Chapter 6: The other woman

Linda Wooten arrived at Carter Group late that morning, and it did not take long for everyone in the office to notice her.

Thea had heard the name before. Almost everyone had. Linda Wooten came from one of the influential families that had been connected to the Carter family for years, and unlike most visitors who entered the building with nervous expressions and carefully prepared introductions, Linda moved through the reception area as though she had been familiar with the place for most of her life. She wore an elegant cream-coloured dress beneath a fitted coat, her long black curls falling neatly over her shoulders, and there was an effortless confidence in the way she greeted the receptionist and exchanged a few words with the staff around her.

Thea watched from her desk for only a moment before returning her attention to the report in front of her.

She already knew what people were saying.

Linda Wooten and Felix Carter had grown up around the same circles. Their families knew each other. Linda was beautiful, educated, wealthy, and well connected, and according to the office gossip Thea had heard over the past few days, she was also the woman most people expected Felix to eventually choose.

It made sense.

That was the thought Thea tried to settle on as she continued working.

Linda belonged to the kind of world Felix came from. Thea could not even imagine what it would feel like to grow up in a family where money was not something you had to calculate before spending, where hospitals did not send threatening notices when a bill remained unpaid, and where knowing the right people could open doors before you ever had to knock.

She forced herself to stop thinking about it.

A few minutes later, Linda approached her desk.

“Excuse me. You’re Thea, aren’t you?”

Thea looked up and nodded. “Yes.”

“I’m Linda Wooten.” Linda smiled politely and offered her hand.

Thea shook it. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’ve heard your name a few times.”

That made Thea pause, although Linda's expression remained pleasant.

“Hopefully nothing bad.”

Linda gave a small laugh. “Nothing bad. You’re the new intern who somehow managed to survive working around Felix.”

Thea smiled despite herself. “I’m not sure surviving is the word I’d use.”

Linda laughed softly before glancing toward the executive elevators.

“Felix has always been very particular about his personal boundaries,” she said. “He doesn't usually involve himself with people at work unless there is a reason.”

Thea understood the direction of the conversation almost immediately.

She placed her pen down and looked at Linda properly. “If you’re asking whether I’m interested in him, I’m not.”

Linda's smile remained, but something in her expression changed.

Thea continued before the woman could misunderstand her. “He’s my CEO. I’m here because I need the internship, and I want to do my job well. That’s all.”

There was no embarrassment in her voice because there was nothing for her to be embarrassed about. Whatever strange reactions she sometimes had around Felix, she had never considered herself foolish enough to imagine that a man like him would be interested in someone like her.

Linda studied her for a few seconds.

“You’re very straightforward.”

“I don't see much point in pretending.”

“That’s unusual.”

Thea picked up her pen again. “I have work to finish.”

Linda smiled once more. “Of course.”

She left without saying anything else, but as she walked toward the elevators, she glanced back at Thea.

The answer had been much simpler than she expected.

And somehow, that made her more curious.

—

Felix was in his penthouse office when Linda entered a little later.

He looked up from the documents on his desk as she walked in without waiting for a formal introduction, something she had been doing for years.

“Linda.”

“Felix.”

She took the seat opposite him and for a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Felix closed the file in front of him.

“I heard you spoke to Thea.”

Linda raised an eyebrow. “You heard that quickly.”

“I asked you a question.”

“And I spoke to her,” Linda admitted. “I was curious.”

“You had no reason to question her.”

Linda leaned back slightly. “I wasn't questioning her. I was speaking to her.”

“You were asking about me.”

“That too.”

Felix's expression remained unchanged, but Linda recognized when he was trying to hide his irritation.

“You don't need to involve her in whatever assumptions you have about me,” he said.

Linda stared at him for a moment before a knowing smile appeared on her face.

“You are in love with her, aren't you?”

Felix answered almost immediately. “No.”

The answer came so quickly that Linda laughed.

“I haven't even finished the sentence.”

“There is nothing to discuss.”

She shook her head. “That's not what your reaction said.”

Felix leaned back in his chair. “Thea is an employee.”

“I know that, Felix.”

“She was involved in a corporate incident recently. I was responsible for making sure the matter was handled properly.”

“You don't personally involve yourself with every employee who has a problem.”

He paused to stare at her as if she just said the most ridiculous thing. “This one affected my company.”

Linda gave him an unconvinced look. “And that is all?”

“Yes.”

The answer came more calmly this time, but Linda had already heard the first one.

She had grown up around Felix. She knew how controlled he was, especially when someone tried to pry into something he considered private. He could dismiss an entire room with a look when he wanted to, yet the moment Thea's name came up, his carefully maintained indifference became much harder to maintain.

Linda stood.

“I didn't say anything to her that she didn't already know.”

Felix's eyes narrowed slightly. “What did she say?”

Linda smiled.

“She said she's only here for work.”

