Free Web NovelChapter 116: Zachary Sterling?
A few days later.
In the past few days, Sienna’s relationship with Zachary had grown closer.
Starting with casual text messages, those messages somehow turned into daily conversations.
The morning will start with good morning texts, then continue with random food pictures or conversations about Skylar.
Late-night conversations that began with simple topics but somehow lasted for hours.
They share too many dinners for two people who still insist they are "just friends."
Sometimes they ate outside after work. Other times, Zachary suddenly appeared near her office and drove her home.
Sienna no longer knew exactly when her ordinary life had begun to revolve around that father-and-son duo.
But she knew one thing clearly: she liked it far too much.
Even this morning, Zachary had texted her before sunrise.
He told her he was flying abroad for a business trip and would likely return the day after tomorrow.
The message itself was simple. Yet Sienna found herself rereading it several times while getting ready for work.
Especially the last sentence.
"Don’t skip meals while I’m away."
The memory alone made her lips curve upward slightly.
She lightly slapped both of her cheeks with her hands.
"Sienna," she muttered weakly to herself while sitting inside her office chair. "Stop thinking about him."
She let out a deep breath afterward and leaned back against the chair, forcing herself to calm down.
"Girl, you need to focus on what will happen today—" Hearing her own words instantly ruined her happy mood.
Her eyes shifted slowly to the clock on the wall, and all of a sudden, she felt that familiar tension creep back into her chest.
She needed to meet Benjamin Foster this afternoon, and just thinking about his intentions made her stomach stir.
Sienna did not need to wait until today to reject him. She already knew her answer from the very beginning—she will never accept Benjamin as her boyfriend.
But she also knew Benjamin Foster was not the type of man who handled rejection calmly. He might be furious. That shameless narcissist always acted as if the entire world existed to satisfy his ego and pride.
Even thinking about facing him made Sienna feel mentally exhausted already.
Her mind gradually filled with countless questions.
’What if that bastard got angry?’
’What if he used his position as GM to harm me?’
’What if he made things difficult for me afterward?’
The thoughts continued piling up inside her head until she finally let out another long sigh.
"Don’t worry..." she whispered to herself. "You will be all right, Sienna!"
Slowly, she stood from her chair and walked toward the bookshelf near the side wall, hoping to distract herself for a moment before her meeting upstairs.
Her eyes wandered over several files and magazines stacked on the corner shelf.
Then, suddenly, a familiar booklet caught her attention.
"Huh..."
Sienna tilted her head slightly before pulling it from the shelf.
"This is the Sterling Capital Management Training booklet..."
The memory instantly brought her back several weeks earlier.
At that time, the company was in chaos due to the food poisoning incident. Between Mia nearly being forced to resign and her almost being transferred to some remote location, she completely forgot this booklet even existed.
Thinking about those stressful days now felt strange somehow. Because everything had changed since then.
Not only did she remain at headquarters, but she also received a promotion. freёwebnovel.com
Sienna smiled bitterly while absentmindedly flipping the booklet in her hands.
"Let’s see what’s inside..."
She finally opened it. But the moment her eyes landed on the first page—
Everything around her suddenly stopped.
The booklet slipped from her hands and fell to the floor with a loud thud.
Sienna froze completely.
She felt her breath stop, and her entire body slowly grew cold.
"Oh... My god—" she muttered in disbelief.
Slowly, she lowered her gaze toward the booklet lying open on the floor, and the picture remained there.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the open page, staring at the profile picture of the man who had recently stolen her time and mind. Under the picture, the caption reads "CEO of Sterling Capital."
"Why is Zach’s photo included in this booklet?"
The picture on the first page looked exactly like the man who had come to her house.
The same man who helped her when she was in danger.
The same man who has been on her mind lately.
The same man she was slowly, helplessly falling in love with.
"Zach..." she whispered shakily.
Then another realization struck her violently.
"Wait! Zach is Zachary Sterling...!?"
Her voice trembled badly now.
"He is the CEO of Sterling Capital?"
Her breathing became uneven immediately.
"H-How could that be...?"
For several long moments, she simply stood there, frozen, staring blankly at the booklet on the floor.
Her mind completely stopped functioning. Because nothing made sense anymore.
Slowly, she bent down and picked up the booklet with trembling fingers.
Then she walked back toward her desk and sat down. Her eyes remained glued to Zachary Sterling’s profile.
She reread it once. Then again. As if hoping the words would somehow change.
But the picture remained the same. The name remained the same. The man remained the same.
The person she thought was simply "Zach."
The man she was falling deeply for was actually Zachary Sterling.
"Wait..." she whispered as something crossed her mind. "Maybe they are a different person with the same name?"
Immediately, she straightened in her seat, trying to calm herself with her logic.
"Yes, they are different. I remember Zach saying his name is Zach Greystone... not Zach Sterling."
She nodded to herself as if confirming her own theory.
"Yes, maybe they just look alike. A doppelgänger..."
But even as she said that, her heart already knew the truth.
She slowly placed the booklet onto the desk.
"What should I do now?" she whispered helplessly. "Should I call him? Should I ask him directly? Should I pretend I didn’t know his true identity?"
She sighs deeply.
Another terrifying thought slowly appeared inside her chest afterward.
’If Zach truly was Zachary Sterling... then what exactly was I to him?’
Hearing her own thoughts slowly made her heart tighten... Because suddenly, the distance between them no longer felt small.
The Zach she knew felt close enough to touch.
But Zachary Sterling?
The CEO of Sterling Capital?
That man belonged to an entirely different world from hers.
