DANIELLE'S POV

"Can you stop that, please?" The voice brought me out of my reverie. I turned to Lucas and shrugged in confusion.

"Stop what?" I asked distractedly.

"That. The pen." I looked down at the pen I'd probably been clicking for the past half hour and dropped it on the table.

"By the way, what's the deal with you? Why do you look like a zombie? He said from my desk, pointing at my eyes.

I was in my apartment and didn't need anyone to tell me I looked like trash. There were tons of papers strewn around my room, and different case files opened. Since I'd seen the pen in Jonathan's office, it hasn't stopped eating at me. Actually, that wasn't true. Since I'd experienced the murder, I hadn't been the same, and the presence of that pen had thrown me brutally head first, right into memories I would rather forget.

"Nothing." I stood up and went into my pantry, grabbing a bag of chips. I opened the bag, and Lucas grabbed it from me.

"Are you sure nothing is wrong? Is it your job? Your boss?" He asked pleadingly, but I simply shook my head and grabbed my snack back.

"Not really." There was nothing else I could say. This was my battle to fight, and I couldn't bear to involve him, even though he might be the only friend I had.

We'd met in college when I'd tutored him for some courses in his freshman year, and since then, he'd stuck to me like a glue. Something I would have preferred not to have happened. We had attended different colleges but our apartments had been close to each other and that was how he had gotten to know I was a tutor 

"Fine. Do you want to grab something to eat? A sandwich? A hamburger?"

I thought for a minute and shook my head.

"I'm not hungry." I responded, lifting the chips, and he nodded. 

"Fine, have it your way. You'd better appreciate me and my presence because I'm going to get married very soon, and you'll begin to miss what you never had." He jokingly commented, pointing between both of us, and suddenly, it was like a spark of a bulb in my mind.

"What did you say?" I asked excitedly, different ideas running through my head.

"I was joking." He deadpanned, but I could no longer hear him. Why hadn't I thought of that earlier? Everything I needed had been dropped right in my lap.

I stood up and started cleaning up my room. My room wasn't always a mess. Who was I explaining to anyway? 

Lucas watched as I cleaned up my apartment and shook his head, muttering something.

"What did you say?" I asked, not bothering to lift my head from the trash bag.

"Looks like you're fine now I'm off. I have a lot of things to do."

I watched him leave, feeling no regret. He'd seen me on my way home after work, and recognizing the look I'd had on my face, he'd followed me home to cheer me up and, thankfully, had given me exactly what I had needed.

THE NEXT DAY

I wiped my sweaty palm on my pants as I waited for my boss to come back. I'd given him the notice for the emergency meeting, and I knew he would be arriving soon. I'd gone through everything that could go wrong, starting with wrong timing and, God forbid, him coming back to his office with somebody else.

I heard footsteps approaching and internally apologized to Lucas, who I was about to use as my scapegoat. I dialed his number. I'd considered making it a fake and just talking to an empty phone, but the chances of the phone ringing while I was pretending were too risky to ignore, so I had dropped that option.

"Hello." Lucas greeted, and I winced. The footstep was coming closer.

"Oh my God. I don't know what to do." I wailed into the phone, and I could hear Lucas confusion and fear.

"What's going on? Talk to me." He sounded like he was walking.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. "My mom, you know how weak she is. She has promised to try to kill herself again if I don't get married. What if she does it this time? I don't really understand her psychology, but I'm really scared this time." I squeezed some tears out of my eyes and stood up as my boss just passed me without a word or expression and entered his office.

I melted into my seat; I'd awfully read my boss wrong. 

"Danielle. What the heck are you talking about? Your mom said what?" Lucas demanded, and I started feeling guilty, knowing I'd scared him.

"Sorry. I wanted to do something. It's not true."

"What exactly isn't true, and what exactly are you doing? Aren't you at work?" I could hear the panic in his voice, and the guilt continued rushing in.

"I can't explain right now. I'm fine, and my mom is fine. I'll explain later. I'm sorry." I apologized, whispering, and dropped the call as Jonathan came back out with a file.

