My CEO and ME

Chapter 2

The Price of Deception

"You are making a mistake, Sophie," Carter's voice was low, chilly, sharp, cutting through the air's tension haze. His piercing green eyes fixed me squarely, relentless.

His words hammered down on me, every phrase like a physical blow. "You are not safe in this game, while you believe you are. You comprise just as much of it as I do.

Frozen, my breath held in my throat, I tried to piece together the whirlpool that had collapsed twenty-24 hours before.

The remarks. the hazards. Victoria gave a chilly smile.

The deception we were both caught in—this fictitious relationship that had begun as a straightforward business cover-up and had descended into something I was unable to flee.

Every instinct screaming to flee, my heart flew, blood rushing in my ears. I couldn't, though. Not while the storm was merely starting, I left him.

Eyes fixed on him, I swallowed hard. Carter, you are not making sense. Your game does not involve me. I never sought this.

He moved forward, never straying from my sight. Something dark and strong about his face made me shudder, like though it were crawling down my spine.

"You don't understand, do you?" His voice fell, nearly a whisper now. "You are already deeper than you would believe."

I wanted to run away, to act as though this wasn't real, that the lines hadn't quickly blurted between us.

Nevertheless, Carter's presence seemed to draw me back in every time I tried to remove myself. And I detested it.

I detested his influence on me and how the heat between us sizzled even though I told myself I shouldn't have given a damn.

Almost as a challenge, I added, "You don't trust me," my voice shaking with the irritation I couldn't hide. "You distrust everyone."

Something hurt, maybe, passed across his face, but it vanished as fast as it had appeared. His mouth closed, the muscles in his neck clear under his shirt. "You are right." I am not quick to trust. But I trust you to do one thing.

And what's that? My voice just whispered, I asked.

"Survive," he whispered, his words piercing and cutting over the quiet between us. " Sophie, you are in this. Whether or whether you find it appealing.

And there it was once more: the truth hovering like a dense fog. I was in this state.

Since the first time Carter had requested me to pretend to be his girlfriend in order to guard the reputation of his business, But nowadays, it was something a lot more complex and far more dangerous.

My chest seized. "I never signed off on this, Carter. Not in line with this."

He shook his head, almost despondent, as though I were neglecting the whole picture. "If you believe you have choices now, you are fooling yourself. This is more than our small scale.

I back off, a flash of anxiety in my chest. "So why the heck are you dragging me into it? You assume I would want this? I serve as your helper alone. I am not your pawn."

Before I could stop them, the words came out of my mouth and I started to regret them the instant they hung between us.

Carter's eyes darkened and his features contracted. I felt for a split second he would snap, his wrath exploding like a hurricane.

Then he retreated, his gaze darting to the door as though something—or someone—had diverted him.

With a rough voice and words falling out like the last thing he wanted to say, "Do you think I want this?" he asked. "Do you suppose I want to keep you in the dark on everything?

Do you believe I should keep you close and withhold from you what is actually happening?" He let out a strong breath. However, I cannot. Not Yet. Not until you know just how far you are in."

To object, I opened my mouth but nothing came out. My head whirled, my ideas strewn like a jigsaw I was unable to complete.

Carter kept his distance from everyone and had always been a mystery. But now he was telling me I was a part of his mess—a part of his problem—and it hit me more than I wanted to acknowledge.

I stood far too near him. His heat flowed off of him, and despite all I wanted to deny, I found myself pulled to him.

He drew me in; the obvious conflict between us that had been developing since I entered this horrible office pulled me in.

His stare on me felt weight, and I could sense the flutter of something deeper in his eyes that turned my tummy over.

I briefly lost awareness of everything else. About the corporate conflict, about the threat on my phone, about Victoria's mocking smirk.

Only Carter was visible to me. His gorgeous but disheveled hair falling just so, his sharp jaw and luscious lips.

He was a man who knew how to grab attention, how to make the world bend to his will, and yet at this instant I sensed something different. anything natural. Something lethal.

He spoke once more then, his voice a gentle rasp. "You are more than simply my assistant, Sophie. You were not brought here to maintain appearances. I have a need for you.

His words hung in the air, weighty and like a promise I couldn't really understand. I opened my mouth to answer, but before I could say anything, a strong knock on the door cut off us.

