Billionaire CEO Tested a Delivery Girl—What He Found Changed Everything
Chapter 1
At 6:17 on a freezing Monday morning, Emily Carter balanced three paper coffee cups in one hand while pushing open the glass doors of the Harrington Tower with her shoulder.
The security guard barely looked up.
“Morning, Emily.”
“Morning, Mr. Lewis.”
She hurried toward the elevators, her delivery bag hanging from one shoulder and her damp brown hair escaping from beneath a black baseball cap.
She was twenty-seven, worked six days a week, and delivered food across downtown Chicago for three different delivery apps.
Most people saw her as invisible.
She preferred it that way.
Invisible people didn’t attract questions.
They didn’t have to explain why they were always tired.
They didn’t have to explain why a college degree hung unused in a tiny apartment.
And they certainly didn’t have to explain why they had once dreamed of becoming an engineer before life forced them somewhere else.
Emily pressed the elevator button.
The doors opened.
She stepped inside.
“Forty-second floor,” she whispered, checking the receipt.
The order was for Alexander Harrington.
CEO of Harrington Global.
Billionaire.
Real-estate investor.
Technology entrepreneur.
And, according to almost every business magazine in America, one of the most difficult executives in Chicago.
Emily had never met him.
She didn’t particularly want to.
The elevator opened on forty-two.
She stepped into a reception area overlooking the city.
A receptionist approached.
“Delivery?”
Emily nodded.
“Mr. Harrington’s office.”
The receptionist sighed.
“He’s expecting it.”
Emily handed over the coffee.
“Signature?”
The receptionist signed.
Then she stopped.
“Actually, could you wait?”
Emily glanced at the clock.
“I have another order.”
“Just a minute.”
Emily waited.
Thirty seconds.
One minute.
Two.
Then the office door opened.
A tall man in a charcoal suit walked out.
Emily immediately recognized him.
Alexander Harrington.
He looked younger than his photographs.
Late thirties.
Dark hair.
Sharp features.
Expression unreadable.
His eyes went directly to Emily.
“You’re the delivery driver?”
Emily nodded.
“Yes.”
“How long have you been doing this?”
She frowned.
“Delivering?”
“Yes.”
“About three years.”
He studied her.
“Do you like it?”
Emily almost laughed.
“It’s a job.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
She looked at him.
“No.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“Why not?”
“Because I didn’t spend four years studying mechanical engineering to deliver sandwiches.”
The receptionist stared.
Alexander’s expression changed.
“You have an engineering degree?”
Emily immediately regretted saying it.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Northwestern.”
“Then why are you delivering food?”
She picked up her bag.
“Because life doesn’t always care what you studied.”
Alexander said nothing.
Emily walked toward the elevator.
Then he called after her.
“What’s your name?”
She turned.
“Emily.”
“Emily what?”
“Carter.”
She left.
Alexander stood there watching the elevator doors close.
He had spent years hiring consultants, analysts, lawyers, and executives.
Yet that delivery girl was the first person in months who had looked him directly in the eye without wanting something.
What Alexander didn’t know was that Emily’s delivery wasn’t an accident.
And neither was the question he was about to ask her.
Because Alexander Harrington had recently discovered that someone inside his company was stealing millions.
He needed to know who could be trusted.
So he decided to test the one person nobody would suspect.
The delivery girl.
And what she did next would change both their lives.
