Secret Strangers in Love novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: Mr. Stanhope

Alexis's first day at Ashworth ends in a stalled elevator with a gruff stranger who hires her to dig up dirt on his fiancee, whose photo is her bully's.

The Ashworth Group lobby had a marble floor so shiny that I could check my teeth in it.

I checked them twice.

I wore my mother's gray blazer, a name badge that said LEXIE DUNNE, and a plan with no second page.

The receptionist handed me a lanyard and pointed at the elevators.

"New interns meet in the atrium at nine," she said. "Mr. Ashworth likes to say hello."

"Which Mr. Ashworth?"

She looked at me.

"Gavin Ashworth. The heir."

My pulse did a small, ugly thing.

Five interns stood in the atrium in a ring, holding coffees we had not yet been given.

A man came down the open staircase.

He had a tan in March, a suit that fit, and a laugh that arrived one second before his smile.

"Gavin Ashworth," he said, and shook all our hands.

"You'll hear the name a lot around here. Try to look surprised every time."

He held my hand a beat too long.

I smiled with my whole face, the way I smile at a food inspector.

So this was the man my grandfather had picked.

He was handsome.

"Lexie Dunne," he repeated, reading my badge with his eyes on my chest.

"Welcome to the family, Lexie."

His other hand settled at the small of my back, then slid an inch lower than a hand should go.

I did not scream or slap him.

I put the heel of my shoe on his foot and leaned just far enough.

"Sorry," I said brightly. "I'm new to floors."

He laughed and let go.

That was the first dirt I had on Gavin Ashworth, and I had not even found the staff kitchen.

The elevator to thirty-one was empty when I got in, and a hand stopped the door from closing.

The man who stepped in was tall, with dark hair, an unironed collar and a tablet under one arm.

He did not look at me.

He looked at the tablet.

The doors shut, we rose past floor nine, and the whole car lurched and went silent.

The lights dimmed to a sad orange.

"Of course," the man said.

He pressed the emergency button.

A recorded voice told us help was on the way in approximately twenty minutes.

He sighed through his nose and sat down on the floor with his back against the wall, tablet on his knee.

I stood for a while, then sat across from him, because standing in a stalled elevator makes you feel like a fool.

"Intern?" he said.

"First day."

"Congratulations. This is the best part."

He scrolled with one thumb, swearing quietly in what sounded like German.

I leaned over to see what he was fighting.

A recall chart for a stainless-steel sprocket was open in three windows, and none of the windows agreed.

"Your batch numbers are off by one column," I said.

He looked up for the first time.

His eyes were gray, and he had a crooked front tooth he had clearly never bothered to fix.

"What?"

"The second sheet starts at row four, and the other two start at row three. Everything's shifted."

He turned the tablet and scrolled.

Then he said a word I won't repeat, and he fixed it with three taps.

The numbers lined up and the chart went green.

"Three people have looked at this for a week," he said.

"Three people probably trusted the first sheet."

"Where did you learn spreadsheets?"

"Test kitchens. A recipe is just a spreadsheet that you eat."

He laughed, a short surprised one, and the sound made the elevator feel smaller.

I looked away first.

The lights flickered, and the car dropped one more inch and caught.

He glanced at the ceiling and then at me.

"You're not afraid."

"Of an elevator? I've dropped worse things."

"What is your name?"

"Lexie. Dunne."

"Stanhope," he said. "Call me Mr. Stanhope."

"Is that a different Mr. Ashworth?"

"It is the one who runs this building, as of three weeks ago."

So that was the new chief executive from the job posting.

I filed it away with my other facts.

The elevator jolted into motion and climbed to thirty-one, and the doors opened onto a hallway full of people pretending not to wait for us.

Mr. Stanhope stood and held out a hand to pull me up.

"You're my assistant," he said.

"I'm an intern. There's a program."

"The program just got a spreadsheet. Nine tomorrow."

He walked into a glass office at the end of the hall.

I followed, because that is what you do when a man with that jaw stops you in an elevator.

On the desk sat a thin gray folder.

He put it in my hands.

"First job," he said. "The chairman wants to merge us with Gaillard Foods through a wedding."

"I thought the wedding was the family's business."

"I answer to the chairman, and I think it's a mistake."

"What do you need?"

"A reason to stop it. The bride is Alexis Gaillard. Find me one."

I opened the folder.

The woman in the photograph was blond and bright.

She was smiling the smile I had last seen on a school stage with my diary in her hand.

Under the photo, in neat type, it said ALEXIS GAILLARD.

A stranger wanted to break my engagement, and he was paying me to do it.

I had never been so happy to take a job.

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend