His day was as hectic as he said it would be. As soon as we made it to the office, his phone was ringing off the hook. He answered almost all of them and had them all on speaker, making me take notes on what they were talking about. Mason was there for a lot of the meetings that took place, which made sense, but I had almost forgotten my brother worked at this company as well. He went on so many business trips, his face was rarely seen here. It was nice seeing the dynamic of the two, how well they worked together executing business deals and how they flowed with the presentations given during the meetings. I could see why they were friends.

I mostly stayed in the shadows unless Roman gave me a direct order to do something specific. Other than that, my job was to keep a notepad with me at all times and write notes down. I noticed that during these meetings and phone calls, Roman was a different person. More reserved, and sharp with his words and tone. There wasn't an ounce of the smart-mouthed, silly man I had gotten to know. I wasn't sure if I was intimidated or attracted to that side of him. Maybe it was both. He didn't relax from the strict, business demeanor until it was lunchtime. He sighed and slumped down in his large comfy chair when he was done with the last phone call for the hour and his eyes slid over to me, his face softening.

"Enjoying being a shadow?" he asked, grabbing a water bottle off his desk and chugging it.

"I am, actually. It's way better than being with Lisa. Do I really have to go back to her after this? I could continue to shadow you instead and learn from you." I gave him puppy dog eyes and he smirked.

"Her position will teach you more about the marketing side of things than mine would. Plus, I don't want it to seem like I'm showing favoritism."

I sat back in my chair, pursing my lips. He had a point. "I understand. What I don't understand is why Lisa dislikes me so much. She's been like this from day one." I shook my head, trying not to get annoyed at the thought of her. Roman pressed his lips together, leaning back into his chair.

"Lisa is...what's the word? Territorial? Though our relationship is mostly a business one, she still has this claim on me and doesn't like that I get so much attention. It's annoying at times, but I'm used to it by now." He explained, which made me scoff.

"So, she dislikes me for no reason? Great. Childish." I huffed, actually annoyed. If there was something I did that could be fixed, I could understand that. But being borderline jealous over a man she didn't even want was beyond me.

"Enough about her. Let's talk about something else, please."

I raised a brow as I thought about what I'd been wanting to ask him all day. I shifted in my chair. "I want to know what caused your mood change this morning when we were leaving for work."

The frown that graced his face was just like the frown this morning. He cleared his throat.

"There was no mood change. I was fine this morning," he answered, not looking me in the eyes.

"You're lying." I crossed my arms over my chest. He looked at me, narrowing his eyes.

"Hm. You're intuitive."

"So I've been told." I shrugged, waiting for him to be honest with me. He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and pointer finger.

"It's my father," Roman spoke so quietly, I almost didn't hear him. I leaned on the front of his desk to hear him better. "Last night, he called me informing me that he would be stopping by at the office at some point today." He continued, making my brows scrunch.

"And that's a bad thing?" I didn't understand what was so bad about that. He scoffed, his jaw ticking as he drummed his fingers against his desk.

"My father is a despicable man. Tried to mold me to be like him and now we're on the outs because I refused. Our relationship is strained and the only reason he visits is to convince me to make deals I don't want to make or berate me for being a terrible CEO. Either way, the mere thought of him makes my blood boil." He spoke through clenched teeth and I actually felt sorry for him. I'd never seen this side of him before.

"I'm sorry about him. Should I leave when he comes, or stay? I don't want to intrude on anything," I started, but he shook his head.

"Not at all. You can stay, you shadowing me includes the highs and lows. Though I would say prepare yourself. He can be a bit much." He grimaced and I nodded. I changed the subject and instead I talked about myself, which he seemed grateful for. I talked about things from my passion for painting to my time at college. We spent the entire hour getting to know each other better and he told me about his love for the company, and even his own time in college, which was wilder and more reckless than my experience.

After lunch was over, he went back to taking phone calls and I went back to taking notes. I was on the other side of his office, looking through his files in the filing cabinet, when his office door opened.

"We need to talk, now!" A gruff, deep voice interrupted the silence in the office, and I jumped a bit from the intrusion. I turned to see a tall, older man walking toward Roman's desk. He had silver hair that was slicked back, and his features were similar to Roman's. He walked with confidence and a hard frown was on his face. He looked pissed. He had to be Roman's dad. He wasn't looking my way and only stared hard at Roman, who was sitting behind his desk. He locked eyes with his dad, a bored look on his face.

"Sit down, father." Roman gestured to the chairs in front of his desk, his voice void of any emotion.

"I'll sit down when I want to. Have you seen what has been circling the net or are you so far up your own ass you're unable to pay attention to what's happening around you?" His dad growled in an accent just like Roman's, gripping the back of the chair in front of him. My mouth opened and Roman's jaw tightened, and I knew he was clenching his teeth. His dad was a dick.

"So predictable, father. Always have to add an insult in conversation to make you feel better about yourself, huh?" Roman tsked, leaning back into his chair. I almost smirked. His dad's nostrils flared, and his eyes narrowed even more.

"Watch your mouth, son. Since it's so obvious you clearly have no idea what's happening, let me show you." He pulled out his phone and tapped at it before shoving it in Roman's face. He rolled his eyes and leaned forward, looking at the picture. He froze, eyes widening slightly before his poker face was back.

"Who took that?" Roman asked icily, folding his hands together on his desk.

"Who cares who took it. You need to think about what this could do to the company. This picture is all over the internet, everyone is talking about it! CEO of Drakos co. frolicking around with a woman that's not his girlfriend. Great job son, you're a joke!" His dad's voice raised, and my brows dipped as I tried to figure out what was going on.

"No one takes the media seriously, calm down. The company is fine." Roman brushed off his dad's words which made him chuckle humorlessly.

"If there's evidence like this, they do take it seriously. At least I had the decency to keep my affairs private, yours are out for the public to see! Now, I need you to get with Lisa and denounce this whore in the picture so people can see that you both are a united front."

Roman stood up quickly, slamming his hands on his desk before pointing a finger in his dad's face. "Watch your mouth. That woman in the picture is standing right over there in this room. Show her some respect." He growled and my eyes widened at the passion in his voice. His dad looked over at me, brows raising as he inspected me. His eyes were hazel, and they held no emotion. They were talking about me? What picture? I tried to think of the times I was with Roman in public that would have the media in a frenzy, and came up with nothing. His dad scoffed after his inspection of me, turning back to Roman.

"Handle this before I have to." He pointed a finger in Roman's face before storming out of the office without another word. The door to the office slammed shut and I jerked at the force. Roman let out a harsh sigh, rubbing his hand down his face.

"What is he talking about? We're in a picture together?" I questioned him, wanting to understand the situation. If I was involved, I deserved to know. I walked over to his desk and Roman picked up his phone, tapping it, before handing it over to me. I grabbed it and looked at the screen. My mouth parted as I took in everything about the picture. It was indeed me in the picture, with Roman next to me. We were standing by his car at night and my hair was wild in a good way, indicating that the wind was blowing that night. I was staring up at him with an innocent look on my face, his jacket covering my shoulders. He was staring down at me, hand on the open door of his car and he had a soft smile on his face, eyes filled with humor. That was the first night we met.