Seven Years After He Cast Me Out

The chairman interviewing me was the man who, seven years ago, warned me to my face to get out of the Crane house.

The moment I saw Trevor Crane sitting on the other side of the interview table, I froze. Seven years ago, I was living with the Cranes.

For someone else's sake, his face cold, he said to me: "Corinne Miller, don't ever let me see you on Crane property again as long as you live." "Or it won't end well for you." Guess I won't be working here after all.

Chapter 1 When the call came telling me I'd passed the interview, I just stood there, stunned.

I made the woman on the phone confirm it, and then confirm it again. "I'm sorry—did I really pass the interview?" The woman from HR kept her voice warm and even. "Ms.

Miller, I'm certain. You are the one who passed. Your offer letter has already gone to your email, so please keep an eye out for it.

We'd like you to start no later than next week." I got out some kind of answer, still dazed. After she hung up, my head was a mess, like a ball of yarn knotted past saving.

I never imagined it. Trevor Crane had actually signed off on hiring me? Without thinking, I pulled the strap of my bag tight in my fist.

I remembered every word of what he'd said seven years ago. He'd said, "As long as you live, don't let me see you on Crane property.

Or it won't end well for you." How could a man who despised me that much let me pass an interview? Maybe… he hadn't recognized me.

We hadn't laid eyes on each other in seven full years. Off the phone, I couldn't decide what to do. If I took the job, I'd be facing Trevor Crane headon.

If I turned it down, I'd be throwing away everything my advisor had done for me. Back and forth, and no idea which way to go.

After turning it over long enough, I decided not to take it. Better to give up the spot outright than to sit in that kind of misery.

It was a waste, but a waste was better than years of getting through the days under Trevor Crane with my head down. But I owed my advisor a headsup first.

Before I could dial, his call came in. My finger stopped over the screen. There was nothing to do but pick up.

The second the line connected, his voice came at me, full of relief and excitement. "Selene! Congratulations! I just heard—you got the offer from Stannix Group!

I knew I hadn't misjudged you. You're the finest student I've ever advised. More than a hundred people in that selection process, and you came out on top.

That's something to be proud of!" Every word of it carried excitement and pride he wasn't even trying to hide. "Professor, actually, I…" The words were right there, and then my throat closed up. "What is it?" "Nothing.

Thank you, Professor. It was all thanks to that letter of recommendation you wrote." "Oh, please. That was your own ability.

Don't be like that with me." My throat tightened again. "Professor, HR only just called me.

How is it you knew before I did?" He laughed, easy and open. "Didn't I tell you I have a connection at that company?

I'll be straight with you—the chairman of Stannix was my wife's student, back in the day." My heart dropped. "The chairman of Stannix Group. Trevor Crane?" "Why?

Do you know him?" "No.

I just saw him at the interview." "Even better, then." He sounded happier than ever. "Now I don't have to go out of my way to make the introduction." I bit my lip. "Professor, did I pass because you had your wife put in a word for me?" "Not a chance!" He denied it right away.

Chapter 2 "Before your interview," he went on, "my wife wanted to reach out to Mr. Crane and ask him to keep an eye out for you.

I stopped her." "I believed that with what you can do, you had no need of favors, that you were enough on your own." "And I called it, didn't I?" "Mr.

Crane contacted her himself just now, joking that she'd recommended this outstanding student of hers and then no one ever turned up.

The two of them compared notes, and that's how we found out you'd already been hired." "What did I tell you?

My eye for people has always been good." He was still going, praising me, worked up about it. And my head was full of one thing. It looked like I was going to have to take the job.

In the end I showed up for my first day. What I hadn't counted on was HR putting me in Team B, Office of the Chairman. That put me on edge immediately.

I'd been telling myself that even inside the company I'd be one more ordinary staffer, someone who would almost never lay eyes on Trevor Crane.

Instead, here was HR assigning me to the Office of the Chairman. Didn't that mean I'd be seeing Trevor Crane constantly?

With my things still in my arms, I worked up a careful question for the woman from HR. "Excuse me, could I ask something? I interviewed for a role in operations.