He dropped the file on my table, and his eyes slid to my phone. I followed his gaze and flushed. "I'm so sorry for using my phone during work hours, sir." I apologized, and he simply stared at me.

"Uh, I swear, I don't use it normally." I continued talking when he didn't stop staring.

He shrugged. "You're fine. As long as it doesn't affect my work. Organize this file and send it to the planning team within thirty minutes. I need it as soon as possible."

I nodded, and he went back into his office, and I sighed, staring at his closed office door. I'd read him awfully wrong and assumed he would have said something. Any other person would have. With his behavior, though, it was pretty silly of me to assume he would have cared. I had given him the perfect opportunity to please his mother, and he had ignored it. Or had I overestimated myself as a catch? I sat down and opened the file. At least I still had my job, but now I needed another way.

JONATHAN'S POV

I pressed the intercom to summon my secretary and watched as she entered my office, bringing with her a file I'd given her that morning minutes ago.

"You called for me, sir." She said and dropped the file on my table.

I picked it up and opened it, seeing how organized she had arranged it. Since this company had been founded, she was the best secretary I'd ever had, very efficient, and she wasn't as nosy as the other secretaries I'd fired had been. I couldn't really blame them; I had allowed Julie to recommend them to me, and I still regretted that decision. But that wasn't what I had called her here for.

"Have your seat." I said, gesturing to the chair in front of my table. She sat without a word, but I could see her confusion. This was the first time I was talking to her without involving an administrative duty, the way I would have loved for it to be, but I needed to have this conversation with her even though I was hoping she would reject my suggestion.

I opened my drawer and brought out the file I'd prepared and slid it towards her. She eyed it suspiciously but didn't touch it.

She took a deep breath. "Did I do something wrong, sir?" I watched as she fiddled with her fingers.

I shook my head, wondering for the first time what she thought of me. So far, I'd not given her any chance to imagine. "No. Open the file."

She continued eyeing the file suspiciously. "Are you firing me?" She asked again, and I hid my smile. Perhaps I should have told her directly rather than drawing it out like this, but I was glad I did since it gave me the chance to see what she was like when she got flustered. With how little fin I had in my life, I was enjoying it.

I slid the file closer to me and opened it, taking out the contract I'd written and legalized the day before. "I couldn't help but eavesdrop on your conversation yesterday."

I watched as she cast her mind back and, remembering what I was talking about, she paled. 

I quickly put my hands up to calm her down. "You didn't do anything wrong. Like I said yesterday, you can do whatever you want as long as it doesn't interfere with my work, and so far, I've been very satisfied with your work."

She smiled slightly and then, letting the curiosity take over, leaned towards me. "The conversation." She reminded me, and I nodded.

"I couldn't help but hear that you needed to get married, and you sounded so distressed about it. I came up with a solution, but you can always say no."

She nodded and flushed, looking down, so I could guess she was embarrassed. "There's no need to get embarrassed. I understand trying to please your parents." I could understand it really well. There were just some things I couldn't say no to my parents about, but probably not for the same reason she had. "I'm also in the same boat you are, and I need to get married. We can make a sort of arrangement where we both please our parents and give them what they want while not bending ourselves down."

Something suddenly occurred to me, and I glanced sharply at her. "Do you have a partner? Someone you are in a relationship with?"

She shook her head, already looking hopeful. "Not at all. I've not really been interested in entering the dating scene, as I wanted to take time to focus on my career." She glanced at me quickly, as if she had shared more than intended.

"Then that's good. This is a contract I drew up, go through it and let me know what you think."

She nodded and slid the document closer to her, squinting her eyes to read it. Watching her, I couldn't help but ask. "Do you use glasses normally?"

She nodded. "Sometimes, but only when I've strained my eyes. I can see well without it most times."

I nodded, taking that in. That meant I'd made her strain her eyes more than normal. With the fact that I kept to using physical files in addition to cloud storage, I could imagine how. "Wear your glasses next time when you're working. There's no point in straining your eyes."

