Page 246 of Modern Romance January 2025 5-8

She closed her eyes and imagined that he had said her real name in that voice. That he bathed her in his smile. It was so rare, but he would give it freely to her because he knew her. She opened her eyes and sighed at the ridiculousness of that dream. She shouldn’t allow herself to think like that about her boss. He could fire her—or destroy her without even realising it. But as long as it remained a thought, never acted upon, she was safe.

Charlotte locked her computer, picked up her tablet and made for the private C-suite kitchen. There she prepared Enzo’s espresso just as he liked it. While the machine buzzed and whirred as it filled the cup, she looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at Sydney spread out below.

It had been two years since she had moved here from Perth. Two years that she had been working for Enzo at De Luca and Co. and not once in that time had she ever felt herself relax. She couldn’t. She was always so tense that she just learned to live with a constant ache in her shoulders. In her gut.

Charlotte had come to this city as Celeste. All the time she had been here, she had been extremely careful to maintain the image of the highly efficient PA with little personality other than being a workaholic.

She couldn’t explore the city she now lived in because she was always scouting the area for threats. Anywhere she went had the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. The only place she felt at all safe was in the office and in her home. But even then, she was ever vigilant.

A sharp twinge of pain in her stomach brought her attention back to the kitchen. She pulled the small cup out from under the portafilter and, reaching for a saucer, caught a glimpse of her reflection. Of the grey shift dress that was neither loose nor fitting, so unlike the bright, exquisitely tailored high-end clothes that she had once worn. Of her black hair hanging limply around her shoulders, not even slightly reminiscent of the perfectly styled tresses of her past. Of her plain black shoes with the smallest of heels that made her miss the closet full of designer shoes she’d left behind. And finally, the black glasses on the bridge of her nose that she didn’t need, which diverted attention away from her nearly black, angular eyes.

Plain. She was utterly, heartbreakingly plain. But if she were to remain safe, that was exactly what she needed to be. It wasn’t safe to stand out. Not to anyone. Definitely not to Enzo. The old Charlotte would have spoken to him. Flirted harmlessly with him. Maybe even befriended him. But now, she had to be invisible to him.

If beige was a person, Charlotte, it would be you.

She hadn’t even been with a man intimately. Her virginity was beginning to be a point of frustration, but remaining hidden meant never being able to date. Being with a man was too risky if she was trying to hide. Who could she trust?

With a sigh, she ignored her thoughts and took the tablet and espresso to Enzo’s office, only stopping at her desk briefly to swallow an antacid. As she placed the coffee beside his computer, she admired the view of Circular Quay as she did every morning, gazing longingly at the water.

‘Ah, my coffee.Grazie,’ he said. ‘My usual blend?’

It wouldn’t be a day if you didn’t make me state the obvious, Enzo, she thought to herself.

‘Brewed as you like it, sir.’ It took a great deal of self-control not to emphasise thesir. Now was not the time for attitude.

‘Seven grams?’

‘Yes, sir.’ Good Lord, did he make it hard to keep the attitude at bay, though!

‘Eight bars of pressure?’

She was going to strangle him. If she didn’t know him better, she would say he did it to mess with her. ‘Of course, Mr De Luca.’ Could the man not let go for two minutes just to enjoy a cup of coffee, for heaven’s sakes? He should just do it for himself. Damn control freak! Words she would never say aloud. Instead, she ran through Enzo’s schedule with him.

‘That leaves us with your eleven a.m. They insist on meeting with you so I pencilled them in. However, I believe you’ve mentioned before that they don’t need to meet with you specifically.’ Charlotte was well aware that Enzo had mentioned nothing of the sort. They were simply a company wanting to attract investors and, in her opinion, not bringing much to the table. But in a bid to remain as inconspicuous as possible, she often made her judgement calls seem like they had come from Enzo. That way if he thought back on it later, he could easily forget her part in it.

Enzo was a fiercely private and notoriously headstrong businessman, and with De Luca and Co. having recently celebrated its bicentennial, she could understand why he had to be. It was no small thing to own a multinational of its size with the legacy it held. The only reason he listened to her at all was also the only reason she had landed this job: because of her impressive education. It was the only thing she hadn’t lied about in her application.

‘You’re right. I don’t have time to deal with them. Get someone else on it.’

‘Yes, Mr De Luca.’

‘Close the door on your way out.’

She was almost out of his office when he called out to her.

‘Oh, and Celeste?’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘The coffee is good,’ he said with a barely there smile. And that was why she didn’t strangle him. Today. Tomorrow? Who knew.

Charlotte smiled and closed the door wishing again that just once he would call her by her real name. However much his need for control might frustrate her, it was hard to be in his orbit and not get pulled in. By his brilliance and his intellect. That unflappable calm that he seemed to radiate to all in his presence as if it was his superpower. And those cold green eyes that she knew observed more than anyone really understood.

Still, the biggest part of her relished the distance she had with Enzo. He didn’t know her real name; he didn’t know much about her at all. In fact, if she was replaced by a robot, she doubted he would notice very much. That granted some safety. Not enough that the feeling of anxiety in the pit of her stomach ever went away, though.

She sat down at her desk and looked out the glass panes at the sprawling city. It was big, but nowhere was big enough if she wasn’t careful.

She’d taken this job to hide. If anyone knew who she was, then she would have to disappear and start again in yet another place. She didn’t want to have to do that. It was impossible to know who might have connections to her old life. She had come from a wealthy family. A family with far-reaching connections. She couldn’t risk her freedom just for aGood job, Charlotte, no matter how much she craved validation from Enzo. She couldn’t trust him with her real name. That would be beyond foolish. And he certainly wouldn’t trust her if he ever found out she had been lying to him. Who knew how badly he would react?