How did I end up assigned to Team B in the Office of the Chairman?" She gave me a gentle smile and explained patiently. "The Office of the Chairman is the company's central crossfunctional group.

Day to day it coordinates with every line of business, and that includes everything on the operations side.

Your position is the one that works directly with the operations department, so the substance of the job is exactly what you interviewed for." "It's also a department that develops new people.

A lot of new graduates would fight to get in here." "Leadership must have seen what you're capable of, or they wouldn't have placed you with us." "Oh. All right.

Thank you." After that there was nothing left for me to say. I just followed her up to the sixteenth floor. Team B's work area and the chairman's own office were on the same floor.

The place was spotless and severe, everyone with a job and everyone moving fast.

The woman from HR got me settled at a desk and then walked me to the office at the far end to meet my direct supervisor. "Ms.

Adeyemi, the new hire is here." Inside sat a middleaged woman in a crisp suit.

Her face was warm, but a brisk professional edge came off her, and one look told you she was steady, very good at what she did, and had been doing it a long time.

HR handed me off in a few words and left. My new boss stood, came around the desk, and put out her hand. "Selene Miller, is that right? Welcome.

I'm Renata Adeyemi, director of the Office of the Chairman. Ms. Adeyemi is fine." I took her hand fast. "It's good to meet you, Ms.

Adeyemi." "You don't need to be nervous." She smiled and looked me over, sizing me up and liking what she saw. "I've read your application and your advisor's letter.

Business administration at Cordell, a full scholarship three years running, two major projects while you were doing your master's.

That right?" "Yes, ma'am." She gave a slight nod, approval in her eyes. "An excellent new hire." "Thank you, Ms. Adeyemi.

I'll do my best to learn from you." She hummed a short acknowledgment. "No need to be so formal.

In private, Renata is fine." I liked her right away, this steady, professional woman who knew how to handle people. I thanked her properly and dipped my head.

Then her next sentence went through me and locked up every muscle I had. "Take a few minutes to settle in, then come with me to the chairman's office." Chapter 3 My pupils shrank, and then I just stood there, frozen.

Right now… go see the chairman? I had braced myself for the long version of this, for easing my way into running across Trevor Crane.

What I had not imagined was coming facetoface with him on my first day. We reached the chairman's office on the top floor.

The heavy frosted door swung open under a light push, and a cool, expensive stillness came out to meet us.

Trevor Crane sat behind a wide ebony desk in a sharply pressed black suit, the shoulder line clean, everything about him cold and moneyed.

His eyes were down, working through the documents in front of him, and the air around him was so distant and so unbothered that it warned you off before you took a step.

Director Adeyemi's manner turned formal as she gave her short report. "Mr. Crane, our new hire, Selene Miller, has started.

I've brought her up so you're informed." She paused two seconds, and when Trevor Crane raised his eyes, she went on. "Her assignment is settled.

Going forward she'll be focused on operations matters and supporting the company wherever it's needed." Two sentences, and she had covered everything.

Before I could react, Director Adeyemi gave him a small nod. "I'll step out and see to the department.

Take your time here." With that she turned, pulled the door shut without a sound, and was gone. The enormous office dropped into silence, just me and Trevor Crane behind that desk.

The air congealed all at once, and the pressure came down over me in layers. I caught myself breathing more quietly.

Trevor Crane had already picked up my application and begun going through it, unhurried, his eyes dark and giving away nothing.

I stood where I was, stiff, with no idea what to do with my hands. After a moment he finally looked up, his gaze passing over me without weight. "Why are you standing?

Sit." Something in my chest jumped. I nodded and went to sit on the leather couch off to one side, careful about every inch of it.

He didn't speak right away, only kept reading, going down the page as though he were checking each line of my record against something. I couldn't sit still.

Every second of it dragged. I don't know how long it was before he spoke. "Your name is… Selene Miller?" My heart squeezed and the beat of it fell apart. "Yes. That's right, Mr.

