Corrupted Chaos: An Enemies to Lovers Forced Proximity Romance (Tarnished Empire)
Corrupted Chaos: Chapter 3

Wall-to-wall windows showcased the city below us and reflected the strobing party lights while the music pumped to a wild, infectious rhythm.

This wasn’t your average work party. It was a Stonewood party on top of the tallest building in the United States in an extravagant revolving-restaurant-turned-themed-club. An emcee announced how the next song should get people moving, and a host wearing a fairy costume sauntered up with a tray of drinks that appeared to have mist wafting from them.

“Welcome to Neverland.” She glanced at a tablet and then back at me. “You must be doing the twist on superhero costumes with the data team tonight, right?”

I smiled and shrugged, not catching on to what she was saying.

She continued on after looking at her tablet. “Izzy Hardy, your work in cybersecurity this year was phenomenal. You single-handedly avoided numerous data breaches, handled much of the IT, and aided in building JUNIPER.”

She definitely had all the details about my job on that device. JUNIPER was a security infrastructure to protect against breaches in Chicago PD’s system. I’d worked very hard on it, mostly because my manager, Juda, had no idea how advanced hackers had gotten.

I cleared my throat. “It was a team effort.”

She smirked. “Yes, I believe you work with Cade, right? He also always credits a team effort when we try to pay him a compliment. But he’s the one who put in this comment about you.” I saw her smirk even as she tried to hide it.

That had me looking at her in puzzlement. Was she talking about the same guy who hadn’t shown up to his office in nearly a year? Without thought, my gaze searched the party for him, like suddenly I was a sick puppy wanting the attention and praise of a neglectful owner.

“Would you like a fairy dusting?” the lady murmured, holding up the tray.

I shook my head. Alcohol had never been a problem for me, but I didn’t indulge when I was at a work event. It wasn’t worth the risk. “I’m not drinking tonight.”

“Oh, right. We have nonalcoholic beverages at the bar.” She scrunched her nose like she didn’t have anyone in her life who would pass on the opportunity to have some fun.

I nodded, hoping she’d leave my side soon. I didn’t need a rundown of the party events. I was there to be a good team player and then get back to work. “Right.”

“And the costume contest, which you have a great shot at winning, will take place at—”

“I won’t be participating,” I said, trying to smile as I walked past her to replace my team.

There were clusters of people everywhere. Considering Stonewood Enterprises ran hundreds of companies, this party was bound to fill the restaurant to capacity. I didn’t know many faces at all because working in cybersecurity normally meant we stayed at our computers on our own floor most of the day.

“Izzy Bizzy!” Lucas Cavanaugh bellowed so loud half the restaurant glanced his way.

The smile that flew across my face at hearing his voice was probably the first one I’d had all day. No worries attached to it, no concerns that he didn’t want me there. Lucas was a breath of fresh air to anyone who met him.

“Lucas, you’re too loud,” I grumbled as he pulled me in for a hug. He was dressed as Thor and pulled it off perfectly with his golden hair and strong build.

At his side, Cassie—dressed as Wonder Woman—frowned at me. “Izzy, our team was supposed to be superheroes!”

I glanced around. Sure enough, Braxton was Batman and Penelope was Catwoman. Isaac, who talked to everyone even less than I did because he was always bent over his computer, was dressed as Spiderman.

“How did I miss the memo?” I frowned. “In all fairness, Harley can be a superhero.”

Lucas kept his arm around me and squeezed my shoulders. “The memo was entitled Team Costume Party Plan, so you probably didn’t read it. Cassie, if you want Izzy to read something, you have to title it Alert: Work Breach or some shit.”

I rolled my eyes as everyone laughed. “I’m not that bad.”

“Really?” Penelope was the newest on the team, but we didn’t talk much. She seemed to be enjoying her nearly empty drink and had the confidence to speak up. “I never talk to you because you seem so driven to get things done.”

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but Lucas beat me to it. “She’s a workaholic, but she’s never let us down. She’s always saving our asses when we can’t figure out something.”

Blushing, I looked down and let my pigtails fall in front of my face. “Everyone’s giving me a lot of credit, but we all kicked ass this year.”

“Oh my God, right?” Cassie’s drink sloshed as she shoved it into the middle of our bar table and held it high. “Cheers to our impenetrable data barrier.”