For the first time, Felix said nothing.

Linda watched him for another moment before turning toward the door.

“Interesting.”

“Linda.”

She looked over her shoulder.

“Don't make this into something it isn't.”

“I'll try.”

Her smile suggested she had no intention of forgetting the conversation.

That afternoon, Antia stopped beside Thea's desk while she was sorting through a set of regional reports.

“You met Linda Wooten.”

Thea looked up. “You heard?”

“Of course I heard. I'm the Director of Sales. People tell me everything.”

Thea laughed softly. “She was polite.”

“She usually is.”

Antia pulled the chair beside Thea's desk closer and lowered her voice. “The Wootens and Carters have had an alliance for a very long time. Their families have done business together, attended the same events, and moved in the same circles for years. Linda has known Felix practically all her life.”

Thea nodded slowly.

That explained why Linda had looked so comfortable in the building.

“They would make a good match,” Thea said before she could stop herself.

Antia looked at her.

Thea immediately returned her attention to the report. “I mean, their families already know each other. They're from the same background. It makes sense.”

Antia's eyebrows lifted slightly, but she didn't tease her.

“You sound very certain.”

“I am.”

She wasn't.

The admission sat somewhere inside her, uncomfortable and unwanted. She did not like the thought of Felix with Linda, even though she had absolutely no reason to dislike it. Linda had been perfectly polite to her, and there was nothing wrong with her. If anything, Linda was probably exactly the kind of woman people expected to stand beside Felix Carter.

Thea's fingers tightened slightly around her pen.

It was ridiculous to feel jealous.

She had no claim over him.

She was an intern trying to keep her job and pay her sister's medical bills. Felix was the CEO of one of the most powerful companies in the country. Their lives had almost nothing in common.

She pushed the thought away and returned to her work.

That evening, after leaving the office, Thea went to the hospital to see Mia.

Her sister was resting when she arrived, so she sat beside the bed and checked her phone while waiting for her to wake.

Without thinking too much about it, she opened her conversation with Daniel.

Thea: I met someone today.

A reply came shortly afterward.

Daniel: Should I be worried?

Thea smiled faintly.

Thea: It's not like that. It's Linda Wooten.

Felix, sitting alone in his penthouse office several kilometres away, stared at the name on his screen.

He already knew exactly what was coming.

Thea: She is exactly the kind of woman who belongs in Felix Carter's world.

Felix's fingers stopped over the keyboard.

Thea: Rich, educated, connected to his family, and completely comfortable around people like him. She looks like she was born for that life.

He read the message twice.

Then he typed.

Daniel: Perhaps you are deciding too soon what kind of world he wants.

Thea frowned at the screen.

Thea: Why do you even care so much about my boss?

Felix went still.

For several seconds, he stared at the question.

He almost typed an answer that would reveal too much, then deleted it and chose his words carefully.

Daniel: I care because you care.

Thea looked at the message for a long moment.

Then she typed again.

Thea: I don't even belong in his world. I'm just a disposable intern.

Felix's expression changed immediately.

Daniel: No.

He stared at the single word after sending it.

That was too quick. He corrected himself before she could respond.

Daniel: Your position is temporary. Your ability isn't. Being an intern doesn't make you disposable, and it doesn't erase the work you've already proved you can do.

Thea read the message quietly.

A small part of her wanted to believe him, but the rest of her had spent too many years measuring herself by what she could afford, what she could provide, and how quickly she could solve the next problem.

She typed slowly.

Thea: You make him sound different.

Felix's hand tightened around his phone.

Thea: You talk about him like you know him.

He paused before answering.

Daniel: Maybe you're seeing only the part of him everyone else sees.

Thea stared at the screen, but before she could ask another question, Mia shifted in the bed beside her.

She immediately put her phone away and turned her attention to her sister.

—

Linda was leaving Carter Group later that evening when she stopped near the executive administration desk to speak with one of the assistants.

Her attention was caught by a familiar name on the access list.

Thea Roth.

Linda looked at the screen again.

Thea had been added to Felix's privileged direct-access list.

She knew enough about Felix to understand what that meant. He did not hand out that level of access casually, especially not to someone who had only recently joined the company.

Linda thanked the assistant and continued toward the exit.

Outside the building, she found Jasper waiting near his car.

He looked at her expression and immediately smiled.

“What happened?”

Linda shook her head.

“Nothing happened.”

“That usually means something happened.”

She glanced back toward the building.

For the first time, the pieces were beginning to fit together.

Felix's reaction when she mentioned Thea. His immediate denial. The way he had questioned what she had said to her. And now the access list.

Linda folded her arms.

“Felix looks at her differently.”

Jasper followed her gaze toward the building.

Then he looked back at his sister.

She had known Felix Carter for most of her life, and she had never seen him look at anyone quite the way he had started looking at Thea Roth.

Thea herself seemed to have no idea.