His return

LOCATION: VALLESSENCE LUXURY HOLDINGS

Hope barely had the time to breathe immediately she arrived at Vallessence Holdings. The glass doors slid open smoothly as she stepped inside, her heels clicking against the marble floors. She didn’t even make it halfway to the elevator before one of her assistants, Daniel or whatever his name was, rushed toward her, looking harried.

"Ms Hope," he started, keeping up with her brisk pace. "The shareholders have been waiting for a while now. The meeting was scheduled for—"

"I know when it was scheduled," she cut in, already irritated. "Get my breakfast, take it up to my office. And coffee to the boardroom" She didn’t bother explaining further.

“Yes, Ma'am” Daniel wisely fell silent, pressing the elevator button. The doors opened, and she stepped inside, inhaling deeply as she prepared for what she already knew would be another exhausting couple of hours.

Everyone fell silent and all eyes turned to her as she walked into the boardroom. Some with curious. Some with expectant glares. Others—mostly the older men at the table—were already wearing thin masks of impatience.

"Apologies for the delay," she said coolly, setting her tablet on the table. "I had some private matters to sort out."

One of the men, César Montoya, a longtime shareholder and an unrepentant sexist, scoffed. "Women always have something private to sort out. That’s why they’re better off as wives, not workers."

A tense silence settled over the room. Hope didn’t hesitate. She turned her gaze to him, dark eyes sharp as a blade. "Mr Montoya," she called with a deceptively calm voice, "if you have a problem with me being a woman, I can have one of my assistants fetch you a rope. Feel free to hang yourself."

A few gasps, cough, and a poorly disguised chuckle from someone further down the table. César’s face reddened, but he didn’t respond Instead he looked at his own tablet.

"Since that's settled, please do not fucking ruin my morning more than it's already been.” She leaned back in her chair, exhaling slowly. It wasn’t the first time she’d dealt with this bullshit, and it wouldn’t be the last.

She had been running this company for so long now that she’d lost count of the years. Stepping into the role when her father’s health suddenly declined had been difficult, but she had done it. She had kept the company thriving. She had closed deals, solved problems, and built alliances. Half the damn population thought she was doing a fantastic job. Yet, there was always someone waiting to discredit her. Always someone pinning their failures on her gender.

And what infuriated her the most? These same people, these same old men who doubted her, somehow had unwavering faith in Georgiana’s son. The one they barely knew. The one who had been gone for years, and it made her stomach churn. She was the heroine in shining armors when half the businesses under Vallessence was practically swimming down the drain, yet they find her unworthy of it when it began to thrive and wants her gone? Absolute bullshit!

It seems no matter how much time passed, her past and her parents' mistakes never stopped haunting her. For a brief moment, she wondered. What if her biological mother had never left? What if she hadn’t run off with a boy young enough to be her son?

The memory alone disgusted her to the core.

"Let’s get started," she said, flipping open the tablet. "We have more important things to discuss than my gender."

“So, Mr. Dorne,” she said, shifting her focus to one of the more vocal members of the board. “I heard your concerns about the Singapore deal, but we’ve already run projections. The risks are minimal, fortunately, and I hope that'll ease your worries.”

Dorne nodded thoughtfully, but he didn’t look convinced. He adjusted the expensive watch on his wrist before replying, “Minimal is still a risk. We should wait for—” he hesitated, but only for a second, “—or you should consult a more stable leadership structure before making such a move.”

“If you mean we should wait for my father or his wife’s son, who we’re not even sure is ever coming back, say it outright.” She looked back at her chart displaying on her screen.

“That’s not what I said,” The man countered, but they both knew he meant it. In fact, everyone at the table knew what he meant.

She exhaled slowly, leaning back in her chair. It was exhausting, the constant insinuations that she wasn’t permanent, that she was just holding a seat until he returned. That maybe her father would miraculously recover and take back control. That maybe, just maybe, she’d finally disappear from the picture entirely. He's a close friend of her father, and she would say he was worried if he didn't make, or attempt to make that statement.

She had half a mind to tell him exactly where he could shove his concerns, but she didn’t have the energy to entertain him today.

They moved on to the next topic, but halfway through the meeting, her phone buzzed.

She sighed, realizing she had forgotten to put it on silent. A mistake she rarely made. Annoyed, she pulled the phone closer, expecting a meaningless notification—until she saw the name flashing on the screen.

Her brows lifted slightly. She wasn’t expecting a call from her P.A , especially not this morning.

"Excuse me” She said to the board members, with the thought that whatever made her assistant disrupt the meeting was something related to it. She answered the call. “I hope this isn't bad news or one of your clumsy problems. I’m in the middle of a meeting.”

“Good morning, ma’am,” her assistant, Penelope, said from the other end. “It’s probably nothing serious, but I've Ive heard Madam Georgiana talk about it, so I thought I should say what I saw and heard.”

Hope frowned slightly, glancing around at the board members watching her. She pushed her chair back just a little, leaning to the side. “This better be important.”

There was a quiet knock at the door, and Daniel walked in, holding a steaming cup of coffee. His ID badge dangled from his neck as he placed the cup in front of her and walked back out without a word. She picked up the cup and brought it to her lips, taking a careful sip.

Meanwhile Penelope grunted in approval, Casually saying; “Yes, ma’am. I got the New York Daily newspaper today and saw that the man Madam Georgiana always talked about announced to the press that he’s coming back to Mexico. I think he’s from there—”

The coffee hadn’t even fully gone down the throat when Hope lurched forward, choking on it. The hot liquid burned down the wrong way, making her cough violently.

She barely noticed the stunned board members watching her as she covered her mouth with her hand, her heart forgetting to beat for a millisecond.

Noah was coming back.