Chapter 1 The Chauffeur's Daughter

• The Arizona sun cast its golden haze over the city of Phoenix, gleaming off glass towers and polished steel. Lancaster Global’s headquarters loomed against the skyline like a monument to power—sleek, modern, and utterly unyielding. Inside its top floor, Steve Lancaster—CEO, billionaire, and enigma was losing his patience.
• “Tell him to reschedule,” Steve snapped into the intercom. “I’m not entertaining half-baked pitches this morning.”
• “Yes, Mr. Lancaster,” his assistant stammered through the speaker.
• He stood from behind his massive black marble desk and paced toward the window, the city sprawling endlessly beneath him. Everything he saw, he had built. Every deal, every acquisition, every sleepless night it all led to this. Power. Control. Absolute autonomy. That was the life Steve had carved out.
• And yet, for all its perfection, it felt... sterile.
• He checked the time. His father’s old driver, Mateo Vega, would be arriving with the Bentley soon. A small sense of comfort stirred at the thought. Mateo was one of the few constants in his life. Loyal. Quiet. Dependable.
• Steve didn’t expect anyone else to be in the car.
• Downstairs, Sandra Vega adjusted her sunglasses, the warm breeze tousling the edge of her ponytail. She double-checked the GPS and the note her father left her that morning: “Drive safe. He’s not a morning person.”
• No kidding.
• It had been five years since she last saw Steve Lancaster in person at her father’s retirement party, briefly. He hadn’t looked her way once. Why would he? He was the king of skyscrapers and million-dollar mergers. She was just the driver’s daughter.
• But things had changed.
• Her father had injured his back the week before, and Sandra freshly home after finishing her business degree—had offered to cover his routes. Just for a few weeks, she said.
• The doors to the corporate tower hissed open, and Steve descended, tall and sharply tailored in a charcoal-gray suit. His dark hair was slicked back, his jawline taut with a constant edge. He stopped short when he saw her standing beside the car.
• “Sandra?”
• She pulled down her sunglasses with a smirk. “Morning, Mr. Lancaster.”
• He blinked, caught between confusion and surprise. “Where’s your father?”
• “He’s recovering. Pinched nerve. I’m filling in.”
• Steve hesitated, and Sandra didn’t miss the way his eyes briefly scanned her face—sharper than he remembered, more confident than he expected.
• “I didn’t realize you were back in town,” he said.
• “Just for a bit. Figured I’d keep the wheels turning while Dad heals.”
• Steve slid into the backseat without another word. Sandra walked around and took the driver’s seat, feeling the weight of his gaze in the rearview mirror.
• The car slipped into the rhythm of the morning traffic, the silence between them laced with something she couldn’t quite define—not tension, but awareness.
• “You studied business, right?” he asked suddenly.
• She glanced at him in the mirror. “Yeah. Graduated from UCLA a few months ago.”
• “And now you’re... driving.”
• Her grip on the wheel tightened. “Temporarily.”
• He didn’t apologize for the implication. Steve Lancaster didn’t explain himself, not even when he was being rude.
• “I suppose your father taught you to drive like him,” he said after a moment.
• Sandra smiled. “That means you’ll arrive early and in one piece.”
• Steve let out the faintest chuckle. “I’ll hold you to that.”
• The rest of the drive passed with more silence, but it wasn’t empty. Something was shifting between them. When they pulled up to the private side entrance, Steve didn’t immediately get out.
• “Tell your father I appreciate it,” he said. “You stepping in.”
• “I will.”
• He paused again, his hand on the door handle. “Sandra.”
• She looked back.
• “You’ve changed.”
• Her smile was steady. “So have you.”
• And then he was gone, swallowed into his tower of steel and secrets.
• Sandra sat behind the wheel for a long minute before pulling away. Her heart thudded a little too loudly. She told herself it was nothing. Just a man surprised to see a familiar face.
• But deep down, she knew something had just begun.