THE ORIGINAL NOVEL WAS WRITTEN IN SPANISH, I APOLOGIZE FOR THE TRANSLATION. IF YOU WANT TO READ IT IN SPANISH LOOK FOR IT UNDER THE SAME PSEUDONYM AND BY NAME "EL SECRETO"

In case you're wondering if Christian is in the novel, is there, just won´t expected.

I can't sleep.

It's been the same for several nights now.

The same dream.

I sit on the bed as I carried a hand to my chest where my heart was beating to escape. I took the glasses off the nightstand and put them on. The clock was ticking around 11:00 p.m. I'd only been in bed for an hour.

I got up and went to the kitchen, down the stairs to the lower floor to get a glass of water. Now Im awake I decided to check the mail that was on the table in the living room. Maybe then I could calm down and go back to sleep.

There were several envelopes of invitations in the mail, along with others with the bills. My mother always received hundreds of invitations, of which, she only accepted a few. I went through the invitations and separated the ones she was going to attend, that was one of my tasks, select the events she should and should not go to. Until I got to a particular invitation and my hands froze on it.

Two years had passed since I last held this same invitation in my hands and I did not know what to do with it at this time. The previous year it had been lost in the mail and we were a day late, so I couldn't make it.

Although I doubted I gone. But now I had it in my hands and I was hesitant to attend or not.

I looked at the invitation over and over again until I decided to throw it and the other envelopes of the bills on the table in front of the sofa. I didn't feel like thinking about it right now. It was two weeks from now and I didn't really feel like going to another masquerade ball at the Drake Hotel, not after what happened the last time I attended.

I didn't even want to remember it but the vague memories of that day kept coming back to my mind sometimes and haunted me more and more whenever arrived this month.

I remembered his intense gaze, his arms clenching me tightly as he led me into the room. And his lips running across mine as he possessed me savagely. I remember waking up naked in my room with a bad headache. I know what had happened, but no matter how hard I tried, it was all in vain. I remembered some things, but the rest were just little blurry flashes of wild sex, nothing concrete to tell me who that person was. The clearest thing I could remember was that he had a tattoo on his back, but I couldn't remember the design.

I had a breakup a few days before and took advantage of the party at the hotel to get drunk and forget about it all. But I never imagined I'd meet him. His gaze still continued to disturb me at times when I slept and woke up with my heart pounding in my chest. As had happened just a few minutes ago.

It wasn't by chance that I woke up startled. It was always the same around this time.

I went back to the kitchen but couldn't help but think about the invitation.

It had arrived in the mail today just like it did every year. The hotel manager was a very good friend of Grace's, my mother's. TecFall, the company she was CEO of, had designed the hotel's security system, installing the latest technology. That's why every year on the hallowen date when they held a masquerade ball, they sent us an invitation for two people including lodging in a hotel suite.

I really liked my job, Grace Grey's personal assistant. I had the best job in the world. At first I wasn't really into being an assistant, but then I ended up liking it, and this was a good way to thank Grace for everything she had done for me. Besides earning my own money. Grace had always given me everything, but I always preferred to earn things for myself and she never objected, rather she encouraged me.

I had graduated from college with a degree in computer engineering as the best student in my class. I can't believe it's been two years already. After the internship, I started as Grace's assistant. I loved Grace like she was my mother and she loved me like a daughter.

Our story together had started when I was ten years old and my parents died in a car accident, I don't even remember, I don't remember anything before that. My world is in blank. In the will, my parents named Grace as my guardian. She told me that she was a very good friend of my mother's, and sometimes she visited our house.

I was diagnosed with memory loss from the trauma I had suffered. I only know what they told me had happened. We had a traffic accident, the car took several laps before hitting the road hard. I remember it was snowing and I was in the hospital for about six months. Grace stayed with me every day. Eventually he became a familiar face to me. I think she mentioned once that she had a son, but she never spoke of him again in the six months. I had a broken leg and a broken arm and was only discharged after rehabilitation.

Grace took me to her house after that. And that's when she told me what had happened to his son. He was advanced in school and received a scholarship in London. His father lived there, so he moved in with him. He died in an accident a few months after he left. The bus where he and the other kids were going was hit by a gas truck. There was nothing left but ashes.

He was only 14 years old.

There were many pictures of him in the house, of various ages, although over time Grace had been collecting them. There were only two pictures at the age of 14 and these were the only ones still standing on the fireplace next to an urn. One of them had taken it a few days before going abroad to study and the other had sent it a few days before the accident. He looked a lot like her mother. Blue eyes, light brown hair and a beautiful smile.

So when she lost his son I became a daughter to her and she treated me like one. I know Grace would never replace my parents and I would never replace his son, but at least with her I was happy as I imagine I was with them. Soon after I was living with her, I started calling her Mom.

That was for me.

I stood in front of the counter and drank the glass of water as I left behind the memories of the past and thought about work. There were a lot of things going through my mind lately, like the fact that my mother was retiring early next week and her place was going to be taken by someone I had never heard of. For many people this was no problem, he was just the new boss. For me, it was completely different. I had already gotten used to working with her, now I would have to adapt to a completely different person. Is supposed to be sitting outside his office taking calls and fixing the schedule. In short, making the work of a person who was completely strange and unknown to me easier. I only knew his name, Ryan Chasting.

His resume was impressive, but as far as personal aspects were concerned, nothing came up. No photos, no date of birth, no family or known friends. So I didn't know what he looked like. I just knew it came from London. I didn't know why so much secret, nor how he had managed to keep no pictures of him anywhere. was nothing on any social network or Google about him. More than strange, it was a suspect. It was like he didn't exist.

