Chapter 3 GIRLS LIKE YOU
The Brooklyn night air felt heavier than usual as I stepped off the subway and walked the last three blocks to my apartment. Mr. Rossi’s building loomed ahead. The same faded brick walk-up with the flickering “No Vacancy” sign that had been lying for two years. My emergency bottle of red wine was already calling my name.
Clara was waiting on the stoop, two plastic bags of Chinese takeout swinging from her fingers and worry etched across her face. She took one look at me and pulled me into a tight hug.
“Spill. Now. You sounded wrecked in your text.”
We climbed the narrow stairs to my tiny one-bedroom. The smell of garlic and sesame oil filled the space as we unpacked the food on my coffee table. I kicked off my heels, poured two generous glasses of cheap red wine, and sank onto the worn couch.
I told her everything.
The lobby confrontation. The way Luca had looked at me with cool curiosity instead of guilt. The office meeting where he singled me out. The reassignment to the executive floor. The exact coffee order he somehow knew. The way his cologne had triggered memories I swore I had buried.
Clara listened without interrupting, her sharp eyes growing wider. When I finished, she set her wine glass down slowly.
“Maya… that sounds exactly like Sebastian. The height, the face, everything. But you said he called himself Luca?”
I nodded, the wine already warming my veins but doing nothing to calm the storm in my chest. “He insisted. Looked at me like I was crazy for calling him Sebastian. Then moved me closer to his floor like it was nothing.”
Clara leaned forward, voice low. “memory lost? Or maybe he’s playing games. Either way, you can’t let this pull you back into that night. You’ve worked too hard to let some rich asshole make you feel small again.”
Her words should have helped. Instead, they poked at the old wound until it throbbed.
Small.
That five thousand dollars had never been about the money. It had been proof that someone like Sebastian had looked at me. Poor, shy,invisible Maya Lawson and decided I was worth exactly that and nothing more. A night’s entertainment. A transaction.
Now Luca was looking at me like I was something else. Something that intrigued him. Something he wanted to figure out.
And that scared me more than anger ever could.
The next morning I arrived early, my armor firmly in place. My desk had already been moved overnight to the executive floor, a sleek workstation with a ridiculous view of Manhattan. The quiet power of the space made my Brooklyn life feel far away.
Claire greeted me with a neutral nod and a stack of files. “Mr. Hale wants the Kane deck revised by noon. Strategy session at two.”
I dove into the work, burying myself in numbers and work. It was safer there.
As I walked toward the main conference room, Eva Mendes stepped into my path.
She was stunning, 23, glossy dark hair, curves hugged by a fitted dress, and a smile that felt like a warning.
“New girl,” she said sweetly, blocking my way. “Special Liaison already? Cute. Just so we’re clear, Luca is mine. We have an understanding. Know your place before you start getting ideas.”
I met her gaze with calm aloofness, the mask I had perfected over years of being underestimated. “I’m here for the merger, not for anyone’s personal territory. If you have an issue with my work, take it up with Mr. Hale.”
Eva’s smile sharpened. “Oh, I will. Girls like you don’t last long when they forget where they belong.”
She brushed past, leaving expensive perfume in her wake.
I exhaled and entered the conference room.
Luca was already there, standing at the head of the long table in a fresh charcoal suit. His presence filled the space. When his gray eyes found mine, that spark of intrigue was back , darker, more intense.
The meeting started. I presented my revised analysis, voice steady. Luca listened without interrupting, but I felt his gaze the entire time. Not dismissive. Not predatory. Just… watchful. Like he was peeling back layers I had spent years hiding.
When I finished, the room fell silent for a beat.
“Good,” Luca said finally. Quiet approval in his tone. “This is the level I expect. Strong work, Miss Lawson.”
A small, unexpected warmth bloomed in my chest. Satisfaction. Someone had finally seen the work. Really seen it without stealing the credit.
But the feeling was dangerous. Because the man delivering that approval looked exactly like the ghost who had once made me feel disposable.
After the meeting, as everyone filed out, Luca’s voice stopped me at the door.
“Miss Lawson. A word.”
The room emptied. It was just us.
He stepped closer, stopping only a foot away. The air thickened.
“You seem angry with me,” he said quietly, eyes searching mine. “And I don’t know why.”
My heart slammed against my ribs. The wound ached, raw.
“I…” I stopped myself before I could yell at him
His gaze dropped to my lips for a fraction of a second.
Before I could say anything, his phone buzzed. He glanced at it, jaw tightening.
“Tonight. We’re working late on the merger. My office at seven.”
It wasn’t a request.
He walked away, leaving me standing there with my pulse racing and my carefully rebuilt walls trembling.
As I headed back to my new desk, one terrifying realization settled in my bones.
This was the dangerous pull I felt toward a man I was supposed to hate.
And if I wasn’t careful, Luca Hale was going to make me question everything I thought I knew about that night… and about myself.
