The receptionist listened to the voice on the other end, then glanced up at Kristen.
“May I have your name, please?”
Kristen gave her most confident smile. “Kristen Watts, Head of Research, Cloudcrest Pharmaceuticals.”
—
In the executive assistant’s office, Francisco heard the name and frowned. Still, he told the receptionist to bring her up to the executive conference room. He hung up, then hurried to the CEO’s office.
“Mr. Packman, she’s here.”
Behind his desk, Ryan was just finishing up a video call. He slipped off his headset and stood, his sharp eyes landing on Francisco’s tense face. He raised an eyebrow. “What’s with your expression?”
It’s not like a ghost showed up. It’s just Amelia, right?
Francisco braced himself. “Mr. Packman, it’s not Ms. Sadinton. Someone named Kristen is here instead.”
Ryan’s face darkened, his eyes narrowing.
—
Upstairs, Kristen stopped outside the big conference room. She tidied her hair, put on a bright smile, and walked in.
“Mr. Packman, hello, I’m—” She froze mid-sentence when she saw who was sitting at the head of the table, blond hair shining under the lights. “Mr. Morris?”
Not Ryan. It was Nathan.
Nathan looked totally relaxed, even cheerful. “Ryan had something to take care of. Before he left, he asked me to have you, Ms. Watts, walk us through the core experiment in your research.”
He clapped his hands. Kristen turned—and her face changed in an instant.
There it was—the lab’s most expensive piece of equipment, worth a fortune and supposed to be under lock and key. And now it was just rolling right into the boardroom, as if it belonged there.
Was Ryan out of his mind?
Just for this meeting, he’d actually bought the machine and had it delivered here?
Kristen’s hand clenched her skirt so hard her knuckles turned white.
But she quickly pulled herself together. Amelia definitely wasn’t coming today.
She was the only one from her team here, and neither Ryan nor Nathan were experts in medical research.
All she had to do was make the demo look good enough to pass.
With that thought, Kristen relaxed. She straightened her back and walked confidently toward the equipment.
—
Meanwhile, down in the lobby, Ryan stepped out of the elevator. He was tall and imposing, his usually calm face now clouded with anger and a silent threat that sent chills through everyone nearby.
He’d watched Amelia walk into the building with his own eyes. Then he got pulled into a quick meeting, and somehow, she’d vanished in that short window.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from inside.
Ryan froze, then kicked the sign aside and rushed in.
He only made it a few steps before stopping dead in his tracks, his dark eyes wide and shaking as he watched a woman stumble out.
Amelia looked wrecked—wet, dirty, blood dripping from her fingertips, leaving a trail on the tile floor.
She stared at the man suddenly in front of her, dazed, hardly believing he was real.
“Ryan…?”
Why was he here?
Before she could even react, Ryan was there. He shrugged off his expensive suit jacket and wrapped it tightly around her shoulders.
His jacket was still warm, his scent all around her, shutting out the world.
Amelia’s lashes trembled.
Same last name. Standing here at West Medicine HQ on this exact day, with so much presence and power…
There was only one explanation.
Ryan was Mr. Ryan Packman—the one and only owner of West Medicine.

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