MY EX'S NEW BOSS

*CHAPTER 5: THE CEO'S PROPOSAL*

"Police?!" I grabbed my phone. "Mama, what police? What case?"

My mother's voice was shaking. "Two officers! They have papers! They say Miss Lindiwe Dlamini opened a case in 2023 that you stole her research! They say you are under investigation for fraud!"

I looked at Lindiwe on the floor. She was still holding the baby blanket.

"LINDIWE!" I screamed. "You reported ME? After YOU stole MY work?"

Lindiwe started crying harder. "I didn't! I swear! The senior partner did! When I got sick, he said if I don't sign a paper saying you stole from me, he would not pay my hospital bills! He said you were getting too powerful at Mthembu Holdings! He was scared you would expose him!"

The senior partner who came with Peter suddenly turned and tried to run for the elevator.

Ethan didn't even move. He just pressed a button on the desk.

"Lock the building. No one leaves floor 32."

Doors clicked. Locked.

The partner froze.

Ethan walked to him, calm. Too calm.

"Mr. Naidoo, right? Senior Partner at Smith Attorneys? You opened a fake fraud case against my executive assistant to steal her research and sell it to my company for 2 million?"

Mr. Naidoo sweated. "It's business—"

Ethan slapped the file from his hands. Papers flew.

"It's theft," Ethan said. "And now you tried to have her arrested with a fake case while your ex-employee is dying on my floor with a baby. Do you know who I am?"

Everyone knows who Ethan Mthembu is. He owns half of Sandton.

Mr. Naidoo collapsed into a chair. "Please. We can settle—"

"Oh, we will settle," Ethan said. He turned to me, still holding Baby Hope who had now fallen asleep on his expensive suit. He looked... natural holding her. Like a father. "Grace, do you want to press charges?"

I looked at Lindiwe dying. At Peter jobless. At the baby.

If I said yes, Peter would never get a job again. Lindiwe would die in jail.

If I said no, they would do it again.

Before I could speak, Lindiwe coughed. Blood. On the white boardroom floor.

"Grace," she whispered. "I'm sorry. I have three months. Please... take Hope. Don't let her go to an orphanage. Peter doesn't want her. I can't... I can't..."

Peter knelt and held Lindiwe. For the first time in three years, he cried. Real tears.

"I want her," Peter choked. "She is my blood. But I have nothing. No job. No house. I live in my car, Grace. How can I raise a baby in a car?"

My mother called again. "Grace! The police say if you don't come to the station in 1 hour, they will issue a warrant!"

I was being framed. I had a baby in a billionaire's arms. My ex was homeless. My ex-best friend was dying.

This was too much.

Ethan looked at me. He saw I was about to break.

He did something crazy.

He handed the baby to Peter, took my hand, and pulled me into his private office, locking the glass door.

"Grace, listen to me," he said, his cold CEO mask finally dropping. His eyes were burning. "I have loved you since you brought me coffee with Psalm 46:5 written on the cup on your first day. I never said anything because you said you don't want love, you want healing."

My heart stopped. Ethan... loved me?

"But now you need more than love," he said fast. "You need protection. That fake fraud case will destroy your name. And that baby — if you want her, social workers will ask if you are married, if you have a stable home. A single woman living in a one-bedroom cannot get custody easily. Especially with a fraud case open."

"What are you saying?"

"Marry me," Ethan said.

The world stopped.

"What?!"

"Contract marriage. One year. Tomorrow. At Home Affairs. I will make you Mrs. Mthembu. With my surname, no police officer will touch you. No judge will deny you custody of Hope. I will give you my penthouse, my lawyers, my name. And I will crush Smith Attorneys for you."

I stared at him. "Why would you do that for me?"

He stepped closer. He smelled like money and safety.

"Because for three years you have been the only character I couldn't forget either," he whispered. "And I am tired of watching you cry over a man who lives in his car."

Outside the glass, Peter was watching us. Holding his daughter. He saw Ethan's hand on my waist.

Jealousy. Pain. Regret. All on his face.

Ethan turned and looked at Peter through the glass, then back at me.

"So, Grace Mokoena, will you marry me tomorrow morning to save yourself and become a mother? Or will you go back to being the girl in the graduation gown who waits for a man who will never come?"

My phone rang again. Unknown number. Police station.

Baby Hope started crying again, loud, like she was calling me.

Peter banged on the glass door. "Grace! Don't do it! Don't marry him! Please! I still love you! I can change!"

And Lindiwe, on the floor, whispered her last twist: "Grace... don't trust Ethan. He... he knew Peter three years ago. He..."

She fainted before she could finish.