Primrose Morningstar.

That name sounds like it belongs to a hippy handing out flowers at some new age convention, not an expert in foreign currency. I hardly remember approving her internship. But after reading her resume, I recall why I did. Her experience with Eastern financial markets stood out among the hundreds I get every month. She is perfect—on paper. But she’s been on my team for almost ten months, and I don’t remember having one conversation with her. If it wasn’t for the fact that I personally hire everyone on the accounting team, even the interns, I might not even recognize her.

I stare at her employee record, trying to remember anything about the woman other than her resume. I vaguely remember seeing her around the office. But the photo in her chart doesn’t do her justice. Her long dark hair is pulled back in a severe bun making her look older than her twenty-four. She’s cute, but not breathtakingly beautiful. Some men might even consider her quite plain, but there is something in those big dark eyes that speaks of a depth not everyone possesses. I can usually read people right away. It’s one of the things that’s made me so successful in acquisitions. And beneath that dowdy facade is a woman with secrets.

Why has she slipped my notice for so long?

I glance over her education. She holds dual MSc in finance and international business, graduating top of her class. Her references are glowing. She even speaks fluent Mandarin. I tab over to payroll and see she averages over fifty plus hours a week. Never missed a day. Her performance reviews have top marks. The internship is far below her potential. By all accounts, she should have been promoted to my consulting team months ago.

I go back to her profile and continue to read through the background check. Before any staff joins the team, I have them checked out by a private security firm—from the janitor to the sales department—no one is exempt. Primrose’s report is straightforward. She was homeschooled. Started college at seventeen. Her mother is some minor celebrity, but Primrose stayed out of the public eye.

By all accounts, she is rather boring. She is single, lives alone, and has no pets. She isn’t dating. The last boyfriend she had was over two years ago. Billy is a librarian. They’d been living together for almost a year. And while it looked like a serious relationship, she’d applied for the internship and left Boston and the boyfriend without looking back

I click on Billy’s name and find myself on Facebook. After scrolling through a month’s worth of photographs of his food, I close the browser. If that’s what Primrose had to look forward to while dating Billy, no wonder she left.

I scowl, looking at her photo again. I’m not sure what exactly it is, but I recognize something in her. I scroll to the bottom of the report. The last update from the security firm was a few months ago. She was still single and no social life to speak of since taking the internship.

I grab the phone and dial Marcus’s extension.

“Hey, boss. What can I do for you?” Marcus asks.

“I need Primrose reassigned to my office for a couple of weeks. Maybe a month,” I say.

“Rose Morningstar?” Marcus says. There’s something in his voice that catches my attention.

“Yes. Is that a problem?” I ask.

“No. I was actually wondering when I was going to get this call,” Marcus says resigned. “She’s my best intern. I swear that woman does the work of three people. I’ll be sorry to lose her.”

“If she’s such a good employee, why haven’t you put her in for a spot on one of my acquisition teams?” I ask. My curiosity about this woman is growing by the second.

“I have. Every month for the past five months. I figured you didn’t have a spot open or you would have snatched her up.”

I don’t, but if Marcus really thought she deserved a chance, I would have made room for her. I page through his monthly updates, and there it is in black and white. Marcus really had put her name in for a promotion. Not only that, several of the audits with accounting flags had her initials attached. She’s picked up on things even my teams have missed. I try to remember why I passed her up, but nothing comes to mind. How has she flown under the radar for so long?

“Have her come up to my office right away.”

“Sure thing,” Marcus says without arguing.

I pull people in for special projects from time to time, so there is nothing unusual about my request. Her expertise in international business would be helpful. And it has the bonus of letting me get to see how she works. If she’s as good as Marcus implied, she’s exactly who I need helping me on this.

I go back to my emails, feeling better already. I am halfway through the list when a soft knock sounds at my door.

“Come in,” I say. Leaning back in my chair, I wait, anxious to get a closer look at the woman who occupied my thoughts all afternoon.

Her eyes are down as she steps in like a naughty schoolgirl arriving at the principal’s office. Now that’s a little scene I can see playing out.

“Marcus said you had a project for me,” Rose says to her feet.

“Yes. Come sit down,” I say, gesturing to the sofa. “I was just going over your file. I’m in need of someone with your expertise.”

Rose’s eyes snap up to me mine, surprise written all over her expression. “My expertise?”

“Yes. Asian Markets. That is your specialty, right? Have you stayed current on the evolving trade laws with China?”

“Asian Markets?” she repeats. “I thought you were going to let me go. I mean...umh, yes. I studied international business and minored in Mandarin, but I speak it fluently. I clerked at Global—”

I hold up my hand to stop her. I know all that from her resume. And I’m more interested in that first comment. Why did you think I was going to fire you?”

“I was hired for a six-month internship. That was ten months ago. Marcus kept saying you’d offer me a job, but…” She pauses and looks up, meeting my gaze. There’s steel in those big brown eyes of hers. “But that wasn’t what you were asking. I’ve kept up with all the recent changes, legal and social. So if you need me to work on something, I’m more than happy to.”

“Good,” I say with a smile, glad to see some spunk out of her. “We’ve put in a bid on Takei Freight. They have a big footprint in China, and I could use someone with your experience. I’m going to need you to stop whatever you're working on and move up here. I need your complete focus this for the next few weeks. Maybe even the next month.”

“I’m in the middle of an audit,” Those big eyes blink back at me. She shakes her head as if she is trying to dislodge a thought. “I can’t leave Marcus hanging like that. I don’t think it’s necessary for me to stop working on my other project.”

“Well, I do. We’re going to need a quick turnaround on this, and I’m going to be asking a lot of you.”

“You’ve never worked with me before,” she says, standing her ground. “I don’t shy away from hard work, and I’m willing to put in extra time if I have to.”

She has backbone, I’ll give her that. It isn’t much, but it does show me there is more to this woman than just a keen mind and workhorse mentality.

“Are you the intern that audited the Orion account?” I ask. Still frowning, Rose nods. “So you’re the one who flagged the external account that the bookkeeper had been skimming money into?”

“Yes,” she says almost cautiously. “Once I broke out the payables by month, it was pretty obvious that they weren’t normal business expenses.”

“Not that obvious. I missed it,” I admit. “That’s why I want you to help me audit the Takei accounts.”

Rose shifts on the balls of her feet. And honestly, I think she might refuse me. “I’m almost finished with the Brooker account. I should be done by the end of next week. But if you want me to start on the Takei accounts, I can handle more than one thing at a time.” As if realizing how I might interpret her words, her cheeks turned bright red. “God, I mean—”

“See if you can finish up the Brooker account by tonight,” I say with a chuckle. “If not, pass it on to Marcus. I’m going to need your full attention starting tomorrow.”