A/N: Hi guys! This is my first story. The first chapter is quite short... but I plan on making them much longer from now on. This chapter will serve as an introductory chapter so I can get some of your feedback! Thank you and enjoy! :)

...

Elizabeth Bennet's first thought when she woke up on Monday morning was that today was going to be a good day.

Her second thought was a hasty correction of her first: no, it was not going to be good…it was going to be fabulous.

She opened her eyes and a grin slid across her face as she spotted rays of sunlight pushing impatiently through her curtains.

Excellent, she thought as she swung her legs over the side of her bed and strode to her window. She opened her curtains and looked out, taking a few moments to admire the view from her penthouse apartment on the 15th floor of her downtown condominium building. The sky was clear and the perfect shade of pink and it was showing signs of being yet another perfect spring day. She grinned again. Yes, this is definitely going to be a great day.

Elizabeth Bennet did not consider herself to be a particularly optimistic person, in fact, her friends and family often told her she always saw the glass half empty. She, on the other hand, preferred to call herself a realist. She was logical and calculating and made all her decisions based on facts and significant observation. Once she decided on something, there was no going back.

But today – Elizabeth was an optimist. Today, all her hard work was going to pay off. She glanced at the clock: 6:30 am. That gave her plenty of time to prepare herself for brunch with her sister, Jane, followed by her highly anticipated meeting at Pemberley International at 10 o'clock.

In the bathroom, Elizabeth carefully studied herself in the mirror. Her dark brown hair was a mess of curls that made her look positively wild. Her green eyes, however, were full of excitement. She could not believe that this day had finally arrived. Today was going to go down in history for Elizabeth. She was finally going to make a difference. This was what she was born to do.

Elizabeth had always been an ambitious person. Her parents told her from an early age that life could only be enjoyed if you were able to achieve a certain level of independence. She was born in New Jersey and was from a lower class family, so her parents were always struggling to make ends meet. With five daughters, their priority was to give them the best life they possibly could, even if it meant making some sacrifices. As the eldest, Elizabeth and Jane sympathized and never complained. They were very grateful for their parents. The same was not true, however, for their three younger sisters who constantly complained about trivial matters – like wearing Elizabeth or Jane's hand-me-downs, and not getting into the hottest parties at their elitist high school because of their lower social class. Elizabeth was smart, and understood how much her parents struggled. She vowed from a young age to work hard to pay them back for their sacrifices.

Elizabeth knew that the best way to make money was to throw herself into her education – always clambering for the top grades and always getting involved in every extracurricular activity she could find. She was well liked by her friends and peers, even though many were intimidated by her drive and intensity. She was a dedicated friend and a dedicated sister, and this allowed Elizabeth to earn respect wherever she went.

This was how, at 28, Elizabeth was the CEO at Longborne Funds, a company she had started with her sister, Jane, and her best friend Charlotte, five years ago. The company was still relatively small and employed 250 people in Manhattan. They were slowly looking at expanding nationally and then internationally. The company did financial consulting for companies but also had an excellent reputation for its philanthropist values, like providing high-risk families with financial advice and support. Elizabeth had pursued an undergraduate degree in Finance followed by an MBA degree from Columbia, which she pursued part time while building her company.

She had worked years to get where she was – nothing was going to get in her way.

...

William Darcy was having a terrible morning. No, terrible was not the right word for it. It was downright awful. It had all started with that dreadful call from his aunt about Georgiana. Then there was that idiot on his bicycle who had clipped him on his way out of his apartment building. Followed by the moron who spilled his coffee all over his – very expensive – suit.

Now, he was stuck talking to this blabbering fool – what was his name again? – Greg? Gianni? He wasn't paying attention. He was grumbling at the fact that he would not be talking to this starry eyed rookie begging him to consider him for a job at his company if he had not been forced to return home to change his suit before going in to the office.

The man standing in front of him had a sheepish look about him – sandy hair and big, innocent blue eyes. William thought he looked a lot like Bambi personified. He would have chuckled if he had not been in such a lousy mood. What was it with these people? Attacking him left and right, begging for jobs. And right outside of his apartment building, for heavens sake. His angry thoughts were interrupted when he realized that the man had stopped talking and was watching him expectantly.

"I'm sorry?" William said, doing his best not to snap at Joe, or was it was Stan? William scowled. Who cares what his name is?

"I was just saying that I hope you will consider me, Mr. Darcy," said the young man, quickly, timidly holding out a hand clutching a business card. "I have all the qualifications necessary to succeed in a position at your prestigious company."

"Oh, yes, well… thank you for your interest. I will see what I can do," Will replied, grabbing the card from the man's hand. Without a second look, he turned on his heel and strode purposefully in the direction of his office.

