She had spent every New Year’s Eve alone since childhood.
Every single one.
No family dinners.
No midnight kisses.
No crowded parties filled with laughter.
Just silence.
This year seemed destined to be exactly the same.
Twenty-eight-year-old Olivia Carter sat cross-legged on her couch wearing oversized penguin pajamas and fuzzy socks that no longer matched.
A half-empty bottle of cheap wine rested on the coffee table.
Beside it sat a small succulent in a cracked ceramic pot.
The poor plant looked one breath away from death.
Olivia raised her glass toward it.
“Well, Gerald,” she sighed.
“I guess it’s just you and me again.”
The succulent offered no response.
Which, honestly, made him one of the better conversationalists in her life.
Outside her apartment window, fireworks occasionally flashed above the city skyline.
People laughed in neighboring apartments.
Music echoed through the building.
Everyone seemed to have somewhere to be.
Everyone except her.
Olivia took another sip.
Her phone remained silent.
No messages.
No invitations.
No family.
Nothing.
She glanced toward the clock.
11:49 p.m.
Eleven minutes until midnight.
Another year over.
Another year beginning exactly the way the last one ended.
Alone.
She tried not to think about it.
Instead, she focused on work.
Work was easier.
Work made sense.
For the last four years, Olivia had worked as executive assistant to Dominic Moretti.
Officially, Dominic was a businessman.
Unofficially?
People whispered other things.
Things nobody dared say too loudly.
Things involving organized crime.
Private security companies.
Powerful politicians.
And enough money to buy half the city.
Whether the rumors were true or not, Olivia didn’t know.
And she preferred it that way.
Her job was simple.
Schedule meetings.
Manage calendars.
Answer calls.
Ignore anything that sounded suspicious.
Dominic paid well.
He treated her fairly.
And unlike most powerful men she’d encountered, he never crossed professional boundaries.
Still, he remained intimidating.
Six-foot-four.
Cold gray eyes.
Tailored black suits.
A reputation that made grown men nervous.
The kind of man people moved aside for without being asked.
The kind of man nobody wanted as an enemy.
Olivia certainly never expected him to think about her outside office hours.
Especially not on New Year’s Eve.
At 11:50 p.m., her apartment buzzer suddenly rang.
She nearly spilled her wine.
Her heart jumped.
Nobody visited her.
Ever.
The buzzer sounded again.
Confused, she stood and walked toward the intercom.
“Hello?”
A familiar deep voice answered.
“It’s Dominic.”
Olivia blinked.
Several times.
Surely she was imagining things.
Maybe the wine had finally reached her brain.
“Dominic?”
“Yes.”
A pause.
“Open the door.”
She stared at the speaker.
Then at Gerald the succulent.
Then back at the speaker.
“What are you doing here?”
Another pause.
“You’ll understand in a minute.”
That wasn’t reassuring.
Not remotely.
Nevertheless, curiosity won.
She buzzed him inside.
Thirty seconds later, someone knocked on her apartment door.
Olivia opened it.
And froze.
Dominic stood in the hallway wearing a black overcoat dusted with snow.
Behind him stood three luxury SUVs.
Several security guards waited near the elevators.
One held a large covered tray.
Another carried what appeared to be flowers.
The third struggled with multiple shopping bags.
Olivia stared.
“What is happening?”
Dominic looked down at her penguin pajamas.
Then at the wine bottle visible behind her.
Then at the dying succulent.
Something unusual happened.
He smiled.
Actually smiled.
“I see the party’s already started.”
Olivia groaned.
“I’m going back inside.”
Before she could close the door, Dominic stepped forward.
“Wait.”
She paused.
The expression on his face changed.
The teasing disappeared.
Something gentler replaced it.
“When was the last time you spent New Year’s with someone?”
The question caught her off guard.
She shrugged.
“A long time ago.”
“How long?”
Olivia hesitated.
Then laughed awkwardly.
“Never.”
Dominic frowned.
“Never?”
“My parents died when I was young.”
The words came out casually.
Too casually.
Years of practice.
“My relatives weren’t interested in raising me.”
She shrugged again.
“After that, holidays became normal days.”
For a moment, Dominic said nothing.
The hallway suddenly felt very quiet.
Then he looked toward his security team.
“Bring everything up.”
The guards immediately moved.
