The Alpha Billionaire's Secret

Most people had normal jitters prior to a new job, but Gina? Evidently, she had to deal with something else. As she stared up at a giant, gleaming moon, an eerie feeling cascaded down her spine, as if the thing was watching her.

‘This is a dream,’ she said to herself, furrowing her brow. Normally, she didn’t have lucid dreams, but for some reason, this felt different.

Her stomach twisted into knots as she watched the moon’s surface change, a scene playing like something from a movie forming in the murky white depths. Gasping, Gina watched as skyscrapers rose from concrete, distorting as if there were film glitches.

Repeated screams rang through the air, piercing and dripping with sheer agony.

Everything was different shades of grey and white on this movie-like ‘screen,’ all except for one important detail.

The lines of blood dripping down the skyscrapers, as if thousands exploded in an instant to stain the city red.

*****

Awakening with a start, Gina gasped, clutching her chest, some curls falling into her face.

‘Beep! Beep! BEEP!’ her alarm blared, reminding her of the screams from the dream. A cold sweat formed all over the woman’s arm as she struggled to get out from beneath her blankets, eventually flopping onto the ground and letting out a soft groan.

‘What was that?!’ she thought to herself, unable to wrap her head around the dream. Sure, she had some odd dreams, but nothing like that. Especially given it felt so real, as if she truly had been in front of the moon showing whatever horrific scene went on its surface.

‘It has to be first day jitters. This is my big break; stress can cause a lot of psychological disturbance,’ Gina thought to herself, making her way to the bathroom and grabbing a brush. She ran it through her ebon curls, taking roughly five minutes to fix up her messy hair.

As she stared in the mirror, she noticed a swirling fear in the depths of her deep brown eyes, unable to pinpoint an exact reason for this reaction to something she supposed was just a dream.

Nothing to do about that now. Ignoring the dark circles forming on the fairly light tan skin under her eyes, Gina finished getting ready, applying eyeliner and grabbing her suit in preparation for her first day at her new company, ‘Biochemical Advancement Initiative.’

All of her schooling and research came down to this--after a long search following her degree in business and biology, she knew she was more than qualified for this high-ranking position. She ran through her past work history, including experience in both laboratory work and large-scale management.

‘I will do just fine,’ she assured herself, letting out a breath and making her way from her small apartment to the streets of New York City after ensuring she had everything she needed in her briefcase.

Clouds billowed above, a rumble in the distance telling her that there no doubt was to be a storm soon. Her gaze fell upon the looming skyscrapers jutting out all around her, and she couldn’t help but recall that awful dream. Her attention snapped back to her walk to the bus stop as she nearly shouldered a passing gentleman, a fellow who gave the most withering stare and grumbled about ‘watching where she was going’.

Resolving to focus, she walked along, the scent of warm, chocolatey donuts rushing through the air and causing her to lick her lips. Such a treat would be an excellent reward for a job well done, should these first few hours go well. Loud chatter and footsteps rang out all around her, because despite the rain, people had stuff to do and places to be, just like Gina.

The squealing of a loud bus caused Gina to jump a bit, realizing she’d made the stop just in time. She bored the bus, a firm grip on her case as she avoided the gaze of other people commuting. Small chatter was exchanged by a few strangers, but she wasn’t one to participate, retreating into her mind to focus on the tasks ahead.

‘Organizational at first, several meetings, the whole nine yards,’ Gina thought to herself, clutching the city bus handle with her free hand. The intrusive thoughts of the dream were never far despite her telling herself it was ‘just a dream’. A scowl formed on her face upon realizing that this would be an unfortunate distraction should it continue to billow in her mind all day.

Hopefully it wouldn’t lead to a huge problem.

Getting off at her stop, Gina took in a deep breath at the unnerving suspicion that she was being watched. Her eyes darted to an alleyway, shrouded in shadow due to the growing storm above. She could have sworn she saw a pair of crimson eyes staring at her, blinking out the next second so quickly that she was unsure she even saw a thing at all.

‘Halloween is coming up,’ she thought to herself. ‘Maybe someone is preparing?’

Her instincts told her otherwise, but like with the dream, she tried shoving that thought into the back of her mind.

Gina walked up to the entrance of ‘Biochemical Advancement Initiative’, greeting the receptionist and heading to her desk in the office. She opened her briefcase and pulled out her laptop, lost in the world of spreadsheets and documentation for a time.

Her groove was broken by more and more intrusive thoughts, leading to a few mistakes that caused her to bite her lip. Chat rooms rang up, explaining how the number of errors she made was unusual even for a new employee. ‘What is going on?!’ she thought to herself, her heart rate increasing in worry. ‘Dreams shouldn’t have this severe of an effect. I need to get it together’.

She rubbed her temples, leaning forward at her desk and letting out a sigh. Resolving to take a five minute break and clear her head, she stood up from her chair and headed away from her cubicle. When she focused enough to begin heading to the break room, she spotted a gentleman walking toward her, likely heading to some other area in the office.

This, at first, she dismissed, until he came close enough for her to study in detail.

Long, silky hair the color of obsidian fell down the side of his face, brushed to one side. A chiseled jaw revealed a well-kept circle beard, trimmed just the right length to look what society deemed as ‘professional’. His eyes were a gorgeous deep brown, darker than her own, and when he fastened them on her, she could sense unfathomable intelligence swirling within their depths.

He wore a simple black shirt with a pocket that held plenty of pens. There was a nametag pinned to the left side of his chest that read: ‘Zaros Blodlock, CEO’. He raised his eyebrows as he stepped aside to let her through. Electricity crackled through the air for just one instant… and in the next, the feeling was gone.

Gina realized her stare was lingering a bit too long on her CEO and hurried along, not wanting to exchange embarrassing words since she was already off her groove.

The way he’d looked at her almost felt as if he was sizing her up and curious to learn more. Perhaps it was because she was a new employee? Gina hoped she wouldn’t make enough mistakes to find out in a bad way.