Abby walked out of Liam Sterling's office in a daze, the massive mahogany door clicking shut behind her with the finality of a prison lock. She wasn't just walking; she was vibrating with a complex mixture of professional triumph and sheer, utter terror. She had secured the promotion, the one that guaranteed the financial future she needed for her prospective child. But she had also just agreed to an unprecedented level of "much closer proximity" to the most intimidating man she had ever met.
Liam Sterling. His name was a curse and a promise in the gilded halls of Sterling Holdings. He was a creature of myth in the financial world, having taken a multi-billion dollar company built by his grandfather and quadrupling its valuation in seven years. He was cold, utterly brilliant, and as she'd just witnessed firsthand not afraid to fire a Senior Leader before 8 AM.
Abby's hands were shaking slightly as she walked back to her desk. She didn't dare check her pulse, but she was certain it was still doing a frantic dance against her ribs. She was used to high-pressure environments, but the energy in Liam's office was something else entirely. It wasn't just stress; it was raw, concentrated power.
She sank into her ergonomic chair, the leather cool against her back. Her mind kept replaying his face when she contradicted him: the slight twitch in his jaw, the flash of jade in his green eyes. Most men in his position would have roared; Liam had simply narrowed his focus, treating her dissent like a complex equation to be solved. And when she gave him the solution, he rewarded her. This was the terrifying thing about him: he didn't care about politics; he cared only about correctness.
She pulled out her personal calendar the one hidden deep in a password-protected folder on her laptop. The day was circled in an almost celebratory red: Procedure Day. The medical side of her life was running on a completely separate, parallel track from her professional life. In less than eight hours, she would be back in that clinic, undergoing the IUI procedure with the sample from Donor 476.
Donor 476.
She mentally juxtaposed the sterile, anonymized profile with the towering, demanding reality of Liam Sterling. The donor profile had described a man with an Ivy League background, emotionally stable, and driven. Liam was all those things, cranked up to a volume that threatened to shatter glass. The irony was heavy, almost suffocating. She had chosen Donor 476 precisely for his anonymity, for the clean, no-drama route to motherhood.
She sighed, pressing her fingers against her temples. Now, thanks to the promotion, she was thrust into a daily, high-stakes drama with a man who was the physical embodiment of everything she was trying to avoid in her personal life. The only solace was the knowledge that Liam Sterling would never, in a million years, cross the professional line. His reputation was as spotless as his custom-made shoes. Their relationship would remain purely transactional: she delivered perfection; he paid her handsomely.
But the new Strategic Integration team meant late nights, weekend meetings, and business trips. It meant her well-defined boundaries were about to blur. Abby was a woman of carefully managed quadrants; the promotion had just knocked a hole in the wall between work and life. And now, she had a tiny, growing secret a life that would soon require all her focus clashing with the most demanding professional role of her career. The terror was real. But the dream was more important. She straightened her spine, opened the Q4 report, and prepared for the battle ahead. She was Abby Brooks, and she was going to be a mother. And no green-eyed storm was going to stop her.