Chapter 1
My name is Aurora, and today marks my 365th day working at the New York headquarters of the Thorne Group.
My colleagues see me as a lucky, ordinary girl—a graduate from a decent business school who survived three rounds of interviews to land a junior analyst position at this top-tier tech company. Every day, I sit in that cubicle by the window in the open-plan office, dressed in business attire, eating the packed lunch I prepared myself.
What they don't know is that Julian Thorne, the Chief Executive Officer of this company with a market cap exceeding eighty billion dollars, buries his face in the crook of my neck every night. In a voice bordering on a whine—a tone only I am privy to—he complains to me about having to deal with a bunch of old men at the office all day.
But what they are even less aware of is that my surname is actually Stirling.
The Stirling family, which controls America's largest luxury hotel group and retail network.
The Stirling Building on Fifth Avenue, the Stirling Manor in Beverly Hills, the Stirling beach house in the Hamptons—these were my playgrounds growing up.
Julian and I are true childhood sweethearts.
Thus, our marriage was the union most anticipated by two business empires. It took place last June at the Stirling family chapel on Long Island. However, I dislike ostentation, so we invited fewer than fifty guests.
The morning after the wedding, in our penthouse overlooking Central Park West, over a cup of freshly brewed Blue Mountain coffee, I told Julian: "I want to go work at your company."
He raised an eyebrow, those ice-blue eyes that commanded such fear in the business world now dancing with amusement: "To patrol your territory as the CEO's wife?"
"As Aurora Lynn," I said, deliberately using my middle name. "An ordinary market analyst. No special treatment, no revealing my identity. I want to know what I can actually achieve without the name 'Stirling'."
Julian was silent for a full minute. Finally, he sighed and pulled me into his arms. "Alright, Miss Aurora Lynn. Your interview is scheduled for Tuesday at ten in the morning. Don't be late."