She glanced at me, searching my eyes, and I stared at her while she searched. When she didn't find what she was looking for, she went back to reading the document.

I turned on my system and continued what I was working on while she read the document, and after a while, she tapped the table. "What if I don't agree with some of the terms?" She asked.

"Then you'll tell me what you want, and we'll come to a negotiation. Does my offer seem reasonable to you?"

DANIELLE'S POV

I pretended to be lost in thought, all the while my mind was doing somersaults because of how excited I was. My plan had worked. I'd seen his behaviors towards his employees that had hinted that maybe he wasn't as cold and aloof as he liked to carry himself, and thankfully, I'd been right.

I realized he was staring at me. Right, the offer.

"It works for me." I said in a forced bored tone. I'd tried to get a read on him, but he was perfect as keeping an expressionless face. "Do you do this for every damsel in distress?" I tried to joke, but my voice came out flat.

He glanced at me, his fingers hitting the marble table in a non-rhythmic motion. I noticed he did that when he was thinking. It reminded me of the way I clicked pens when I had one with me.

"I don't see you as a damsel in distress. I'm a businessman, and when I see a business opportunity, I grab it. I see this as an opportunity for us to do what we need to do as well as still keep our independence. We'll be working together, you're not doing anything for my good, and if you don't see it as a favorable opportunity, you can choose to reject it."

Reject what? When this was what I'd worked for. I kept my expression bored and nodded, trying to come up with a question. Going through the contract, he'd covered nearly everything. From how the wedding would be to how the marriage would be, especially in relation to our roles as employer and employee, and with how thorough he'd been, I couldn't ask for more.

How soon would I find out what he was hiding? Because I was 100 percent sure that pen was related to my father's death, and I was going to find out how he was related to the pen, but I couldn't ask that. "According to the contract, you mentioned that we'll have to live together; what happens to my home then?"

"You can keep it. It doesn't stop being yours. Even though this isn't the traditional arrangement, I put a plan for at least a year. It will be better to keep it so you have a place to go when the contract is over."

I nodded. I should still be able to pay the rent, even though I hated the fact that I would be paying for a space I wouldn't be using, but that meant I had to get whatever I needed before a year was over. "Alright." I glanced through the contract again and could only appreciate the terms and conditions stated. They were all things I could live with. The separate bedrooms made me the most happy, though. The only downside was the fact that I had to accompany him on business functions, but I could use that to my advantage as well. There was nowhere better to get good gossip than at rich people's events.

"I would like to sign a prenup." There hadn't been anything about that, but there would surely be wagging tongues. I just needed to figure out his connection to the pen and my father, and the contract would be over, hopefully. I wasn't delusional that it would be that easy.

He nodded. "Fine. But during the course of the marriage, I will take care of your financial expenses."

"I can take care of myself." I protested.

"I don't doubt that. Let's meet for dinner after work to work out the details."

"Alright Sir."

He brought out a file from his cupboard. "Give this to the design team and schedule a meeting with the suppliers for tomorrow."

I nodded and went out, knowing I'd been dismissed. Ecstasy and guilt were running through me, but I ignored the guilt, I DID IT. I felt my eyes water. "I will find your murderer and make sure you get the justice you deserve, Daddy." I promised. This was just the beginning, but I wasn't going to give up.

I closed the door and bumped into a woman, wincing as the cup of coffee she'd been carrying splashed on me. I looked up at her to find her glaring at me.

"Are your eyes at the back of your head or what?" The woman hissed. I couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was, but her tone and the fire in her green eyes made me unable to dwell on that.

I bowed my head, ignoring my burned hand that was stinging by the second. "I'm sorry." One thing I'd learned was that I was always at fault if I didn't want further problems.

The woman kept on staring at me, and I stared back in confusion. Didn't she learn that when a sincere apology was given, especially in situations where both parties were at fault, such apologies were to be accepted?

"I'm sorry?" I said again, wondering what else she needed.

She ignored me and stepped towards my boss' office, and I remembered one of the instructions I'd been given at my orientation. If there was no fire, and it didn't involve something I was told to do, or I hadn't been called to his office, he wasn't to be disturbed.

