Monday morning hit like a slap to the face.
The office buzzed with that post-weekend hum—some employees recharged, others still moving like they hadn't left their beds. Sienna stepped through the revolving doors and was met with a warm smile from the lobby receptionist.
"Morning, Miss Caldwell," the girl chirped.
"Morning, Tori." Sienna smiled, adjusting her bag. "Cassian's in already?"
Tori tilted her head. "I haven't seen him, actually. Thought he'd be here before anyone, as usual."
Sienna's steps faltered just slightly.
Cassian Hayes was many things. Arrogant. Difficult. Maddening. But he was also terrifyingly consistent. He was always the first in. Always ahead of everyone. Especially before a meeting.
She got into the elevator, brows furrowing. No texts. No emails. Not even a forwarded calendar notice. She checked her inbox again at her desk. Still nothing.
Maybe he was late.
Maybe he overslept.
She didn't believe that for a second.
Unease prickled down her spine as she crossed the hallway to his office. The blinds were drawn. The lights off. No hum of coffee brewing inside. She opened the door—
Empty.
Except for a single envelope on the desk, addressed to her in his handwriting.
She tore it open.
Sienna,
I've taken a few days. No meetings this week. No clients today. No emergencies.
Don't worry about the Crane report. I've emailed legal to push it back.
Hold things down.
—C
She stared at the paper, mouth slightly open.
"What the actual fuck, Cassian," she muttered.
He left?
Just like that?
She turned and marched straight to the assistant director's office—Luis Brown, the assistant director—a white-haired man in his early sixties who had been with the company since before Cassian took over.
"Luis," she said, waving the paper, "Cassian's gone."
Luis blinked. "Gone?"
"Vacation. No warning. No calendar updates. Nothing."
"What?" Luis stood. "Wait, he didn't tell you? You're his shadow."
"I know."
Panic settled into the air like smoke.
Luis pulled out his phone. So did she. So did three other senior staff members. One by one they tried his number.
Nothing.
Straight to voicemail.
Cassian Hayes had disappeared.
And no one had any idea why.
By midmorning, the ripple effect began to crash.
A junior architect darted down the hallway, waving a folder. "I need Mr. Hayes's signature on the preliminary blueprints or we miss the inspection schedule."
A marketing associate burst into the breakroom holding a stack of presentation proofs. "We're supposed to finalize the pitch for Everstone by Wednesday—he has to sign off on the brand direction."
"Where is he?" someone asked for the third time.
Sienna tried to field what she could, forwarding critical emails to Luis, directing calls, attempting to make it look like someone was in control. But the truth was clear: everyone needed Cassian Hayes for something. His review. His signature. His green light. His presence.
And his phone remained off.
Every unanswered call was a quiet escalation.
Every email bounce-back a flare of chaos.
By noon, someone from finance had shown up at her desk looking pale. "He hasn't approved payroll projections for next quarter. If we don't get it signed by tomorrow, we miss the filing deadline."
Sienna stood, ran a hand down her face, and murmured, "Oh my god, you selfish asshole," under her breath.
And still—no word from him.
But Sienna didn't freeze.
She sat up straighter, pulled up the shared folder, and started cross-referencing every deadline listed on Cassian's master calendar. Within minutes, she was sending out clarifying emails, rerouting design reviews to Luis, personally calling contractors and pushing minor deadlines back by a week. She printed the payroll projections and walked them straight into Luis's office with a sticky note outlining Cassian's typical margin notes.
"Just approve it," she told him. "You know he was going to."
Luis hesitated—but then nodded, impressed.
She called legal. She handled Everstone. She hand-delivered the updated Evermark blueprint notes to the junior architect and promised him Cassian's approval wouldn't change a thing.
By three in the afternoon, the office had stopped spinning.
Because Sienna Caldwell had taken over.
The weight of it was on her back and her shoulders were tight, but she didn't stop.
If Cassian wanted to vanish, she'd hold the fort.
If he came back tomorrow or next week, everything would be standing.
Because she made sure of it.