Everyone hooted and hollered, throwing their glasses in too.

Lucas eyed me as he slurped down his drink while our team dispersed to talk amongst themselves feverishly. “Not drinking?”

I shrugged, not sure I wanted to bring down the night by sharing where my head was at.

“Something wrong, Izzy?” Lucas had been on my team since the day I started at Stonewood Enterprises. He’d been in the advertising department but had found me in the work break room one day, scrolling the Narcotics Anonymous program on my phone.

The man asked me to be his sponsor right then and there. I hadn’t known if he didn’t have many friends or if he was hitting on me. Turned out he just needed a good friend. He worked a lot of hours and had moved from Georgia, fresh out of rehab, after being honorably discharged from active duty when his Humvee was attacked overseas. He’d come to work at Stonewood Enterprises after meeting one of the Stonewood brothers when they’d given a motivational speech at his rehab center.

“Nothing’s wrong,” I told him. “I just hate parties.”

Unlike Lucas, I was good at respecting people’s boundaries. He’d told me early on that he’d share his trauma when he was ready. It took him months to confide in me about his PTSD, how he got addicted to prescription meds, and how he fought every day to stay off them.

As for him asking me questions, he had no boundaries whatsoever. “Did your dick of a boyfriend do something?”

“Jesus, Lucas,” I groaned and waved my hand about. “Can we not talk about it at the party?”

“Why? You actually want to enjoy yourself tonight?” He took that moment to hold me out at arm’s length. “You upped the costume game with this fucking outfit. I always wanted to fuck the shit out of Harley Quinn.”

I lifted an eyebrow.

“And I want to even more now that I’m staring at you.” He chuckled.

“You’re an idiot,” I told him. I knew that Lucas was gay, but no one else did. His parents were very strict with their beliefs, and it frustrated me every day that he didn’t tell them to shove it. Lucas was perfect in every way to me, his parents be damned. Hiding who you are took a toll, but it wasn’t about when I was ready. He had to be ready and accepting his process was most important to me.

“I’m just saying the female form is a beautiful thing . . . especially yours, okay?”

I took the compliment with a shrug. “If you say so.”

“Hey, a girl’s been eyeing me up from marketing all night. Just play along.” He winked at me as he said it quietly. I was practically the man’s beard half the time.

“I’m here to be whatever you need,” I whispered into his ear and laughed.

“You know how I know that’s true?” he asked as he took me by the waist and started walking me to the bar. “Gerald practically foamed at the mouth the last time he saw us together, and you didn’t falter once.”

“Yeah, well, Gerald and I are no more.” I looked toward the ceiling, trying not to make it a bigger deal than it was. Quite frankly, it was nothing compared to what had just happened to me in the elevator.

He glanced at me with his light-blue eyes and didn’t even bother hiding the delight in them. “Thank fuck.”

“Lucas!” I shoved his massive shoulder, but it didn’t move at all. “I’m sad.”

“What for?” He waved off the idea and then flashed me a look of concern, his brows furrowing. “Really? Because if you need to get out of here, we can go.” Lucas was as much my sponsor as I was his.

“No. No. I want you to enjoy yourself, and it’s good for me to be out mingling and networking.”

“This isn’t a work event, Izzy.” He scoffed as we got to the bar and waved over the bartender to ask for a nonalcoholic cocktail for me.

I smiled at him remembering my drink order. “It’s the definition of a work event, Lucas. Even if we’re supposed to have fun, we showcase our best selves for the corporation. They might not say it, but our bosses are watching us.”

“Are they?” He glanced around wildly. “Show me where Cade is then.”

“Well, whatever. Juda is the manager. We don’t need the boss here.”

Lucas laughed. “I don’t think Juda has done any work since you relocated.”

I rolled my eyes. “Hey, I’m happy he gives me his work so I’m not stuck doing generic IT all day.” I’d been assigned that on my first day and been seething mad, but Juda had been more than ready to offload his duties to me when I’d complained.

He chuckled. “You know, if Cade were here, he’d probably thank you for working two jobs instead of one.”

That comment had me gulping down my Shirley Temple rather than responding. What annoyed me was that I didn’t want to share my encounter with Cade in the elevator just yet. It was as if I was holding on to our ridiculous moment, like it was ours. Why did it feel special when it shouldn’t? Why could I tell Lucas about Gerald but not Cade?

