His Fated Temptation

Cold In The Conference Room

You’ve got a really strong voice here already — I’m keeping everything exactly as you wrote it, just cleaning grammar, spelling, and flow a bit so it reads smoothly without losing your tone.

“Pardon?” Seraphina asked, trying to hide the unease in her tone. She tried her best not to let her heart race. She knew how well werewolves’ hearing was heightened.

Kael picked up a file that had her photo on the front page. “Last I checked, in your CV, you didn’t mention you have partial hearing, did you?”

What an ass. Seraphina tried not to grind her teeth. “No, sir… I didn’t.” She bowed her head. “But why would anyone want you dead?”

Kael smirked. “That’s for you to find out too.” He walked to the window, staring out at the buzzing city, his hands in his pockets. “Someone among my board members wants me killed.”

“Your board members, sir?”

The man turned sharply. “You must really be deaf.”

Seraphina inhaled and exhaled, ignoring his remark. Thank goodness it was about his board members. For a second, she thought their cover had been blown.

“We have a meeting in about two hours. I will tell Mr. David to give you a list of the board members,” he continued. “You have until the end of the month.”

“What?!” Seraphina’s eyes widened. “But… but that’s not the job of a personal assistant. It’s the job of an assassin or a security agent or… or someone else, not me!” Seraphina retorted. She couldn’t help but drop her meek and gentle act. She only came here to find a weakness of the almighty King and turn it against him. This wasn’t part of what she was assigned to do.

“You applied here for a job, right?” Kael raised an eyebrow. “Despite what you’ve heard about how difficult being my assistant is. You got to be my assistant, so don’t f*****g complain, Miss Lightwood. Do your damn job.”

Where in her CV did it state that she was a detective? Damn you. She mouthed.

As if he heard his CEO’s voice, Mr. David entered the office, bowed slightly, and led Seraphina to her desk.

Two hours later,

Seraphina saw Kael walking towards her desk.

Shit! It’s been two hours already. She had been looking through the board members’ files Mr. David sent to her and she still wasn’t done. She had to do their background check. So many things to do. It was just her first day, and she was already this stressed.

“Ready?” he asked blankly.

Seraphina looked up at the cause of her problem and had the greatest urge to scoff loudly.

She watched him walk towards the conference room without even waiting for her reply.

Seraphina glared at him from behind.

Inside the conference room,

When they entered, everyone on the board who was seated stood up, their heads bowed. Only one man didn’t stand as swiftly as the others. He didn’t bow with respect either. More like disrespect. Seraphina took a mental note of that.

Kael walked to his seat at the far end of the large table, and Seraphina stood behind him.

Once he was seated, they all sat down too.

The room was too quiet for comfort. Seraphina noticed how the expressions on everyone’s faces were heavy. She could swear that no one dared breathe loudly.

The long glass table stretched across the boardroom, polished so perfectly it reflected every tense face seated around it. Laptops were open. Files stacked.

Kael leaned back slightly in his chair, fingers steepled, his gaze moving slowly from one executive to the next.

Seraphina tried not to breathe too loudly. She knew Kael was cold, but inside the conference room, he was something else.

“Let’s not waste time,” he said in a voice so low, calm, and dangerous. “Why are our numbers down in Q3?”

No one answered immediately.

“It’s the market shift,” Daniel, the new CFO, cleared his throat. “Competitors have been aggressive with pricing. We had to—”

Kael tilted his head slightly. “Had to?”

Daniel hesitated. “Adjust.”

A faint, humorless smile touched Kael’s lips.

“Interesting word you used there. Adjust.” He leaned forward now, placing his palms flat on the table. “Tell me, Mr. Daniel… when a lion sees another predator getting aggressive, does it adjust… or does it dominate?”

Mr. Daniel looked like he was about to s**t his pants. This was just his first meeting with the CEO. Having gotten this job after years of applying to the company, he thought the last CFO was fired because he was incompetent. Now, he knew why—and that it was very hard to please the most feared CEO.

He didn’t dare answer.

Seraphina pitied the man.

Kael’s gaze shifted to a woman on his left. “Mrs. Vanessa, tell me about marketing.”

She straightened instantly. “Yes, sir. The—”

Kael cut her off. “Explain to me why our competitor’s campaign is trending… and ours isn’t.”

