Chapter Two: The Shock
1190 Words
Alexander Knight stood under the scalding spray of his shower, his hands braced against the cool marble walls. The water cascaded down his sculpted frame, but it did nothing to cool the fire burning beneath his skin.
Fuck.
His jaw clenched as flashes of last night tore through his mind, the softness of her skin, the way she had trembled beneath him, the breathless gasps that had driven him to the edge of control. It had been intoxicating, raw, unlike anything he had expected. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, her face remained blurred in his mind.
Who the hell was she?
His fingers raked through his damp hair as frustration churned in his gut. He hadn't even bothered to ask her name. It didn’t matter. She was just another nameless woman, another fleeting moment in his otherwise calculated life.
He had done the right thing. He had left her a cheque, more than enough compensation for whatever she thought she had lost. He owed her nothing beyond that.
She was nobody.
So why did his body still remember her? Why did his skin still feel the ghost of her touch?
With a growl of irritation, he shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist. He didn’t have time for distractions.
By the time he arrived at Knight Enterprises, the tension in the building was palpable. Employees darted around, their voices hushed, their gazes flickering toward him before quickly looking away. The air was thick with unease.
Alexander’s eyes narrowed. Something was wrong.
He strode through the sleek, glass-walled corridors, his presence commanding immediate silence. But he saw it, the quickened whispers, the way people clutched their phones like lifelines, the way no one met his gaze directly.
"Mr. Knight…." His secretary, Maximilian Davenport, appeared beside him, his expression carefully schooled, but there was a tightness around his mouth. "There’s something you need to see."
Alexander’s patience was razor-thin. "What the hell is going on?"
Before Maximilian could respond, Alexander caught sight of one of his female employees hastily lowering her phone as he passed.
In a flash, he snatched the device from her hands.
Her gasp was drowned out by the deafening silence that followed.
His eyes locked onto the screen.
His blood ran cold.
A video.
His video.
It played in excruciating detail, the desperate way his lips had claimed hers, the slow removal of clothing, the hungry way he had taken her, her gasps filling the air. His nudity was exposed. Her nudity was exposed.
Everything.
Out.
For.
The.
World.
To.
See.
The phone nearly shattered in his grip.
His muscles locked. His chest rose and fell in shallow, controlled breaths. The edges of his vision blurred with fury.
Maximilian shifted beside him. "Sir…"
Alexander didn't wait. He stormed into his office, slamming the door so hard the walls trembled.
The rage inside him exploded.
With a single, violent sweep of his arm, the glass paperweight on his desk flew across the room, shattering against the wall. Documents scattered to the floor. His laptop crashed onto the marble, its screen splintering on impact.
Maximilian remained by the door, his expression unreadable.
"You’ve seen it?" Alexander’s voice was deadly calm, his blue eyes dark with uncontained wrath.
Maximilian exhaled. "Yes. It’s all over the internet. Every major tabloid has picked it up. People are calling it ‘The CEO’s Secret Night of Sin.’"
Alexander’s grip tightened around the desk. "Who the f**k leaked it?"
Maximilian hesitated. "There's only one logical answer."
Alexander didn’t need him to say it.
Her.
His secretary studied him carefully. "You don’t remember who she is, do you?"
The muscle in Alexander’s jaw ticked. He should remember. But the details of her face were a blur, lost in the haze of whiskey and passion.
All he remembered was the feel of her beneath him. The scent of her. The way she had responded to him like she had never been touched before.
His stomach twisted.
Could she have done this?
No.
It didn’t make sense.
His hands clenched into fists. "Find her. Now."
---
The moment Isabella stepped into her tiny apartment, exhaustion hit her like a tidal wave.
She had spent the entire day numbly going through the motions, unable to shake the heavy weight of last night.
She hated herself.
She hated him.
And she wanted to forget.
Her fingers hovered over her laptop keyboard as she drafted her resignation email to the hotel’s HR department. She couldn't go back. Not after this.
But before she could hit send, her phone buzzed.
A message from her best friend, Evelyn Carter.
Evelyn: Izzy, tell me you've seen the news.
Her heart stopped.
With trembling fingers, she opened the browser.
Her breath caught in her throat.
"The CEO’s Secret Night of Sin – Exclusive Video Leaked!"
Below the headline was a still image from the recording. A damning, scandalous image of her wrapped around him.
The comments…
"Desperate slut."
"She knew what she was doing."
"A gold-digging w***e after Alexander Knight's money."
"She probably leaked it herself."
Her vision blurred.
The phone slipped from her grasp.
Her body trembled.
Her world was crashing.
The apartment door burst open.
"Isabella!"
Her brother, Emile Rosenthal, stormed in, his face tight with concern and barely concealed anger.
"Emile…."
"What the f**k is going on?" His voice was sharp, cutting through her spiraling thoughts. He shoved his phone toward her. "Is this real?"
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
Emile’s expression darkened. "You slept with him? Him?"
Tears burned at the back of her eyes. "I
….", She didn't know what to say at that moment.
His hands clenched at his sides. "How the f**k did this video get out?"
"I don’t know!" The words broke from her lips, her voice cracking. "I didn’t record anything! I swear!"
Emile exhaled heavily, running a hand through his hair. "Bella, this is bad."
As if the universe wanted to drive that point home, her phone buzzed again.
A new message.
From the Knight Hotel’s HR department.
"Effective immediately, your employment with Knight Hotels has been terminated due to misconduct unbecoming of an employee."
Her breath hitched.
She broke down in tears. Her life has never been easy, that one night of pleasure threatened to ruin her already complicated life.
Her fingers trembled as she clutched the phone to her chest, silent sobs shaking her fragile frame.
Emile knelt beside her, wrapping his arms around her. "We’ll fix this. I swear we will."
But Isabella knew.
Some things were beyond repair.
---
Back in Alexander’s Office
The world around Alexander was unraveling.
His phone buzzed.
A message from Edward Knight’s right-hand man.
"Mr. Knight, your grandfather has suffered a heart attack."
His breath caught.
For the first time since this chaos erupted, something else cut through the storm in his mind.
His grandfather.
Without an
other word, he stormed out of his office.
His secretary called after him. "Alexander!"
But he didn’t stop.
The scandal could wait.
For the first time in his life, Alexander Knight felt his world shakened.
- Writer
