Rose’s POV
The clock on my sleek new monitor glowed 8:47 PM when I finally closed the last file and leaned back in my chair, exhaling a long, exhausted breath. My neck ached from hours of hunching over documents, my eyes were gritty from staring at dense spreadsheets and frantic emails, and a dull headache pulsed at my temples. The former executive secretary had left behind a complete mess — overlapping appointments, unanswered priority messages from board members, incomplete expense reports, and a chaotic shared drive that looked like it hadn’t been organized in months. I had powered through without a proper lunch, surviving on stale office coffee and sheer willpower, determined not to start my first day in this elevated role looking incompetent.
I rubbed my eyes and began packing up my