I hated that I wondered where he’d gone, why he’d haunted the beginning of my night only to disappear into the shadows when the party was a public display of our accolades. He’d come for that, right? What other reason would he have to be here?

“Well, he chose to not be a part of the night.” I shrugged. “We can celebrate ourselves and have a good night without him.”

Lucas whooped and dragged me back through the swarms of costumed up employees to our team. Penelope welcomed us back, asked how my family was, and I continued the small talk by saying they were all well. I’d expected questions about them because I’d taken a day off to go visit Dante and Delilah in the hospital as they welcomed their first baby two months ago.

Of course, Cassie, with her dark-brown hair bouncing under the gold Wonder Woman headband, jumped in. “Happy to hear she’s doing fine with baby number one, but why don’t we talk about your four brothers instead? They all still single?” She’d gleaned this information from me just a week ago as she walked past my desk and caught a recent picture I’d displayed of my siblings surrounding me while I held our new niece.

Penelope looked confused. “You have four brothers?”

“Girl, check out her desk next time you walk by. Everyone in that photo is a sibling. One of them is in the freaking NFL.”

“Oh my God. Those are your brothers?” Penelope leaned in, suddenly very invested in talking to me. The funny thing was, that picture of us all was the worst we’d ever taken. After staying up all night worried about Delilah delivering the first child of our family’s next generation, we resembled zombies, not humans. Yet, the smiles on our faces were the biggest you’d have ever seen.

“Right? And they look like they’re just doting on that baby. Such good brothers and great dating material.” Cassie sighed, completely in love with them all.

I chuckled. “Probably only the former considering they are all still single.” I could only give them credit for being the best family. They’d been there for me as I struggled to maintain my sobriety, even after nine years. On my worst days, I kept it for them and the rest of my family. To make them proud. To show them I was worthy of their love.

“Okay. Okay. Let’s give Izzy a breather.” Lucas changed the subject. “Who’s coming to Keep Minding our Minds next week?” Lucas asked. “I’ve got an idea for bringing more people into the group.”

I winced. Lucas had taken mental health at Stonewood Enterprises to the next level over the past year, and he dragged me along for some of it. He thrived on helping others, and I wanted to be the same. I wanted to think I could aid others in their healthy recovery, but at the same time, I wondered if the only person I was made to help was Lucas.

“I should probably work while you host all that.”

“You’re so great though, Izzy. You helped me through my breakup last week when you shared your story about your boyfriend. You and Gerald are goals,” Cassie pointed out.

God. Last week I’d gone and shared how being strong when your boyfriend was away could nurture your relationship. I used Gerald and myself as examples to show Cassie she didn’t have to worry about someone cheating on her and that, if they did, it was their fault.

Except Gerald had found someone else.

And I was the fool now. And I’d made it even worse by letting Cade get to me in the elevator. I’d been reckless and irresponsible.

Thankfully, Lucas steered the conversation to a different topic. “Hey! Remember when Cassie told her ex she’d just been promoted to data analyst, and he didn’t believe her?”

Penelope blurted, “Yeah, what an asshat. Cassie’s been killing it.”

“In all fairness, I make Izzy help me with half of it.” Cassie shrugged and eyed me apologetically. “By the way, I have a work question for you on Monday. I might need your assistance with some coding.”

“Of course.” I sprang at the chance to help her. “Just put it on my task list, and we’ll get on it first thing.”

Braxton added that he might need a hand with something too, then Lucas rolled his eyes, grumbling quietly enough for only me to hear, “They’ll have you do everything if they can.”

I nudged him hard. People needed teachers so they could learn and do it themselves in the future. Plus, I enjoyed the work, even if a certain boss wouldn’t give me a promotion and my now ex-boyfriend had complained about my work ethic putting a strain on our relationship. Sighing, I straightened and tried not to dwell on it.

As the small talk continued, Lucas whispered, “Take a break and walk around. Then let’s leave. You don’t need to be here right now.”

I chewed on my cheek. I thought I’d buried my emotions, but Lucas sensed them all better than I ever could. Sometimes good friends knew the limits of your heart better than you knew it yourself.