CHAPTER FIVE
1651 Words
CHLOE
Thinking about Hunter wasn't helping me. With the way things were, I wished I could just wake up from this nightmare.
He needs to know I'm doing this for his own good.
I ended the call. I was far away and I plan on hiding from both of them for as long as I can or hopefully for the rest of my life.
The interview was arranged for the next morning, so I decided to put Hunter's call behind me. I needed to focus on that interview. I tried to find out more about the CEO but no matter how deep I searched I couldn't find anything.
I knew everything about the company, from its earlier development to their current development.
It could be said that I'm a huge fan of theirs.
The next morning I made my way to the company.
As the elevator doors closed behind me the sound suddenly sent shivers down my spine. It was ridiculous to let a simple click rattle me, but it did. It felt like the moment before something horrible happened.
I clutched the strap of my bag a little tighter.
Erux AI.
The company that once lived seemed like a distant dream. I had stayed up nights studying their papers, going through every article I could find, writing essays about their breakthroughs.
Never would I have expected that hoping to go somewhere far away from the shadows of my past would lead me straight to one of my life dreams.
Because of my love for Hayden, I had given up the first opportunity I had to work with Erux AI. Not all those decisions I had made to keep him felt stupid, how hard I had worked to keep a piece of s**t.
As the elevator climbed higher, floor after floor, the air inside the elevator felt increasingly thick. I found it difficult to keep my breath stable. Something inside me kept warning me that danger lay ahead.
I told myself it was nerves.
It wasn’t.
The higher I ascended, the more my heartbeat became fast, it was a warning. One which I completely ignored and shrugged it off as me being nervous.
The reception area looked like the lobby from the future, with marble so white it felt blinding, holographic displays floating midair. Each hologram rotated slowly, displaying Erux’s newest achievements and advanced AI ethics models.
Normally I would have been amazed.
Instead, I felt cold. Scared.
My heart beat sped up, as if giving me it finally warning before doom befalls me.
“Chloe?” a woman called out warmly. “Welcome to Erux. I’m Dana.”
Her smile was polite yet professional. I gave one in return even though my palms had gone cold.
As she led me down a long glass corridor. My reflection hovered faintly in the glass, pale, tired eyes, lips pressed tight, a woman trying very hard to look like she hadn’t been running for months.
My makeup barely hid my exhaustion.
This has to work, I muttered to myself.
I deserve something better. I need stability. I deserved a life that isn’t filled with fear.
But every step toward the CEO’s office made that tight, nerve wrecking sensation worsen.
“Mr. Knight insisted on meeting you personally,” Dana said, she sounded jealous. “He rarely does that.”
I felt like my whole world was about to collapse.
Mr. Knight?
“Mr. Knight…?” I echoed, my voice lower than I thought.
“Yes.” Dana gave a bright, oblivious smile. “Hunter Knight. Our CEO.”
Hell no….
Hunter.
No. No, no, no.
This can't be.
Was it the Hunter I knew…
He wasn’t a CEO. I told myself there had to be a mistake. Hunter was a performer
He wasn’t a billionaire.
It can't be him, I was just being worried for nothing.
“That’s… interesting,” I forced out, not wanting to be cold.
What if it was just a coincidence?
I didn't know what to offend anyone before I even started working.
“Yeah… he has a captivating name and an even more captivating face. Try not to fall in love with him. He might be young but he is as stern as an old man.”
The hallway swayed slightly beneath my feet.
Young…. Every finger pointed towards the Hunter I knew but I denied every possibility of it being true.
Except…
Dana knocked lightly, then pushed it open. “Mr. Knight, she’s here.”
I stepped inside and my heartbeat stopped.
Time froze.
Because there he was.
Hunter.
the hunter I knew.
He stood behind a desk made of black obsidian. He wore a dark suit that was tailored to perfection, clinging to every part of his chest. His jaw was cleanly shaved, his hair slicked back.
