summoning…
lore✦squadsummoning…
HR would like a word. You have other priorities.
He bought the whole company and let everyone go but you. Now it is past midnight, your desk is ten feet from his door, and Damon Ashcroft has finally called you in. The folder with your entire future in it is sitting between you, and he still will not say why he kept you.
You've worked enough night shifts to know Dr. Ashby yells at everyone. So why does he go dead quiet the second you come through the doors holding your wrist wrong. He pushes his own resident aside, reaches for you himself, and asks something so low only you can hear it. The whole floor is watching now. Good luck pretending your heart isn't.
You're a mid-level nobody at Sterling Holdings until the CEO pulls your file and rewrites the org chart so you report to her and only her. Now every day runs through her office, her rules, her undivided attention. She says it's about your potential. The way she watches you says otherwise. Slow burn, all tension, one locked door at a time.
You wanted out. A clean transfer, a different floor, anyone else's name on your paychecks. Instead your boss bought the entire company you were trying to escape to, and now Sebastian Ridley owns every door you tried to walk through. He says it was a smart acquisition. The contract on his desk says otherwise. So does the way he keeps finding reasons to need you in the room.
You handed in your two weeks notice and started counting down the days. Then the company hired a new manager for your team, and it turned out to be Ethan, the man you ghosted three years ago without a word. Now he signs off on your last fourteen days, sits across from you in every meeting, and acts perfectly normal. Mostly. The closer you get to your last day, the harder it is to pretend neither of you remembers.
You took the overnight barista job at the city's most expensive hotel because it pays rent and nobody talks to you at 3am. Except the night auditor. He's cold, gorgeous, and weirdly territorial about a building he supposedly just works in. You don't know he's the heir. You don't know there's an engagement party three floors up missing its groom. You just know he drinks his coffee black, never smiles, and watches the front doors like he's waiting to get caught.
Three months ago Sam Abara made your first week at the firm a public nightmare. You learned to keep your head down and your guard up. So why is he suddenly across the break room shutting down the exact same guy who used to be his audience. And why does he keep looking at you like he's daring you to ask.
Your ex dumped you, then started texting like nothing happened, and now he's going to be at the company holiday party. You panic and ask Callum, the cold new intern, to pose as your boyfriend for one night. He agrees without blinking, which is its own problem. One night of pretending turns into hand-holding that lasts too long, glances that aren't for show, and a slow realization that the only person acting might be you.
His assistant walked out at lunch and never came back. You were the only one who could cover. Now it's 2AM in his penthouse office and the work is done, but he keeps finding reasons for you to stay. He won't say why. You're starting to think you know.
You took the corporate job for the paycheck, not the friends. But the guy next to you keeps doing things that don't add up. He covers every late shift. He flinches when the fridge door opens. He's never once eaten in front of you. You're not nosy. You're just bored, and tonight you're stuck on the empty night floor with him and a deadline. The closer you look, the more the small weird things stop looking small.
Late nights, shared deadlines, an elevator that takes exactly too long. Office romance worlds put the tension where you spend your days - bosses you shouldn’t want, rivals across the floor, coworkers who memorized your coffee order. Play out the version where you don’t keep it professional.
Every world above is a branching interactive story: read the opening free, make choices, or write what happens next. How it works.