If Black Veil had a throne, Chloe would be sitting on it.
Unofficially, of course.
Officially, she was just the Executive Director of Operations—a fancy way of saying she ran everything while other people took the credit. But ask anyone in the company, from the interns to the senior executives, and they’d tell you the sa thing:
Chloe ruled Black Veil.
Not with an iron fist, but with sothing far more terrifying—competence.
She had a brain like a supercomputer, a tongue sharp enough to cut glass, and a work ethic that made everyone else look lazy by comparison. And the worst part?
She looked good doing it.
Dressed in an all-black power suit, with sleek dark hair pulled into a high ponytail and heels sharp enough to stab a man, Chloe walked through the halls of Black Veil like a queen surveying her kingdom.
And right now?
She was heading straight for Justin.
A knock. Sharp. Precise.
Justin didn’t look up from his phone. "Co in."
The door opened, and damn—Chloe walked in like she owned the building, not just the room.
Her outfit was straight-up criminal. A fitted, long-sleeve crop top that clung to her ridiculous curves, exposing a waistline so mouthwatering it should’ve co with a warning label. And the skirt? Short. So damn short it was an open invitation to risk it all.
Black hair, sleek and falling past her shoulders. Blue eyes that held a quiet challenge, like she was waiting for soone—anyone—to be stupid enough to underestimate her. Lips soft, glossy, and just the right kind of dangerous. She carried nothing but her phone, didn’t need to. When you walked like a queen, everything belonged to you.
Justin? Unmoved.
He leaned back, one arm resting on the couch, the other scrolling lazily on his phone. "Chloe." His voice was smooth, controlled. Gentlemanly, technically, but cold. Detached. Like he hadn’t just witnessed her walking in like temptation wrapped in designer fabric.
She raised a brow, unimpressed. "That’s it? No wow, Chloe, you look stunning today?"
A slow blink. "You didn’t dress like that for complints, now, did you?"
She smiled. "Damn right."
Justin gestured to the couch across from him, the sa spot where he’d taken Adams apart like a chess piece. But this? This was different. Chloe wasn’t a piece on the board.
She was the other player. She didn’t sit imdiately. She took her ti, her gaze scanning the office—calculating, reading, deciding. Then, finally, she settled into the couch across from him, legs crossed, back straight, like she was sitting on a throne instead of overpriced leather.
And just like that, her vibe shifted. Gone was the teasing smirk, the flirtatious edge. Her expression softened, just slightly. "How are you holding up?"
Justin knew exactly what she ant. Not the board eting. Not the corporate warfare. She ant them.
His parents.
The ones who went from being the most powerful figures in his life to two nas on a gravestone overnight. He didn’t react right away, just stared at his phone screen, thumb idly scrolling over nothing. "I’m fine."
Chloe sighed. "Bullshit."
His jaw clenched.
"Justin," she said, quieter this ti. "I know you. I know how you operate. And I know that ans you’ve probably buried it all under so much work, you don’t even feel it anymore."
He exhaled sharply. "What do you want to say, Chloe? That it’s fucked up? That every ti soone says their na, it still won’t feel real? That I haven’t even processed the fact that they’re just... gone?"
Her eyes stayed on him. "Yes."
He let out a low laugh, but there was no humor in it. Just exhaustion. "Well, there. I said it." Of course, this wasn’t their first eting that’s why they were so casual and could share the feeling, the loss of his parents and in her position—her ntors, his mother and father.
Justin was familiar with Chloe... After all—
How many tis had his mother brought this friend of hers back to the mansion again? He couldn’t rember. A handful? No. More? Yeah, so many tis that he cared to rember. It wasn’t like he’d been keeping track back then. Chloe had always just been... there. A presence that never quite intruded but never really disappeared either.
Even at the funeral, she had been there. Standing off to the side, distant but present. Watching, but never approaching.
They weren’t friends.
But they weren’t strangers either.
Chloe didn’t push. She just sat with it, with him. And for a brief mont, between them wasn’t sharpness, wasn’t calculating—it was just human.
Then, just like that, she switched gears. Because she knew Justin. Knew that lingering too long on emotions he wasn’t ready to face would only push him further away.
So she gave him an out.
"That board eting, though," she said, shaking her head. "Damn, Justin. You had them eating out of the palm of your hand. I must say even for her son, I didn’t see that coming. Really."
He smirked. "Surprised?"
"Honestly? Yeah." She leaned back, arms draped over the couch. "I knew you were smart and a monster in this industry given the way you were taught and who taught you... but watching you dismantle every single argunt, predict every counter, and then still make them think it was their fault to ss with you with scandals in the end? That was so next-level shit."
Justin wasn’t surprised that she knew all this. Chloe had eyes and ears everywhere. She understood the ga better than anyone—better than Adams, better than Selena, hell, maybe even better than him.
Which was exactly why he wanted her.
But what did surprise him?
Her next words.
"And then out of nowhere, giving Adams those positions?" She nodded approvingly. "Solid move. You bagged one for the executives while keeping him close enough to control. Very calculated."
Justin’s expression didn’t change, but sothing in his chest tightened for her next words. Because no one was supposed to know about that yet.
Not Selena. No one.
But Chloe did.
And then, just to make sure he was still breathing, she added—completely casual, like she was asking about the fucking weather—
"But was the sex really necessary?"
Justin—
Blinked.
"...Excuse ?"
She smirked. "You heard ."
His brain stalled. There was no way she should’ve known about that. And yet, Chloe sat there, all relaxed and unbothered, waiting for an answer. He exhaled. "How the fuck do you even know that?"
Chloe just shrugged. "I know everything going on in this building, Justin. And the way she was looking at you in the eting wasn’t exactly hiding the fact the you rocked her world back and forth."
And the worst part?
"It made curious, how you feel like inside a woman?"
Or maybe the best part?
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