The CEO's One-Night Mistake

CHAPTER 6: THE BILLIONAIRE'S ULTIMATUM 2,841 Words

The penthouse elevator dinged at 10:03 AM. But the person who stepped out wasn’t Dewi.

*It was Arsen.*

Black suit, messy hair, and those gray eyes that were usually colder than the Arctic were now... burning. He’d just left a board meeting. A meeting he was supposed to skip because he claimed he had a migraine. A migraine caused by five sleepless nights. A migraine caused by a new assistant with a minimum wage salary who was driving him insane.

“I appreciate everyone’s time,” his voice was flat as he addressed the four people in the living room. The CFO, Legal, HRD, and... Maya. His ex-fiancée, still wearing a 12-carat ring on her finger.

Dewi, who was frozen near the bar table, immediately looked down. Her heart dropped to the glossy penthouse floor that cost more than her yearly rent. _Why is she here? Why now? Why when I’m carrying his child?_

Maya stood up. Red dress, victorious smile, her steps slow but deliberate as she approached Arsen. “Arsen, darling, I was worried. You haven’t answered my calls for three days. Daddy said you needed support after... the Singapore incident.”

Singapore. That one word was enough to make Dewi’s stomach churn. Not from morning sickness. From memory. The Ritz-Carlton. 52nd floor. Rain shower left running. And Arsen’s husky voice asking, _“Are you sure, Dewi?”_

Arsen didn’t look at Maya. His eyes, which had somehow become Dewi’s compass in the last week, locked onto Dewi. Sharp. Accusing. Pleading. All at once. “This meeting is adjourned in fifteen minutes. Everyone out except... the new assistant.”

The CFO coughed awkwardly. “Sir, about the Tanaka Corp contract, we need your signature before noon—”

“OUT.”

One word. But the entire room froze. Even the AC seemed to stop blowing.

In 30 seconds, the penthouse was empty. Just the two of them, the lingering scent of Maya’s Baccarat Rouge 540, and three meters of space that felt like three kilometers.

Dewi tried to leave too. Her dignity was gone, but at least her legs could still carry her away. “I’ll just—”

“You take one more step, and I’ll fire you right now, Dewi Adinata.”

Her feet died. Not because of the threat. But because of “Adinata”. Arsen’s last name. The name she wrote in her diary last night while crying, imagining her baby having that name.

Silence. Only the sound of a 200-million-rupiah wall clock ticking. _Tick. Tick. Tick._ Counting down to an explosion.

“Why are you here?” Arsen shrugged off his jacket, tossing it carelessly onto an 80-million-rupiah sofa. His tie was long gone. Two buttons of his shirt were undone, revealing the line of his neck and a hint of the chest that Dewi used as a pillow that night. The chest she bit softly when... _Stop. Don’t remember. Not now._

“I... Mr. Hendra called me. He said there were urgent documents that needed—”

“Lie.” Arsen walked closer. Each step was a sledgehammer to Dewi’s chest. She backed up until her spine hit the cold bar table, the chill seeping into her bones. “Hendra’s been on leave since yesterday. I approved it myself. He’s in Bali with his wife who’s eight months pregnant.”

Dewi panicked. So she was set up? By HRD? By Maya?

“Did Maya ask you to come here?” Arsen’s voice was quieter now. But that was what made the hair on Dewi’s neck stand up. Arsen shouting could be handled. Arsen whispering was... lethal.

“I don’t know, Sir. I was just told to come up, that there was—”

“Don’t call me Sir.” They were only a breath apart now. Dewi could see the vein in Arsen’s temple throbbing. Could smell Tom Ford and black coffee on his breath. The same scent that clung to the hotel sheets that night. The scent that kept Dewi awake for five days. “That night you called me Arsen. While crying. While clawing my back. While begging, ‘don’t stop, Arsen’.”

Dewi’s face burned. Redder than Maya’s dress. “That... that was a mistake. We were both drunk. You also lost—”

“I wasn’t drunk.”

Dewi’s world stopped. The AC died. The clock stopped. The earth stopped spinning.

“What?” she whispered. Her voice vanished.

“I said, I wasn’t drunk, Dewi Adinata.” Arsen cupped her face with one hand. His hands were big, calloused from the gym, but somehow they felt like home. “I was sober. Every second of it. When you said you were scared because it was your first time. When you trembled under me. When you called my name... not my fiancée’s name. Not anyone’s name. Just Arsen.”

The tears Dewi had held back since Chapter 1 finally fell. One drop. It landed on the back of Arsen’s hand and disappeared into the lines of his palm.

“Then why are you... acting like I’m dirt now? Like that night never happened? You’re engaged to Maya! You already had your wedding fitting!” Her voice broke. Five days of pretending finally shattered.

Because for five days, Dewi had been the best actress in the world. Pretending it didn’t hurt every time she saw Arsen holding hands with Maya during meetings. Pretending she wasn’t devastated when she heard gossip that their reception was still on in Bali next month. Pretending she didn’t want to throw up every time she remembered that night while working overtime.

Arsen was silent. His thumb wiped the tear on Dewi’s cheek. The gesture was as gentle as a father to his daughter, but his jaw was clenched like he was going to war.

“Maya and I broke up four months ago. Before Singapore. Before you.”

