By the next morning, Frost Enterprises buzzed with gossip.
Elena could feel it in the way people paused conversations when she walked by, in the sidelong glances exchanged near the elevators. Something about Sophia Bennett's visit had stirred the waters.
She didn't want to care—this wasn't her business. But curiosity burned too hot to ignore.
At the coffee station, two junior analysts whispered hurriedly over steaming mugs.
"…they dated, I swear. Years ago, before Frost Enterprises really took off."
"Or maybe they just partnered and it went south. Either way, no one survives Sophia Bennett without scars."
"Did you see the way she looked at him yesterday? Like she owned him."
Elena gripped her cup tighter. She told herself it didn't matter, that she had no right to wonder about Alexander's past, but the words lodged themselves in her mind.
---
When she returned to her desk, the phone on her line rang sharply. She snatched it up.
"Miss Carter," came Alexander's clipped tone. "My office."
Her pulse jumped. She hurried in, notepad in hand.
He was at his desk, jacket draped over the back of his chair, shirt sleeves rolled up. He looked as sharp as always, but there was a tension in his posture, a tautness in the line of his jaw.
"Take this down," he said, launching into rapid instructions for an upcoming investor meeting. Elena scribbled furiously, forcing herself to focus on the words, not on the storm brewing behind his eyes.
But when he paused, scanning the papers on his desk, the question slipped out before she could stop it.
"Mr. Frost… who is Sophia Bennett to you?"
Silence.
His head lifted slowly, and the weight of his gaze pinned her in place.
"That," he said evenly, "is none of your concern."
Elena's cheeks burned. "I didn't mean—"
"You are here to work, Miss Carter. Not to ask questions about things that do not involve you."
His voice was calm, but beneath it lay steel, sharp enough to cut.
She swallowed hard. "Of course. I'm sorry."
He watched her for another long, unsettling moment before returning his attention to the documents. "We leave for the investor meeting at three. Be ready."
Dismissed.
Elena slipped out of the office, her heart hammering. She told herself she had crossed a line. She told herself to stay out of it.
But as she sat back at her desk, one thought refused to leave her mind:
For the first time since she'd met him, Alexander Frost had looked not cold… but unsettled.
And the cause was Sophia Bennett.