"He's currently not in." I said quickly, using the lie most people bought when they didn't have anything important to do in his office.

She snickered and looked at the door to his office, as well as the file in my hand. "Oh, are you Nathan's new secretary? No wonder." She said harshly and entered 'Nathan's' office without knocking, and I could only stare at her back. Wow. Who was she anyway?

I went into the powder room near my cubicle, something I was so grateful for, and placed my burning hand under running water, planning my strategies. Should I tell Lucas what I'd done? I could already hear his yells of outrage in my ears, and I ignored that suggestion. I turned off the water, ignoring my still reddened hand when I remembered the file I'd left on my table, I left the room and went back to my cubicle. I may have weaseled my way into marrying the man, but I was still his secretary.

JONATHAN'S POV

I looked up when my door opened, wondering what else my secretary needed, and glared at the figure that walked into my office like she owned the space. I bent down to continue my work as she stalked towards me.

"Babe." She whined when she got to my front.

I raised my head and gestured to the chair in the middle of the office. "I'm a little busy now. Is it important?"

She glanced at the chair that hadn't been set well after Danielle had gone, and she caressed the chair with her well-manicured finger. "Did she sit here?"

I huffed out a breath. "What is it this time?"

She dropped a cup of coffee or what had formerly been a cup of coffee on my table. "I brought this for you after carefully brewing it like you love, but she just had to bump into me." She brushed her shoulder and glanced at me.

"Well, that sucks. I appreciate the gesture." I nodded towards the cup that was still leaking, knowing from experience if I needed her to leave as soon as possible, I needed to cooperate with her.

Her nose rose in a familiar, disgusting gesture, and she sat down in front of me. "It's lunchtime. I was told you have not been taking your lunch hours."

I saved the file I'd been working on. "I'm not hungry. Enjoy your lunch." I knew exactly who had given her that information. It wasn't enough that I had fired the last secretary that had made it a job of reporting me to her; she still had her people in the company that reported my every move to her.

"Babe." She whined again, and I couldn't take it again.

I stood up and grabbed her shoulder, dragging her to the door. "Julia. We broke up two years ago. Can you give this a rest?"

She removed my hands from her shoulder. For someone who pretended to be so classy, she was so strong. I glanced at her, from her perfect hairdo to the gold and blue sundress she had on and the blue heels I'd bought for her. I narrowed my eyes at the shoe; I couldn't really remember what I'd seen in her. Her fakeness hadn't been obvious at the start, and it had only been when I'd seen her pining after Ethan after his death that I'd come to know the truth. I had been the middle way to getting Ethan, but now that Ethan was gone, I was a good prospect again, I could imagine. It was women like her that had made me have no plans towards marriage. Unfortunately, I didn't have another chance if I didn't want to break my mother's heart, and after losing Ethan like that, I couldn't really do that to her.

She glared at me. "It's been two years, Nathan. Are you still hung up on Ethan? I'm getting tired of waiting for you."

I saw red. "Don't ever refer to him, ever again."

She glanced at me. "Fine. I'm sorry. I'm leaving. I just wanted to bring you coffee, I swear."

I nodded, tired. "I know, Julia."

She narrowed her eyes, looking at me. "Is your secretary even effective? Why do you look so tired?"

"She's very effective; don't worry about me." I'd had a terrible night after hearing Danielle's call. The mere word 'suicide' was strong enough to get me on my knees.

"How about dinner? I'll cook your favorite. For old times sake."

I shook my head. "Don't bother. I just need to sleep." I grabbed her shoulder again, steering her towards the door. My head was pounding, and it felt like it was going to burst into two.

She detached herself. "I'll leave on my own. Don't drag me out."

I nodded and watched as she left the office, and I let out a sigh, placing my hand on my head. I went back to my seat, and my eyes went to the picture I'd turned upside down after that fateful day. I considered opening it, but I ignored that urge and powered my system again. Nothing like work to get me out of the funk Julia always managed to put me in. The conversation of yesterday and my awful night wasn't making anything better.