Before the door opened, I had no time to react; Alex Winters, Carter's right-hand man, entered. His cool blue eyes looked about the room, pausing for a second on me before he turned to Carter.

I could not quite put the conflict between them, something unspoken, but it was there. One could sense it.

"Has a minute?" Alex's voice was just like oil on water—too smooth. He walked in straight forward, his eyes never leaving Carter; he did not await an invitation.

"There has evolved. We should chat.

Carter nodded curtly, his face incredible. "I'll be right then."

Alex peered at me, his eyes keen and deliberate. "Of course," he continued, his voice tinged with something I could not quite identify. "Did not mean to stop."

He added something under his breath that I almost missed as he stepped back getting ready to depart. "Sophie, you are engaged in a deadly game. Not to overlook that."

The phrase stings like a slap to the face. Frozen, I stood there as my mind flew. What was under development? They were engaged in whatever game? And where does that fit me?

Carter's voice sharp and forceful pierced through the anarchy in my head. "Stay in my office," he remarked, but he seemed to be flirting with warning. "Don't walk away. Not quite yet.

I nodded, not sure if I was consenting since I wanted to or had no option.

He spun toward the door, but before he could get to it the phone on his desk buzzed once again. The notice this time was louder and more forceful.

Carter halted.

I looked across at the TV. There was a big red letter flash message.

"I still have to finish you, Carter. Sophie will also cover your blunders.

My inhale stopped in my throat.

The space seemed to shut in all around me.

Carter turned slowly and fixed me with something deeper than before. "Stay here," he said, his voice loaded with caution. But behind his gaze there was something else, something I couldn't exactly understand.

And then I understood—this was simply the beginning—in the terrible silence that followed.

The seconds passed like hours, and in the terrible silence that followed Carter's last words I could feel my pulse beating. The message on the phone sat there, mocking me, its presence like a storm cloud hovering above the room. "Carter, I'm not quite finished with you yet. Sophie will also cover your blunders.

Though I wanted to turn away, to ignore the stifling tension hovering like a dense fog, I couldn't.

The sense that everything I knew was collapsing under me persisted. I was caught in the center of the much larger puzzle that was our deception, the false connection, the threats.

Carter's jaw tensed as his eyes burned into mine. He seemed like a man on the brink, a man who had spent too much time dictating everything only to have it slide from his grip.

"Who the heck is this?" I murmured, my voice quivering, little above a breath. The weight of the inquiry rested between us like a blade poised to fall.

Carter's expression stayed the same, but I could see the rage growing and his sharpness of view veering toward something worse. With stiff palms and fingers stroking over the screen as though they could provide answers, he walked to his desk and picked the phone.

More to himself than to me, "this isn't just a threat, Sophie," he said. "This is a warning," says

I swallowed, dry in my throat. A warning from who?

He turned, his eyes focusing on me and a flutter of something incomprehensible caught there. You do not want to know.

The door banged open once again before I could react. Alex entered with a tight, frustrated face. He focused just on Carter, so he hardly even gave me a look. "We have to have a conversation. Now.

Carter straightened his posture but did not move; his eyes stayed fixed on me. "Give us a minute," he replied, his voice quiet and under control, but I sensed a tightness in it not previously heard.

Alex seemed to pause, his eyes flicking to mine. Though he said nothing, his facial expression conveyed great meaning. He seemed to be reading me, trying to determine whether I knew more than I ought to.

"Sophie," Carter remarked abruptly, his voice strained. "I must have you stay here. Keep not moving."

His voice carried something decisive, like a warning I couldn't ignore.

I nodded, attempting to control my breathing, as Alex's piercing voice sliced one last time through the air. "Carter, this goes beyond simply Sophie. This is more than you could possibly know.

Carter's eyes darkened, his lips curving into a barely perceptible, bitter smile. "I know that well."

I was left alone in the stifling silence as the door closed behind them; the buzz of the phone on the desk still echoed in my ears.

Frozen in place, I didn't know how long I stood until at last I reached for the phone, desperate to find out whether there was anything more. But a fresh alert sprang up just as my fingers were touching the screen.

"Don't let yourself grow overly at ease, Sophie. You next.

My air stopped. My universe had suddenly been inverted, and I was standing on the brink of a cliff without any way back-off.