I wish the ground would just open up and swallow me whole, I would rather be buried than be here..o right now.
Why didn't I heed to my heart's warning.
Dana said something like an introduction, maybe but her words drowned beneath the roar of panic and fear.
He didn't utter a word when I walked in but one thing was certain.
He didn’t look surprised.
He looked like a man who had been waiting for my arrival.
And when Dana finally left, the door clicking shut behind her, the silence that followed was deafening.
My voice trembled as I spoke.
“What… what is this?”
Hunter’s answer as though he had no idea what I was talking about. “A job interview.”
“No. That's not what I meant.” My breath trembled. “Hunter, what are you doing here?”
For someone who spent most of his time following me it was obvious he didn't run the company, he might own it but he didn't run it himself.
He raised his brow. “I own this company.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
As he spoke he walked towards me.
He circled his desk and stopped just inches away from me, heat radiated off him like the sun I couldn’t escape.
“You knew I was coming here right?” I muttered.
A slow, dangerous smile played on his lips.
“Of course.”
My heart dropped and I felt shivers run down my spine down to my toes.
“Why?”
His eyes softened, but it lasted for a second before it reverted to his dark, piercing gaze. “Because you ran.”
I inhaled sharply.
“And I,” he said, stepping closer, “don’t let things go when they belong to me.”
“I don’t belong to you,” I retorted.
His gaze darkened. “You did.”
He leaned in. “You still do.”
I stepped back instinctively.
He followed unhurried, like a shadow that refused to stay on the ground.
“You disappeared,” he murmured. “After the club. After you spent the night pressed against me, wearing my jacket, crying into my chest like I was the only person you could trust.”
“I” My cheeks buffed. “That night meant nothing.”
A quiet, lethal laugh slid from his throat.
“It meant everything.”
I wanted to deny it.
But my body remembered him too vividly.
“You don’t know me,” I whispered weakly.
His voice lowered. “I know enough.”
He wasn’t touching me, but it felt like he was. His words caressed through my skin, dragging memories to the surface, the warmth of his hands, the way he had held me like something precious and breakable, the way his voice had felt when it vibrated against my neck.
“I know you’re afraid he’ll find you. I know you came to New York for a new beginning.”
My breath froze.
“And I know,” he murmured, “that you walked straight into mine.”
“Hunter… I didn’t come here for you,” I managed.
“I know.”
His fingers brushed against my chin, it was a slight touch, just a graze but it was enough to make me shiver.
“But you came to me all the same.”
I panicked and increased the distance between us. “I’m leaving.”
His hand closed around my wrist, carefully, not painful, but firm enough to stop me from running away.
“If you walk out of here,” he said quietly, “I will still find you. Again. And again. Every time you run, Chloe…” His thumb brushed my lips, my breath caressing his fingers. “I’ll follow, you can't hear from me.”
My mouth went dry. “Why?”
He stepped closer, closing the distance between us.
“Because you didn't fulfill you part of the deal.” His jaw clenched. “you got what you wanted and disappeared.” He continued “And I can’t forget the feeling of you.”
My knees threatened to buckle. The room felt too warm, the closer it was tormenting.
Then, as if regaining his senses, he released me. Slowly. Giving me what I longed for, breathing space.
“You’re here for an interview,” he said, regaining that composure of a CEO. “Sit.”
I didn’t move.
“Sit,” he repeated, softer but somehow firmer.
My legs refused to obey.
“I'd rather stand.”
Hunter returned to his seat, but the intensity in his gaze didn’t soften. It sharpened, focused entirely on me.
“This is the beginning,” he said.
“Of what?” My voice was barely audible.
His eyes dropped briefly to my lips, then lifted.
“Of the year you owe me.”
My heartbeat slammed painfully against my chest.
I hadn’t walked into a job interview.
I had walked directly into the trap he set.
And Hunter Knight wasn’t planning on letting me go.
- Writer