Crane." He hummed and lifted his head to look at me. "You're Professor Draycott's student?" I looked up with a small sound of agreement and ran straight into his eyes.

For that one instant his gaze was deep and sharp and weighing, landing all the way at the back of mine. I dropped my head fast, my voice tight. "Yes.

Professor Draycott is my advisor, and he's the one who recommended me to your company." He gave a light nod, and there was a thread of certainty in his voice. "Your advisor has good judgment, it seems." It was a line that could go either way.

It sounded like praise for me. It also sounded like praise for himself. I couldn't tell which he meant, so I only nodded, stiffly.

He took his eyes off me and put them back on the résumé. "Putting you in Team B of the Office of the Chairman wasn't arbitrary.

Your field fits crossfunctional coordination, and Team B works with operations across the whole company, which gives you the most room to use what you're good at.

It will stretch you further than a single operations post, and you'll grow faster." He paused, then added, "If anything in the work gives you trouble, you can come straight to me." I got quickly to my feet. "Thank you, Mr.

Crane." My voice stayed respectful and kept its distance. He inclined his head slightly, said nothing more, and dropped his eyes back to his work.

Everything about him said the conversation was over. Chapter 4 "Mr. Crane, I'll head back, then." "Mm." He gave that one sound and went straight back to work.

I backed out of the chairman's office as quietly as I could. The second the door shut, the nerves I'd held tight all morning let go all at once.

I squeezed my hand closed, and a small, lucky relief rose in me. It looked like Trevor Crane really hadn't recognized me.

I was grateful that after I left the Crane house for good, I'd changed my name. Grateful, too, that across those seven years I had worked myself into someone else.

I was no longer the Corinne who shrank from everything behind heavy blackframed glasses. The Selene Miller who existed now was new, and unfamiliar.

A stranger he could stand in front of without remembering a single thing about her. And so I settled into Team B of the Office of the Chairman.

To make me better at working with operations down the line, Director Adeyemi sent me straight down to rotate through the operations department.

For the full three months of my probationary period I was learning down there and never had to touch Team B's own work.

Across those three months of breathing room, I truly did not come facetoface with Trevor Crane again. The work in operations was tangled and full, every day packed end to end.

It helped that my training was solid and that I'd banked real project experience during my master's, so I picked things up quickly and fell into the department's rhythm, and I earned the recognition of the operations manager and the people around me.

When I did catch sight of Trevor Crane from a distance now and then, it no longer sent me into a panic. The three months of probation went by in no time.

On the strength of the work I'd done, I came off probation and onto permanent staff without a hitch. The afternoon HR sent the notice, I had just gotten off a call with my advisor.

By then I could tell him without flinching that staying here felt fine to me.

As long as Trevor Crane didn't recognize me, I could draw a high salary and have his backing at the same time. What I didn't expect was how little warning the turn would give me.

One Friday, I was working late. Outside the window the rain came down in sheets. I figured that with weather like that, leaving later made no difference.

I'd wait for it to ease off and then call a car, instead of getting soaked through on the way home. I was headsdown at the keyboard when a few soft knocks came from behind me.

I assumed it was security making rounds. "Come in," I said, barely looking up.

The office door opened under a light push, and a tall, straight figure stood in the doorway, backlit by the cold white light of the hallway.

A dark suit jacket over one arm, shirtsleeves rolled to the forearm, every line of him clean and hard. It was Trevor Crane. My chest pulled tight and my fingers locked on the keys.

His eyes passed over the empty floor and came back to me. "Why aren't you gone yet?" I blanked for two seconds and turned my head to look around.

The floor was empty, desks and chairs squared away, only a few lights still on. As far as I could see, I was the only person left on it.

I stood up fast, keeping my voice respectful and correct. "Mr. Crane, I have a little work left.

I was going to finish it and then go." Trevor Crane raised his eyes to the window. "The weather service just put out a thunderstorm warning.

The wind and rain get worse for the next two hours." "Are you sure you want to stay?" I followed his eyes out the window.

The rain came down so thick it closed off almost everything past the glass, and the wind drove it against the panes hard enough that watching it made you afraid.