“Then why is she—”

“Because her father owns 23% of Adinata Group. If I announce the breakup before the shareholders’ meeting next month, he’ll pull his shares. Stocks will plummet. My company could collapse. 12,000 employees, Dewi. 12,000 families could miss their Eid bonus.” Arsen laughed. Bitter. Broken. “I’m a CEO, Dewi. Forbes put me on 30 Under 30. But I’m also a hostage. To money. To reputation.”

Dewi’s jaw dropped. Her brain short-circuited. All this time she thought she was the other woman. The mistress. The homewrecker. Turns out... she was just a pawn who didn’t even know where the chessboard was.

“Then the baby...” Dewi instinctively touched her stomach. A stupid, instinctive move. Too late. But Arsen’s hawk eyes caught it.

Those gray eyes immediately dropped to Dewi’s stomach, still flat under her plain white shirt. To her trembling hand on it. Back up to her eyes.

Shock. Denial. Then... a terrifying yet beautiful understanding.

“You’re pregnant.” Not a question. A verdict.

Dewi wanted to deny it. Wanted to say it was just bloating. But it was useless. “I just found out... four days ago. In the office bathroom. The test is still in my bag. I haven’t decided if I—”

“Is it mine?”

The question was like a dull kitchen knife. It didn’t kill instantly, but it tortured. Dewi slapped Arsen’s broad chest. Once. Twice. “Don’t insult me! I’m not some cheap girl! I’ve worked since I was 17 to—”

Arsen caught both her wrists. “Answer me, Dewi. Is it mine? Because if it’s not, I’ll kill him right now.”

“YES!” Dewi screamed. Tears, snot, everything came out. “Yes, it’s yours! The arrogant CEO’s who can’t tell the difference between an assistant and a one-night stand! Happy? Now fire me! I’ll go far away from you and your fake fiancée! I’ll—”

Her sentence was cut off. Not with words. But with an embrace.

Arsen pulled her into his chest. Tight. So tight Dewi’s ribs hurt. So tight she could hear Arsen’s heart, which was... just as loud, just as messy, just as terrified as hers.

“No one’s firing you.” Arsen whispered into Dewi’s hair. His breath was hot on her scalp. “And no one’s leaving. If you leave, I’ll chase you. To the ends of the earth, I’ll chase you.”

“Arsen—”

“I’m calling off the engagement with Maya today. I’ll call her father now. Stocks, shareholders, the company... screw them all.”

Dewi looked up from Arsen’s chest. In disbelief. “12,000 employees, Arsen. You said 12,000 families. You can’t be selfish—”

“I’ll find another way. I’ll sell my personal assets. This penthouse, the Ferrari, my shares in three startups. I still have 2 trillion in my personal account. Enough to pay their salaries for a year.” Arsen wiped Dewi’s tears again. And again. Like they were endless. “But I won’t sell my child. I won’t sell you. You two are worth more than 2 trillion.”

For the first time, Dewi saw a crack in the CEO’s mask. The gray eyes that were always arrogant, always winning, were now wet. Scared. Human.

“Why?” Dewi whispered. “Why do you suddenly care? Yesterday you ordered me to make coffee like I was a maid—”

“Because last night I had a dream,” Arsen cut her off. “I dreamed you resigned. I dreamed you left with a shabby suitcase. I dreamed your stomach was big and you told our child that their father was dead. And I woke up with chest pain, Dewi. Pain like I’d been shot point-blank. I, Arsen Adinata, who’s never been afraid of losing billions, who didn’t cry when my mom died, turns out I’m terrified of losing a new assistant with a 4.5 million salary.”

Dewi laughed through her tears. Absurd. Tragic. Romantic. All at once.

“So this is my ultimatum,” Arsen straightened Dewi’s shoulders, holding them, looking at her dead straight. CEO mode activated. But his eyes... his eyes were in whipped mode. “You have two choices.”

“Two?” Dewi held her breath.

“One: you resign now, terminate the pregnancy, and we pretend we never met. I’ll give you 1 billion cash as severance. Transferred today. You can start a new life. Go back to school. Open a cafe. Marry a good man who doesn’t have an ex like Maya.”

Dewi froze. One billion... Her mom could get surgery. Her sister could go to college. Her rent could be paid off for 10 years.

“Or two,” Arsen continued, his voice shaking so hard Dewi could feel it, “you stay here. As my wife. Tomorrow we go to the religious office. No reception. No media. Just us, the officiant, and two witnesses. I’ll fight the whole world for you two. I’ll take a bullet if Maya sends a hitman. I’ll sell a kidney if I have to.”

Arsen took a breath.

“But your life won’t be peaceful, Dewi. Maya won’t stay quiet. She’ll leak your photos. The media will dig up your past. My family will call you a gold digger, a homewrecker. Our child will get bullied at school as ‘the one-night stand baby’.”

Silence.

“Choose, Dewi. Now. Because I can’t pretend anymore that you’re just a ‘one-night mistake’. You’re not a mistake. You’re the consequence. And I want to take responsibility for that consequence.”

Dewi stared at Arsen. The cold CEO who turned out to be just a man terrified of loss. Outside the penthouse, Jakarta was noisy. Inside, there was only them and one tiny life who didn’t know his father was a billionaire.

Her hand dropped, caressing her stomach again. Then up, touching Arsen’s cheek that had stubble because he didn’t have time to shave.

“I choose...”