Vanessa swallowed but held his gaze.

Seraphina felt the urge to smile at the woman’s bravery.

“They took a more emotional approach. They had a sort of… story-driven content. It connected faster with the audience and—”

“And we didn’t think of that?” Kael cut in again smoothly.

“We didn’t,” she said quickly. “But I prioritized brand prestige over relatability. I thought it would’ve done better.” She bowed her head.

Kael leaned back again, studying her like she was a puzzle.

“I didn’t expect this from you, Mrs. Vanessa. It’s common knowledge that prestige without attention is useless. If they don’t look at you, they won’t admire you.”

He paused, then added more quietly, “People don’t buy products. They buy the feelings that come with having those products. I want you to fix that.”

Vanessa nodded. “I will.”

His attention shifted again.

“Operations department.” He picked up a file, looking at it with disgust.

A man across the table adjusted his glasses nervously. “Yes, CEO Darkslade.”

“Supply chain delays. Three weeks behind schedule. Why is that?”

“There were… um, complications with international shipments—”

Kael raised a hand slightly.

That was enough to shut the man up.

“I don’t f*****g care about complications,” Kael said flatly. “I care about solutions. Yes, problems are expected. Delays are not.”

The man’s voice dropped. “We’re working on—”

“No,” Kael’s voice snapped.

Oh good Lord. This man had a degree in interrupting people. Seraphina thought. Goosebumps appeared on her skin. She hadn’t been this tense in years. How did his executives do it? Every meeting could be an opportunity for the CEO to fire you.

“You should have worked on it before it became a report on my damn desk.”

The tension in the room tightened like a drawn wire.

Then Kael exhaled softly, almost bored.

“Let me make something very clear,” he said, his voice calm again—but colder now. “We are not here to react. We are here to control the outcomes of things before they become a disaster.”

His eyes roamed over each and every one of them. He stood up slowly. The simple movement made everyone sit straighter—except that man. Seraphina watched him closely. He didn’t seem affected by Kael. Not in the slightest.

“If competitors drop prices,” Kael continued, walking slowly along the table, “we don’t panic. We reposition. If they get attention, we take it back. If there’s a delay… we remove the cause before it even exists.”

He stopped behind Daniel’s chair.

“You’re all very good at explaining problems,” Kael murmured. “That’s not why I pay you.”

No one dared move. No one spoke.

He walked back to his seat, adjusting his cufflinks casually.

“Now,” he said, sitting down again, “here’s what’s going to happen.”

He paused a beat, ensuring he had each and every one of their attention.

“Marketing will relaunch the campaign in seventy-two hours. I want you to use your senses and logic. I need urgency and visibility. If it doesn’t trend… don’t bother showing me.”

Vanessa nodded quickly. “Understood.”

“Lest I forget,” he continued.

Everyone held their breath once more.

He snapped his gaze to Daniel. “You’ll restructure pricing without killing our margins. Find the gap they missed. Find the smallest loophole. There’s always one.”

Daniel swallowed. “Yes, sir.”

“Operations,” Kael’s voice dropped slightly, “you have forty-eight hours to fix the delays. Not improve them. I said fix the damn thing.”

The man Seraphina had her eyes on since the meeting started shook his head. She narrowed her eyes, trying to decipher what that was about. It was as if he was disappointed in the way the CEO led.

Kael leaned back once more, crossing one leg over the other.

“And one more thing…”

Everyone froze again.

This man must surely love the fear he created in the conference room.

“If we lose,” he said quietly, “it won’t be because they were better.”

His eyes hardened. “It will be because you were not competent enough.”

The words landed like a final warning.

A small, cold smile spread across his lips.

“Meeting adjourned.”

Chairs moved almost instantly, people gathering their things in a rush, but trying not to look like they were escaping.

God, he’s so intense—and the jerk didn’t even need to raise his voice. If she had realized earlier that he was the one she poured coffee on, she wouldn’t have been so arrogant and rude.

As the members filed out, Seraphina’s gaze met the man from earlier. He gave her a small smile that made her uneasy before he bowed slightly to the CEO and left.

Kael didn’t acknowledge him. He remained seated like a king, watching the room empty.