...

"Lizzie!" Jane squealed excitedly as Elizabeth walked into their favorite brunch place next to the office.

"Janey!" Elizabeth exclaimed, wrapping her older sister in a tight hug and sitting down to face her. Their regular orders were ready for them and she gave a quick wave to their friend and waitress, Edna, who was serving coffee at a table a few feet away.

"So, tell me," Jane said as she began to eat. "How nervous are you for this pitch?"

Elizabeth grinned. She adjusted her white, silk blouse and smoothed down her black pencil skirt, "I'm actually a little nervous. Do you think I look okay?"

Jane grimaced in mock surprise. "Wow! Elizabeth Bennet is nervous. I think I need to record this moment and show it to mom and dad later. They will never believe it!"

"You act as if I'm completely incapable of regular human emotions," Lizzie laughed. "I told you Jane, I am not a robot!"

Jane grinned at her sister. "I'm only teasing you. I just love seeing the fearless Lizzie squirm a little bit. And you know that you look amazing, as usual." She paused and gave her a more serious look. "So…Do you want to go through this one more time?"

Lizzie cleared her throat dramatically and put on her most dazzling, professional smile. She reached her hand out across the table toward Jane to shake and began:

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Bingley, my name is Elizabeth Bennet, CEO extraordinaire of Longborne Funds. Please give me lots of money for my wonderful fundraising event that will potentially provide thousands of young women with a second chance at leading a normal life."

"Why, Miss Bennet, I definitely cannot say no to you. You are much too beautiful, much too kind, and so intelligent! How does one million dollars sound?" Jane replied teasingly, in the most masculine voice she could muster.

Lizzie giggled. "No, but in all seriousness, I think I'm ready. This event is going to be huge and I already have plenty of high-level sponsors. I just need Pemberley International to be on that list. That way, I'm guaranteed to have society's best, brightest and richest in attendance."

"Well, mom and dad will certainly be pleased knowing that you're mingling with some of the richest people in the country," Jane said with another easy smile.

"I am only mingling with them because I hope that they will support our initiative. Thousands of women depend on Women Breaking Boundaries every day to help them get back on track."

"We will get their support – with or without Pemberley International. The guest list to the fundraiser is already massive. How many are we expecting this time? Five hundred?"

"Actually, as of this morning, it's closer to seven hundred!" Lizzie told her, not hiding the excitement in her voice. "And I know, but Pemberley International will be the breaking point. If we have them, this whole initiative will really take off."

As Lizzie was talking, Edna approached them with fresh coffee. Edna knew almost everything about Lizzie and Jane's lives. She was like a second mother to them.

Edna was in her late fifties and the single mom of three boys. She had worked at this restaurant almost her entire life. Lizzie thought she was one of the most inspirational women she had ever met. She raised her three sons on her salary as a waitress and never complained. They were all in school, but Edna worried about paying for their education. She knew she would not be able to afford it on her salary and she desperately wanted her sons to be successful. Edna was one of the reasons why Lizzie had started Women Breaking Boundaries as a side project. She wanted to help women like Edna.

"Hey Lizzie," Edna said cheerfully. "Ready for the big day?"

"As ready as I'll ever be!" Lizzie said, giving her a confident smile.

"You will be great. Your event is becoming really popular, I read about it in the newspaper this morning!"

"Yes, I actually interviewed for it a couple of days ago," Lizzie said, doing her best to sound modest. She was really proud of the fundraiser she organized but she wanted it to be perfect, and that stressed her out quite a bit.

"Lizzie is just being modest," Jane said, waving her hand dismissively in front of her sister. "In a month, this event is all Manhattan will be talking about!"

...

Elizabeth was early. She hated it when she was early. She glanced at her watch: 9:30 am. She still had thirty minutes to kill. Her office was twenty blocks away, so there was no point in going there. She cursed under her breath. She should have just gone to the office with Jane first and made some calls.

She stood awkwardly in front of the daunting tower of Pemberley International and looked around, hoping to find something to distract herself for thirty minutes. She finally spotted a newsstand and made her way towards it. At least she could entertain herself while she waited. She browsed through the options and decided to take a look at a fashion magazine. Lizzie was saturated with news and business information, and she really did not feel like stressing herself out more than she already was.

Lizzie took a seat on a nearby bench and started flipping through her magazine. She was so focused on the article about taming wild curls that she barely noticed the commotion happening in front of the newsstand.

A man dressed in rags was timidly standing in front of the newsstand holding out a coffee cup. The owner of the newsstand was shooing him away with his arms. The man, whom Lizzie assumed was homeless, stood resolutely to the spot with his arm stretched out. It seemed as though this did not help his case, because the owner of the newsstand grew more and more agitated and started yelling at the man.

