Chapter 4 - The Summons to the Glass Suite
By Monday morning, Nora’s life had been completely upturned.
She no longer entered Ashfield Tower through the dingy basement door where the smell of trash cans and damp mops hung heavy in the air. Instead, she stepped through the grand glass revolving doors of the main lobby, wearing a sharp navy linen trousers suit that Julian had personally sent to her Pilsen apartment via a private courier over the weekend.
The lobby guards, who had walked past her for three years without giving her a single glance, now stood at attention, nodding respectfully as she approached the private executive elevator bank.
"Good morning, Miss Reed," the head security officer said, scanning his master keycard to grant her access to the top floor.
Nora offered a timid smile, her fingers clutching the strap of her leather satchel. Inside were her newly purchased medical reference books, a high-end stethoscope Julian had ordered for her, and her personal logbook to track his blood pressure, medication schedules, and cardiac recovery metrics.
When the elevator doors opened on the forty-eighth floor—the penthouse executive suite—Nora stepped out onto floors lined with deep ivory carpets and floor-to-ceiling glass windows that offered a dizzying, three-hundred-sixty-degree view of Lake Michigan.
Standing beside a massive mahogany conference table was a woman in her early thirties, wearing a ice-blue pencil dress, her platinum blonde hair pulled back into a flawless, razor-sharp bun.
This was Victoria Sterling—Ashfield Enterprises’ Chief Financial Officer and Julian’s former fiancée.
Victoria was reviewing a stack of financial portfolios, but the moment Nora stepped into the room, her cold emerald eyes locked onto Nora like a sniper locating a target.
"So," Victoria said, her tone dripping with quiet, aristocratic disdain. "You're the janitor who got lucky."
Nora stopped three feet away, holding her head high. "I'm Nora Reed, Mr. Ashcombe’s personal health assistant."
Victoria let out a short, hollow laugh, tossing her pen onto the mahogany table. "Let's dispense with the titles, shall we? Julian suffered a minor syncopal episode, and in a moment of dramatic post-hypoxic sentimentality, he hired the girl holding the mop. It’s quaint. It’s cheap public relations for his 'man of the people' image. But let me make one thing very clear to you, Nora."
Victoria stepped closer, her expensive designer perfume washing over Nora like a wave of ice water.
"Julian is currently negotiating the largest corporate merger in the history of this city," Victoria whispered coldly. "He does not need a naive, lower-class girl filling his head with romantic fantasies about his mortality. You track his pulse. You hand him his beta-blockers. And you stay out of corporate business. If you step one inch out of line, I will have security throw you back into the basement so fast your head will spin."
"That's quite enough, Victoria."
Julian’s deep voice cut through the tension like an iron bar.
He stepped out of his private corner office, wearing a midnight-blue three-piece suit. He looked far better than he had on Thursday—some color had returned to his sharp cheekbones—but Nora instantly noticed the subtle stiffness in his stride. He was trying to hide his pain from Victoria.
Victoria’s cold expression melted into a bright, stunning smile as she turned toward him. "Julian! Darling, you shouldn't be standing so much. The board meeting is in twenty minutes, and Harrison and I were just discussing—"
"Victoria," Julian interrupted smoothly, walking past her without a second glance and stopping right in front of Nora. "Miss Reed’s presence here is on my authority, not yours. If you have an issue with my personal staff, you can submit a formal complaint to human resources. Which, as you know, reports directly to me."
Victoria’s jaw tightened, a flash of pure venom flickering in her eyes before she forced another tight smile. "Of course, Julian. I only have your best interests at heart. As always."
She picked up her leather portfolio, cast one last murderous look at Nora, and swept out of the penthouse suite, her high heels clicking loudly against the marble threshold.
Once the double doors closed, Julian let out a low, heavy breath. He closed his eyes, his left hand rising instinctively to press against his left ribs.
Nora didn't hesitate. The nervous assistant vanished; the nurse took over instantly.
She stepped into his personal space, gently grabbing his right wrist to keep him steady while her other hand reached for his pulse point. "You're pushing yourself too hard. Your heart rate is ninety-eight beats per minute, and you're guarding your rib."
Julian opened his dark blue eyes, looking down at her. His gaze was intense, burning with a mix of exhaustion and something far warmer, far deeper. "I have a merger meeting in fifteen minutes, Nora."
"You have a cracked rib and a heart that was dead eight days ago, Mr. Ashcombe," Nora said firmly, guiding him toward the leather sofa in his private office. "Sit down."
Julian actually obeyed. He sat down on the leather cushion, leaning his head back against the upholstery with a small groan. "You're very bossy for someone who used to be afraid to look me in the eye when I walked past your mop bucket."
Nora pulled her stethoscope from her bag, warming the diaphragm with her palm before leaning over him. She unbuttoned the top two buttons of his tailored shirt, ignoring the sudden, electric jolt that ran up her spine as her knuckles brushed against his warm, muscular chest.
"I wasn't afraid of you," Nora murmured, placing the stethoscope over his apex pulse point and listening closely to the rhythmic, deep lub-dub of his heart. "I was just invisible. There's a difference."
Julian looked down at her dark, glossy hair hanging close to his shoulder. He reached out, his long, warm fingers gently brushing a stray lock of hair behind her ear.
Nora froze. The sound of his heartbeat in her earpieces suddenly accelerated—lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub—jumping instantly to one hundred and ten beats per minute.
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She lifted her head, her blue eyes wide, locking directly onto his.
"It seems my heart rate isn't accelerating because of the merger, Miss Reed," Julian whispered, his voice low, intimate, and thrillingly dark. "It seems to react specifically to you."
