The Forbidden Intern

Chapter One: Welcome to Hell

Isabelle's POV

"Stay out of my way or I'll destroy you."

My stepbrother had told me at his father's wedding. I thought he was being dramatic, but I was wrong.

The heat seared through the paper cup, scorching my palm, but I held on tighter. Pain was better than panic, pain kept me from running.

It was my first day at Mark Enterprises which is my stepbrother's company, the same one that has threatened me at that wedding.

"Miss Carter?"

I looked up and a woman stood over my desk.

"Yes?" I answered with my face still on what I was typing on the table.

"Mr. Mark wants to see you. Now."

My stomach dropped before my head even lifted. Four hours. I'd been here exactly four hours. What could I have possibly done wrong already?

I followed her to the elevator and we rode up in silence and she didn't look at me once.

This is my life now, I guess. I lost my dad when I was just 8 and my mom remarried exactly fifteen years after that. She claimed to be in love with some rich man she met at a charity event and begged me to join her to start up a new family.

She had convinced me in tears, so who was I to refuse? I really just wished I had known it'll get more complicated than this, involving my stepbrother who is now my boss.

The doors opened on the forty-seventh floor and she led me to a corner office and knocked once.

"Come in."

We heard and she opened the door as I walked in.

Bryan sat behind his desk and he didn't look up.

"Close the door."

I closed it, but he kept typing on his computer and about one minute passed, then two before he finally looked at me. His silence pressed down harder than his words.

"Do you know why you're here?"

"No." I replied.

"Someone accessed confidential files this morning. From your computer." He said, but this time he was staring right at me.

My heart stopped for a minute as I tried to make meaning of what was going on. If he fires me now, Mom will never forgive me. I'll never forgive myself.

"What? No. I didn't..." I tried to speak but he cut me short.

"The IP address traces back to your workstation."

I froze. "That's impossible. I…"

"So someone else used your computer?" His tone was almost amused.

"I... I don't know. Maybe?" I replied, quite unsure if this was the right answer to give.

"Maybe." He leaned back.

"That's not very convincing." He added.

"I'm telling the truth!" I said but it came out louder than expected.

"Are you?" He stood up, walked around his desk and faced me.

"Or are you just like your mother? A liar who saw an opportunity and took it?"

Heat flooded my face. My hands clenched into fists at my sides.

"Don't talk about my mother." I said, trying not to look up.

"Why not? She spent six months charming my father. Six months playing the perfect woman, and now she's living in his mansion. Wearing his dead wife's jewelry and spending his money." He said, his voice loud enough for anyone passing by to hear.

"That's not..."

He cut me short yet again.

"And you." He stepped closer. I could smell his cologne now as it made my head turn so bad that I could faint.

"You show up here with your fake resume and your innocent act. Thinking you can use our family name to get ahead." His voice was now a little higher than the usual

"My resume isn't fake!" I shouted, surprised at how loud I had said that.

"Then prove it." He pulled a thick folder from his desk and threw it at me.

I caught it, barely as I flipped it over trying to figure out what it was.

"What is this?" I asked, confused.

"Your first real assignment. It is a market analysis for five sectors. Financial projections, strategic and recommendations. All of it." He said as I opened the folder and my eyes went wide.

"This is months of work." I argued, holding up the file in my hands.

"You have until Friday morning." He said with finality as he turned back to his chair.

"Friday? That's three days!"

What the hell is wrong with him? I thought.

"Then you better get started." He said now back at what he's doing.

"This is impossible!" I argued.

"For someone who lied on their resume? Probably." He smirked.

"So here's your choice. Complete the assignment and prove you deserve to be here. Or quit now and admit you never belonged in the first place." He added.

My hands shook as I said, "You're setting me up to fail."

He stood up all of a sudden and I thought he wanted to move close again so I shifted back in fear.

"I'm giving you exactly what you asked for. A chance to prove yourself." He walked to his door and opened it.

"Now get out of my office."

I wanted to throw the folder at his head, walk out and never come back. But I couldn't. I could only do that in my head.

If I quit, everyone would say I only got the job because of my mom. That I wasn't good enough and I'd prove them all wrong, starting with him.

I walked out and he slammed the door behind me.

The woman in the red suit was waiting by the elevator and she smiled.

"Rough meeting?" Someone asked as I walked some meters away from the office.

"I'm fine." I replied casually.

"I'm Vanessa Monroe. The senior Marketing Director." She said as she held out her hand.

I shook it but her grip was too tight.

"Isabelle Carter." I replied as I stared right back at her.

"Oh, I know who you are. Everyone does." She leaned in.

"Word of advice? Bryan destroys everyone who gets close to him. Better to quit now before he ruins your life."

The elevator doors opened and she walked in but I didn't follow.

I went back to my desk to start the work. Hours passed and I didn't eat. Didn't take breaks.

At six, everyone started leaving but I stayed until later at night, and around ten, I heard footsteps.

I looked up, it was Bryan.

"Still here?" He said as soon as he got close to me.

"Where else would I be?" I replied angrily.

He picked up my draft pages, read them and put them down.

"This is garbage."

Something snapped inside me and I stood up.

"I've been working for fourteen hours!"

"And yet it's still garbage."

"You know what?" My voice shook. "I'm done. I quit."

"Good. That's what I wanted."

"No." I grabbed my bag.

"You don't get to win. You don't get to break me and then act like I wasn't strong enough."

"Then what are you going to do about it?"

I got in his face.

"I'm going to finish this assignment. I'm going to do it better than anyone you've ever worked with. And then I'm going to watch you choke on your words."

Something flickered in his eyes and jaw tightened. Then he smiled, definitely not a friendly one.

"We'll see." He said before walking away.

I packed up my stuff and headed for the parking garage, and my car was the only one left.

When I walked toward it, all the four tires were slashed and completely destroyed.

"No. No no no."

On my windshield, something was written in red paint:

"STAY AWAY FROM BRYAN OR YOU'RE NEXT"

My blood ran cold as I looked around but the garage was empty, but with the way it seems, someone had been here recently.

I pulled out my phone to call security, but the voice I heard didn't sound anything like a security personnel.

"Who is this?" I asked.

The line was silent for a while before I finally heard the person say “you should've listened”

"What?" I asked, obviously confused about whatever was going on.

"He's going to destroy you. Just like he destroyed Sarah Chen."

My throat closed up as my hands shook so badly that I thought the phone would fall.

"Who's Sarah Chen?" I said trying very hard to maintain a steady voice.

"Ask him. Ask your stepbrother what happened to his last intern."

I heard before the line went dead.

Who was Sarah Chen? And what did Bryan do to her?

I looked up. There was a security camera above my car, but the lens was spray-painted black.

I heard footsteps behind me and I quickly spun around when I saw a man standing there. He was dressed in all black and his face was covered so I couldn't see him.

"Who are you?" I asked with all the courage I could summon, even though my legs were shaking so hard I thought they'd give out.

He didn't answer, he just held up his phone.

On the screen was a photo of my mother in her bedroom. The photo was taken a few minutes ago. I could see the book she was reading on her nightstand while the lamp she always kept on.

"If you tell anyone about this," he said. His voice was flat and emotionless.

"She's next."

Then he turned, walked away and after a while I couldn't see him again.

I stood there frozen. My whole body went numb. Someone was watching my mother. Right now, in our home.

And I couldn't tell anyone.