Olivia blinked.
“What everything?”
Five minutes later, her apartment looked like a luxury hotel suite.
The covered tray contained enough food for twenty people.
Steak.
Seafood.
Desserts.
Champagne.
Fresh bread.
The flowers filled half her kitchen counter.
One shopping bag contained gifts.
Another contained decorations.
A third contained enough supplies to throw an entire New Year’s party.
Olivia stood in the middle of the chaos.
Speechless.
Dominic removed his coat.
“You forgot to celebrate.”
“I didn’t forget.”
“You gave up.”
That hit a little too close to home.
She folded her arms.
“You don’t even like parties.”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
Dominic looked at her carefully.
Long enough to make her nervous.
Finally he answered.
“Because at lunch last week, someone asked what your plans were.”
Olivia remembered.
The office conversation.
Everyone had discussed family gatherings.
Holiday trips.
Parties.
Dates.
She’d laughed and said she planned to spend the evening with a succulent named Gerald.
Everyone thought she was joking.
Apparently one person hadn’t.
Dominic continued.
“You said it like it was funny.”
His voice lowered.
“But it wasn’t.”
Olivia looked away.
Something in her chest tightened unexpectedly.
Nobody had ever noticed before.
Nobody had cared enough to notice.
The clock read 11:57 p.m.
Three minutes until midnight.
Outside, fireworks intensified.
Dominic glanced toward the window.
Then back at her.
“Do you know what I learned growing up?”
Olivia shook her head.
“Power means very little if there’s nobody to share anything with.”
For the first time since she’d known him, Dominic sounded tired.
Not physically tired.
Lonely.
She studied him more carefully.
The expensive watch.
The tailored suit.
The bodyguards downstairs.
The reputation.
The wealth.
And suddenly she wondered whether he spent holidays alone too.
The realization surprised her.
Because loneliness recognized loneliness.
Even when hidden behind millions of dollars.
Even when hidden behind power.
Even when hidden behind fearsome reputations.
“Are you alone tonight too?” she asked softly.
Dominic looked away.
That was answer enough.
Something shifted between them.
The distance of employer and employee.
The formal barriers.
The carefully maintained professionalism.
Not gone.
But thinner.
More human.
11:59 p.m.
One minute remaining.
The city erupted with anticipation.
People shouted from balconies.
Car horns sounded below.
Fireworks exploded in bursts of color.
Dominic picked up two champagne glasses.
He handed one to Olivia.
She accepted.
Their fingers briefly touched.
The countdown began somewhere outside.
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Seven.
Olivia laughed suddenly.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed on New Year’s Eve.
Maybe never.
Six.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Midnight.
The city exploded with light.
Fireworks illuminated the sky.
Cheers echoed everywhere.
Olivia looked toward the window.
Then back toward Dominic.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Finally he raised his glass.
“Happy New Year, Olivia.”
The words sounded simple.
But something about them nearly broke her.
Because nobody had ever waited until midnight just to tell her that.
Nobody.
She swallowed hard.
“Happy New Year.”
Dominic studied her face.
“You’re crying.”
“No, I’m not.”
“You are.”
“It’s the champagne.”
“You haven’t drank any.”
Olivia laughed through the tears.
The sound surprised both of them.
For the first time in years, the new year didn’t feel empty.
It didn’t feel lonely.
It didn’t feel like something she merely survived.
It felt like a beginning.
A real one.
Hours later, long after midnight passed, they sat on the couch discussing everything except work.
Childhood memories.
Favorite books.
Embarrassing stories.
Dreams neither had admitted aloud.
Gerald the succulent sat between them like an honored guest.
At some point, Dominic stared at the plant.
“Is it dead?”
“Mostly.”
“You should buy another.”
Olivia smiled.
“No.”
“Why?”
She glanced around the apartment.
At the food.
The flowers.
The decorations.
Then at the man who had crossed the entire city because he refused to let someone spend another holiday alone.
And for the first time in years, the apartment didn’t feel empty.
“It survived long enough,” she said quietly.
Dominic followed her gaze.
For once, he didn’t look like a feared boss.
Or a powerful businessman.
Or the man everyone whispered about.
He simply looked like someone who understood loneliness.
Someone who had seen it in another person.
And decided to show up.
Ten minutes before midnight.
Just in time to change everything.