Chapter 1
After three years as Charles Sterling's secretary, I knew him inside out. He was a cold, emotionless workaholic, obsessively clean, never interested in women, and always wearing that signature icy poker face.
It was 12:30 AM when I pushed open the door to the CEO's office, carrying the last urgent document.
What I saw next completely shattered everything I thought I knew about him.
The ruthless Charles was standing there, cradling a tiny girl with pigtails in one arm and a bottle of milk in the other.
His custom suit sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and on his stern forehead was a bright pink cat band-Aid.
I gasped, caught off guard before I could step back.
Daisy Sterling's eyes sparkled as she reached out her pudgy arms. "Pretty lady. Hug!"
Charles, with his usual poker face, looked at me. "Serena, come in and close the door. You might need to sign a confidentiality agreement."
I nodded quickly, reaching for my pen, but before I could react, Daisy wriggled free from Charles's arms and hugged my leg tight. She looked up at me, cheeks streaked with tears, and her voice rang out, bright and clear, "Mommy!"
*****
The office was so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.
I glanced down at Daisy, the tiny bundle clinging to my leg, then looked up at Charles.
This man, worth billions and able to shake the business world with a single move, had his famous poker face completely fall apart.
"M-Mr. Sterling..." I stammered, swallowing hard. "When did you get married? Or when did you knock someone up? Wait, that's not what I meant... Why is she calling me Mommy?"
Charles ignored my barrage of questions. Instead, he took a deep breath and set the bottle down on the desk.
He walked over and tried to peel Daisy off my leg. "Daisy, let go of Ms. Shaw."
"No." Instead of letting go, she clung to me even tighter, burying her face in my skirt and crying out in her sweet, shaky little voice, "It's Mommy!
"I saw the pretty mommy on TV. Daddy's lying; he said Mommy went far away, but Mommy is right here."
I went completely stiff.
On TV?
Then it clicked. Last month, during the company's anniversary gala, they showed a promo video. As the CEO's office rep, I got about three seconds of close-up on screen.
Charles rubbed his temples, and for a moment, his tall figure looked drained and powerless.
In that instant, I actually caught a glimpse of flustered confusion in the eyes of this ice-cold mogul.
"Serena." Charles suddenly called me.
I snapped to attention out of habit. "Here, Mr. Sterling."
"Sit down, let's talk," he said, pointing at the sofa across from him. "And get her off the floor."
I could only hold Daisy as carefully as if she were a delicate porcelain doll, gently cradling her in my arms.
Daisy carried a sweet milky scent, and as soon as she nestled into me, she settled in comfortably, her chubby hands gripping my shirt collar tight, as if she was scared I might run away.
Something inside me softened unexpectedly.
Charles pulled up a chair and sat across from us, his long, well-defined fingers laced together. "Her name is Daisy Sterling. She's three years old, and she's my daughter."
His voice was calm, but there was a shadow of deep pain in his eyes. "Her birth mother died of sudden heart failure when Daisy was barely three months old."
I was stunned.
Three years old?
That was the same year I started working as his secretary at Sterling Corporation.
For three years, I'd been glued to his side, managing his schedule, blocking all the women throwing themselves at him, and dealing with every kind of chaos. No one knew him better than I.
But I never imagined he was a single dad; those were rare enough, and he was one.
"Why keep it a secret?" I blurted out without thinking.
Charles's eyes darkened. "You know how things work at Sterling Corporation. The old men in the Sterling family have been scheming to kick me out of my executive director seat for years.
"If they ever found out my only weakness is being a motherless daughter, they'd come after me like sharks scenting blood. And..."
He paused, his tone turning downright cold. "Daisy's mother's family? They're no pushovers either."
I understood.
Power struggles among the rich, and Daisy was an innocent caught in the crossfire.
He was doing all this to protect her.
But how did that explain why she was calling me Mommy?
"So... she..." I glanced down at Daisy, who was already half-asleep in my arms.
Charles's gaze suddenly got so deep it almost freaked me out. "She's started kindergarten, and all the other kids have their moms dropping them off and picking them up.
"After getting picked on a bunch of times, she's been really down."
Charles's voice was soft. "A few days ago, she saw the company promo video at the old mansion and pointed at you, insisting you were her mom.
"The nanny couldn't keep her in check, so today she hopped into the driver's car herself and wouldn't take no for an answer; she had to come see you at the office."
I was dumbfounded.
What the heck was going on?
Did a random daughter fall out of the sky and land in my lap?
"So... Mr. Sterling, you want me to go along with this and act as her mom for a few days?" I hesitated.
Charles took a deep breath, pulled out two thick stacks of documents from his drawer, and slid them across the desk to me. "This isn't for a few days."
His eyes bore into mine. "Serena, I need you to marry me."