only just beginning and that the fall would be long and hard. But in that moment, with the city lights shimmering behind him, the gap between the CEO and the cleaner felt like a thin, fragile thread.

"You have a meeting, Mr Vane," she whispered,

The sound of it seemed to break a spell. He let out a ragged breath, nodding slowly. He didn't let go of her hand until he absolutely had to.

"I do," he said, backing away toward the boardroom. "But I'm leaving the door unlocked. Don't be a ghost tonight. Wait for me?"

Elena watched him go, her heart hammering a frantic rhythm against her ribs. She looked at her hand, still tingling from his touch.

She didn't wait. Not yet. She was too terrified of what would happen if she did. But as she emptied her bucket, she left something behind for the first time.

A single, perfectly folded origami crane, made from a discarded memo, sitting right in the center of his desk.