"Get out of here you dirty dog! I already told you, I won't give you any money!"

The homeless man lowered his hand and started coughing violently. For some reason, this angered the newsstand owner even more. Lizzie watched in horror as he strode to the poor man's side and physically pushed him away from his newsstand.

Lizzie jumped to her feet in outrage. She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, she was interrupted by an impeccably dressed man who had just rounded the corner and had been about to enter the building when he witnessed the newsstand owner push the homeless man to the ground.

"Joe!" The tall man exclaimed in shock. "What on earth are you doing?"

The newsstand owner – Joe – looked up guiltily and protested, "He would not get out of the way, he was harassing me for money! I swear it's his fault, Mr. Darcy!"

To Lizzie's surprise, the man, whom Lizzie could not help noticing was shockingly handsome, scowled and knelt next to the man on the ground who by now, had recovered from his coughing fit. The handsome man reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, grabbed several bills and handed them to the man.

"Here you go," the man said gently. "This should last you a little while."

The homeless man on the ground nodded thankfully and whispered something that Lizzie could not hear.

The man, who was presumably named Mr. Darcy, stood up and turned to the newsstand owner with a glare that could stop an army. The newsstand owner glared back at him and withdrew behind his stand, pretending to be occupied with re-arranging his magazines.

Lizzie was intrigued, and at this point, had approached the newsstand and was standing only a few feet away from the kind, handsome stranger. As he turned around to make his way into the building, his eyes caught hers. Lizzie immediately noticed that they were the most amazing shade of blue, framed with long eyelashes. His hair was dark, almost black, and curled slightly around his ears. He had a jaw that was probably chiseled by the Greek gods and lips that she could drown in. She had been right on her first assessment of the man: he was probably the most attractive man she had ever seen.

There was a flicker of something in his eyes as they trailed over her own – was it curiosity? The moment was fleeting, because when Lizzie blinked, he had already disappeared into the building.

Lizzie must have been standing in a daze for a while, because it took the sound of a car horn to snap her out of it. She glanced at her watch: 10:01 a.m.

Shit. Shit. Shit. SHIT. She cursed as she bolted into the building. Handsome men should be illegal. What an inconvenient time to be distracted.

...

William Darcy's morning had not improved as he had hoped it would. In fact, it had gotten worse. His 9 a.m. client meeting had been a complete waste of his time. How people could be so incompetent, he had no idea. Will knew that, in business, some people got to the top with hard work, and some people just knew someone at the top. He hated people who did not deserve to be where they were.

He sighed and rubbed his temples with his fingers. It was almost 10 o'clock and he already felt a devastating headache coming along. His driver, Roger, looked at him in his rearview mirror and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

William rolled his eyes good-naturedly and waved his hand dismissively, not wishing to talk. He closed his eyes and let himself get lost in his thoughts. Georgiana was not doing well. He had put her in the care of his housekeeper, Mrs. Reynolds, whom he trusted like he trusted his own mother. His aunt Catherine, who did not approve of Mrs. Reynolds, had called him this morning to try to convince him, yet again, to have Georgiana put in her care. William would never do that to his sister, his aunt was a horrible person. The only reason why he put up with her was out of respect of his late mother. William did not have a lot of family left, and he did not want to burn bridges with his aunt.

William opened his eyes again and noticed that they were stuck in traffic. He looked around and saw that he was only a block from the office.

"I'll get out here, Roger. I'll see you at noon," he told his driver as he opened the car door and stepped out into the warm, spring air.

The fresh air softened his scowl a little bit, and he walked quickly to his office building. As he approached, he noticed with horror that Joe, the good-for-nothing newsstand owner, had pushed a helpless man to the ground.

He immediately intervened: "Joe! What on earth are you doing?"

"He would not get out of the way, he was harassing me for money! I swear it's his fault, Mr. Darcy!"

The guilty look on Joe's face did not fool Will Darcy. He shook his head and knelt beside the man, who looked like he had just seen a ghost.

Will felt a rush of sympathy for the man and immediately pulled out his wallet, giving him at least 50$. "Here you go, this should last you a little while."

Will stood up to glare at Joe and decided that there was no point in wasting his time trying to lecture him. Will turned around to walk into his building when he noticed a woman standing right next to him. He looked up and found himself looking into the most dazzling green eyes imaginable. She was staring at him with a strange expression in her eyes – was it confusion? Admiration? Shock?

Suddenly, Will Darcy found himself desperately wanting to know what she was feeling. Her eyes were so intriguing. He felt like he had been staring at her for ages, but the moment must have been brief because when she blinked, he rushed back down to earth and, not wanting to linger inappropriately, strode into his building without a backwards glance.