Panic shot through me, and I answered right away.

Chapter 5 "I'll pack up right now and go." He gave a flat hum, but he stayed in the doorway, with nothing about him suggesting he meant to leave. "Come on.

The rain's too heavy at this hour, you'll be waiting on a car forever. I'll drive you home." My chest tightened and I turned him down without thinking. "That's all right, Mr.

Crane, it's far too much trouble for you. I'll call a car and get myself home." He raised an eyebrow a fraction, and those black eyes went a shade darker. "In rain like this?

You're sure?" Before I could get another word out, he spoke again, and there was no give in it. "As your boss, I'm not going to let an employee of this company go home alone through a thunderstorm." "Besides, if something happened to you, how would I explain that to Professor Draycott?" Once it was put that way, turning him down again would have looked like an act.

I pushed the awkwardness down and thanked him quietly. "Thank you, then, Mr. Crane." "Mm. Don't mention it." "Only, Mr.

Crane, I need to pick something up at the front desk downstairs." "What is it?" "A surprise from my best friend." Bailey Buckley had been my playmate for as long as I could remember and was the one friend I told everything to.

We grew up together in the mountains of east Tennessee.

The day before, she'd made a point of telling me she'd sent me a surprise and that I should collect it at the front desk after work.

She told me over and over not to go early, that it had to wait until the end of the day. Trevor Crane didn't ask anything more, only nodded. "Fine.

I'll go down with you." A few minutes later I had my things together and followed him into the elevator. The car went down smoothly, and the sealed little space was very quiet.

I stood in the corner and kept as much room between us as I could. After a slow half a minute the doors finally opened. The lobby was bright, with staff still on duty.

I had barely stepped out, hadn't even started toward the front desk, when a slight figure came flying out of the seating area straight at me. "Corinne Miller! You jerk!

I've been waiting forever—what took you so long?" Loud enough to carry across the entire lobby. I hadn't caught up to any of it yet.

The next second Bailey was on me, both hands shaking my shoulders. "Corinne Miller, surprised?

Bet you didn't see that coming!" "I'll have you know I came six hundredsome miles, all the way from Flat Gap, just for this." In that moment every drop of blood in me turned solid.

Corinne Miller. Flat Gap. Those two names pulled the cover off a secret I'd been keeping for a long time. Stiffly, I turned my eyes to the side.

And ran straight into Trevor Crane's eyes, black and deep. Bailey and I got into Trevor Crane's car.

The downpour hammered against the windows and smeared everything we passed into nothing. Bailey had never once been able to keep anything in.

The car had barely pulled away before she leaned over and dropped her voice against my ear. "Corinne, you have no heart!

You know perfectly well I'm out in Flat Gap, and it's been a whole year and you still haven't come to see me." My back stayed rigid.

Out of the corner of my eye I caught the side of Trevor Crane's face in the mirror. He was looking straight ahead, nothing moving in his expression. "Sorry.

Graduation on top of the job hunt—it really was busy," I said, keeping my voice down. "Busy, busy, busy. What year are you not busy?" Bailey rolled her eyes at me. Chapter 6 "Mr.

Meecham's Honey is so old she can barely walk anymore. If you don't get back there soon, she may really not make it through this winter.

And your grandma's old house—the rain last month took a corner of it down. The county posted an unsafestructure notice, said if it isn't fixed by their deadline it comes down.

If I don't go over and deal with it, they really will push the whole thing flat." Grandma's old house. It caught me in the chest.

That house was the only place that was ever really home. The year I turned six, my dad's business went under, and he took it out on my mother, over and over.

So she left me behind and divorced him, and after that my dad handed me off to my grandmother. When I was eight, he was drunk, lost his footing, fell into the water, and drowned.

From six to fifteen, I lived with my grandmother up in the mountains, right up until she got sick and died. Before she went, she tracked down my mother for me.

After that my mother took me to the Crane house. I finished the last three years of high school living there. And that was when I met Trevor Crane.

Bailey was still going on about home