Chapter 3 AFTER HOURS

Chapter 3 – After Hours

By the time the rest of the staff packed up and left the Castellano International offices, the city outside had already sunk into twilight.

Sofia glanced at the clock on her monitor. 7:46 p.m. She was still at her desk, typing up a stack of meeting minutes Leonardo had insisted be ready before morning.

Her back ached. Her eyes burned. But she kept going.

Across the office, the CEO himself was still working, jacket draped over the back of his chair, sleeves rolled to his elbows. The glow from his desk lamp cast sharp shadows across his face, highlighting the clean line of his jaw, the concentration in his dark eyes.

It was quiet too quiet except the muted hum of the city below.

"Done?" His voice broke the silence, low and steady.

"Almost," she said, fingers still moving over the keys.

He leaned back in his chair, watching her. "Most people would have quit by now."

"I'm not most people."

A corner of his mouth lifted, the faintest ghost of a smile. "No. You're not."

Her heart gave a treacherous little thump.

She hit save on the final document and stood, crossing the room to place the folder on his desk. "Here's the hard copy."

He reached for it, but his fingers brushed hers, warm and steady.

It was nothing barely a touch but it sent a flicker of awareness straight up her spine.

For a moment, neither of them moved. His gaze locked on hers, something unreadable simmering there.

Then, as if remembering himself, he took the folder and cleared his throat. "Good work."

She stepped back, the air between them suddenly too thin. "If that's all, I should"

The lights flickered.

She froze.

A second later, the entire floor plunged into darkness.

"Great," Leonardo muttered. "The building's generator is supposed to kick in, but..." He trailed off, glancing toward the window where the city's skyline was now dotted with scattered blackouts.

Her phone buzzed with an alert power grid overload. Estimated repair: two hours.

"I'll call maintenance," she offered.

"No need," he said, standing. "They'll fix it. In the meantime..." His eyes scanned the shadowed office before settling on her. "You're not walking out alone in the middle of a blackout."

Her stomach flipped. "So what, I'm just... stuck here?"

A faint smirk tugged at his lips. "Looks that way."

They ended up in the small kitchenette down the hall, a single emergency light casting everything in muted gold.

Leonardo leaned against the counter, arms crossed, looking far too at ease for someone trapped in a high-rise without power. Sofia, on the other hand, felt acutely aware of every heartbeat.

"Tell me something," he said suddenly.

She blinked. "What?"

"About yourself. You've been working for my family for three years and I know nothing beyond the fact that you can type faster than half my staff."

She hesitated. Dangerous territory. "There's not much to tell."

"I doubt that."

She shrugged. "I work. I study. That's it."

His brows lifted slightly. "Study?"

Her pulse skipped. She'd kept that part of her life quiet for a reason. "Evening classes," she admitted after a beat. "Business management."

Something flickered in his expression "interest", maybe but it was gone before she could be sure.

"You want to run your own company someday?" he asked.

"I want to be able to choose my own life," she said softly.

For a moment, there was only the quiet hum of the emergency light. Then he pushed away from the counter, stepping closer not close enough to touch, but enough that she felt the shift in the air.

"You might just be in the wrong place for someone with that kind of ambition," he said, his voice lower now.

"Or," she countered, meeting his gaze, "maybe I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now."

The corner of his mouth curved again, that almost-smile that never quite reached his eyes.

Before either of them could say more, the lights flickered back to life, flooding the room with brightness.

Just like that, the spell broke.

Leonardo straightened, adjusting his cuffs. "I'll have a car take you home."

And that was it. No lingering looks, no parting words just back to business.

But as Sofia rode the elevator down, she couldn't shake the memory of standing in the half-dark with him, his voice low, his eyes unreadable.

Something was shifting between them.

And she wasn't sure if she wanted it to stop.