I just hoped he wouldn't decide to get rid of me and find someone more perfect for the job.

One that no wear glasses, be blonde, tall and wearing short skirts to get his attention.

That definitely wasn't me.

I decided to stop thinking about bullshit at that hour. What time was it? When I looked at the clock in the kitchen it was almost 11:30 pm. How strange that my mother hadn't returned. I passed by her room after coming down the stairs and it was open, with no sign of her. It was Sunday and although she had gone out to dinner, never been so late. I felt the sound of a car stopping in the driveway of the house and I looked out a window in front of me and pulled back the curtains a little.

Grace got out of the car and waved goodbye as she walked to the door. I didn't get a good look at the person she was having dinner with, but I knew who he was. My new boss. The person who would replace her. After a week of showing him the company, she had arranged to have dinner with him to get to know him better and update him on the most important things about the company. As she opened the door, stared at me, squinting.

—Are you waiting for me Ana? — asked curiously as she walked to the living room and I followed her.

—No, I was just having a glass of water when I felt the car in the driveway. — I told her as she closed the door and walked behind it.

It was the truth, but now, I was very curious about what had happened. The truth was that I wasn't even interested in how the dinner went, I just wanted to know if I still had my job. But I asked her, just as a courtesy.

—How was the dinner? —Grace looked at me with an eyebrow.

—Do you really want to know about the dinner, or about if you still have a job?

Grace knew me better than I knew myself.

—The truth is, I want to know if I still have a job, although I wouldn't mind knowing how dinner went. —I said to her raising my shoulders as she smiled and I sit next to her.

The company was Grace's and she had insisted on leaving me in charge as her sole heir. But I declined the offer. She continued to insist and in the end we came to an agreement. When I turned 30, I'd take over the company. While I was still an assistant. But that, no one knew.

—I figured that out. Well, dinner went well and you still have a job, I made sure of that.

What did she say?

—How? I don't understand you. —I asked her intrigued by moving on the sofa next to her.

—Well, he wanted to bring his own assistant, but I managed to convince him not to. —she said as she got up and walked towards the kitchen.

I followed her as I processed what she just told me. Grace poured a glass of water and began to drink slowly, making the wait longer.

—Aren't you going to tell me what you told him to convince him? — I asked with determination, making her stop drinking the water for a moment and stare at me.

—Not much, I just told him that before he made a decision about the staff, that's you, he should read your resume and see you in action.

—That was it, that's how you convinced him.

—No, it wasn't all, I gave him a copy of the resume to read. —she said to me as if it didn't matter.

—What! Tell me you really didn't do that.

—I did it. Why do you think I'm here at this hour? He started reading the resume at dinner... and he was impressed. He came to the conclusion that you were better than his current assistant. In conclusion, that he was going to keep you.

—I can't believe it. —I said as I sat on a sidewalk and ran my hands over my face.

—Don't thank me, not yet, he wants to see you working first.

—What! —What it that means.

—He's going to test you. — she told me, staring at me.

—Great, that's what I need. —I said exasperated.

—Don't worry Anastasia, you'll do great, honey, you just have to do the same thing you've done the last two years with me. — she said as she ran one hand affectionately over my face and hair.

—Yeah, that's what I have to do. — I said not very convinced while his caress relaxed me.

All I had to do was wait for him to get started and see how we were going to get along. I wouldn't think about it right now, I still had a week left. Then I'd worry about my new boss.

—I think I'd better get some sleep. —I said as I stand from the sidewalk. —Good night, Mom. Sleep well. —I told her as I give her a kiss on the cheek and then head for the stairs.

—Aren't you curious about what he looks like? —She asked me as I stop and turn back to her with one foot on the first steps of the stairs.

The truth was that I had been very curious since I had learned that my mother was retiring and that someone she had chosen would replace her. I was very curious to know what it was like, but at this hour I didn't care about it. It must have been very good to my mother have chosen him from the list of candidates she had show me. I think there were over ten names on that list. I'd meet him sometime next week or the other week.

—Yeah, but I'll get to know him anyway. — I said with a shrug of my shoulders as I continued up the steps.

—I think I'll finish showing him the company between monday and tuesday, it's all up to him. —she said as I stood for a moment on the steps, frozen.

Just two days to know him. That only made my nervousness grow.

—All right. — I told her as I resumed my steps and finished climbing the steps to my room.

I didn't live with Grace, I had an apartment near Lake Shore Park. I used to come here a few weekends a month to stay with her. And this was one of those weekends.

I lay down on the bed, took off my glasses and started thinking about what my new boss would look like. And I imagined him in his forties, black hair going gray, a piercing look and a sharp, cold voice with a British accent. Yeah, I think that would be the perfect description considering the car he was driving when he left my mother. I laughed all by myself. A comfortable and efficient car. Perfect for someone not too young. Now that I thought about it, it looked like my mother's car. Maybe he'd caught her eye for that. Someone older, but not so old, with work experience. Just like her. Perfect for the job. I wondered if my mother liked it enough to go out on a date with him.

That was ridiculous just to think about it, my mother wouldn't think of dating the person who would replace her. On the other hand, he may have asked her out in exchange for not firing me. It couldn't be, she told me that she showed him my resume and impressed him. —Ana, stop thinking nonsense at this hour, what you have is lack of sleep. —I rebuked myself. The best thing to do was to go to bed.

I settled down on the bed while I covered myself with the quilt and put my head on the pillow. Tomorrow would be an interesting day, maybe if I was lucky I would meet Ryan Chasting in person, my new boss, and the mystery of how he really look like would be over.

My eyes slowly began to give way to sleep and the weariness of the day and closed slowly, making me fall into a deep sleep.