The meeting carried on whilst Aurora’s focus became disrupted, as she felt Savannah’s heavy gaze burning through the side of her face, not allowing her to breathe even once.
It felt like she was trying to read Aurora’s mind, while Aurora pointedly kept her eyes on the documents in front of her, forcing her voice to be steadier whenever she contributed to the meeting.
Aurora released a deep breath when the meeting finally ended.
The whole thing took forty minutes, but it felt like she had been through a day’s work already.
She exchanged handshakes with the clients before the door finally closed behind them, and Aurora kept her head down, gathering the files and her notes and handing them to Rhett.
“Good work today, Miss Bennett,” Silas said as he leant back in his chair, commenting on her extra day.
“I applaud you for your dedication.”
“Thank you, Mr Black,” Aurora said.
“It was smart of you to catch that discrepancy in the proposal. Even Rhett had missed it.”
Aurora only smiled, but she could still feel Savannah’s hot gaze on her.
She turned, about to leave, when Savannah’s voice stopped her in her tracks.
“Miss Bennett.”
Savannah’s voice was smooth and made to sound nice.
Aurora slowly turned around, her face carefully neutral.
Savannah smiled, a practised, polite smile that fooled no one in the room, not even Silas, who was watching the interaction with calculating eyes.
“I have a proposition for you,” Savannah said.
Aurora said nothing.
“Zachary is going to start at the company next week. He has been under my brand for a while, but he is not showing any real prospects in design,” Savannah proposed.
“I want to transfer him back to the corporate environment, and I want you to be his mentor.”
The words hung in the air, turning the atmosphere heavy.
Aurora’s palms turned clammy.
Zachary, the man who had fought Jude and nearly destroyed her family’s happiness.
“Mentor?” Aurora’s voice was tiny when she repeated the word.
“You are good at what you do,” Silas himself said.
Savannah’s smile widened.
“Consider it a chance to prove yourself, to show everyone that you’re not just a… what did they call it again? Nepotism hire.”
Rhett leant forward in his chair.
“Zachary knows his way around the company. I’m sure he will manage just fine.”
“I’m sure he will, but this is also an opportunity for Miss Bennett.” Savannah’s eyes were still digging into Aurora.
“Unless she doesn’t think that she can handle it.”
Aurora’s jaw tightened.
She didn’t want to do this.
She didn’t want anything to do with Zachary Black, but she also knew that Savannah was trying to humiliate her and challenge her and reduce her hard work to something that it wasn’t. You are reading on novelping(.)com, the official source.
“Fine,” she gritted the word out.
“I’ll do it.”
Savannah’s smile flickered for a second, and Aurora trusted she saw a flash of surprise and annoyance flash through her eyes.
“Wonderful.”
Aurora turned and walked out without another word, burying herself in the elevator and slumping against the wall.
She pulled herself to her feet when the doors finally slid open, revealing the lobby, but just as she was about to step out, she stumbled in her steps.
Zachary Black stood in front of her, dressed casually in jeans, a shirt, and a designer jacket.
He exuded the atmosphere of a person who had never had to work for anything in his life.
He was about to step into the elevator, probably to go up and meet his mother, when they crossed each other’s paths.
He looked at her blankly, not recognising her at first, but then she saw a change in his eyes, from blankness to curiosity and then recognition.
Then his eyes narrowed at her, the muscles of his jaw clenching.
He recognised her.
When Savannah had investigated the Bennett family, she knew who she was.
She was the sister of the guy who beat him up.
Aurora didn’t want to waste a single word on him.
She just looked at him coldly and unafraid, then she moved to walk past him.
He quickly jumped to block her path.
“Move,” she said, but he didn’t.
“It’s you.” His voice went low.
“Jude’s sister.”
“So it’s true that you have weaselled your way into our company.”
Aurora’s hands clenched into fists by her sides.
“You think I don’t know what you’re doing here?” Zachary stepped even closer, invading her space, making Aurora stumble back.
“You’re here because you think you can take revenge, using your pretty face to get close to my father and Cassian. You want to destroy us from the inside, don’t you?”
“I don’t owe you an explanation.”
“You don’t have to explain,” he remarked.
“I already know that your little plan is not going to work. Whatever you’re trying to use that pretty face to do is not going to succeed.”
Aurora had had enough of his nonsense, and she raised her hand to slap him, not caring about the repercussions.
But before it could make contact, Zachary caught her wrist roughly.
His fingers dug into her skin, hard enough to leave a bruise, and she gasped from the pain.
“Let go,” she gutted out, but he didn’t.
He only held on tighter, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction as he watched her struggle.
“Zach!”
The voice shot through the empty lobby sharply, and they both turned their heads towards the person.
Jaxon Smith was walking towards them, his eyes filled with anger.
He reached them in three long steps, his leg connecting hard with Zachary’s shin.
Zachary yelped at the impact, forcing him to release Aurora’s wrist as he stumbled backwards on his good leg.
“What the hell? Did you just kick me?” he snarled.
“Next time, I will aim even higher,” Jaxon snapped coldly.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Who the hell do you think you are to ask me that?” Zachary straightened up, his face glowing with anger.
“You’re nothing but Cassian’s lapdog. You think you can touch me? One word to my mother, and your career will be over.”
Jaxon didn’t flinch at the empty threat.
“If I’m Cassian’s lapdog, then you are just a powerless brat who lets his mother run his life. You’re the Blacks’ deadweight, and trust me, you’re walking on very thin ice, Zach. Very thin ice.”
“Jaxon, I will destroy you!”
Zachary snarled, about to attack Jaxon, when Jaxon stepped closer, unafraid.
“Could you? I would like to see you try. I would especially like to see what happens when Cassian finds out that you put your hands on his woman.”
Aurora saw the moment Zachary’s face dropped.
The anger disappeared, replaced with fear.
His eyes widened, and his stance shifted from aggressive to defensive.
He clenched his hands by his sides as he glanced between Jaxon and Aurora, then he let out a humourless laugh.
“Oh, now I see what’s happening.” He nodded like he had cracked a code.
“You two are sleeping together behind Cassian’s back. Isn’t that why you rushed in to defend her?”
He glared sharply at Jaxon, who, in the blink of an eye, grabbed Zachary by the collar, yanking him close to issue a warning.
“If you don’t get lost,” he said, his voice deadly, unlike the usual calm one Aurora had gotten used to, “then I’ll be forced to forget that you’re Cassian’s brother.”
He shoved him so hard that Zachary stumbled backwards, falling on his butt on the hard marble floor.
He quickly scrambled to his feet, his face burning with anger and humiliation.
He didn’t say another word as he glared between the two of them, then turned and stomped out without looking back.
Aurora was completely frozen where she stood.
Her heart was still pounding against her chest, and her wrist throbbed where Zachary had grabbed her.