A Dangerous pact
1231 Words
Sofia woke in a start.
For a split second she didn’t know where she was or how she had come to be there. She recalled nothing. Too huge, too elaborate, the bed. The linen under her fingers was too silken, nothing like the heavy weave of the bed in her family’s estancia. A mellow smell of cedar and upmarket perfume, Alejandro’s smell.
And in instant it all came back to her.
The charity gala. Hector’s threat. Alejandro’s intervention. The deal.
You’re mine now.
Sofia sat straight up, her heart racing. Gripped by a wave of anxiety, the realization hit her. She had spent the night in Alejandro Monteverde’s penthouse.
The man she was now tied to by a dangerous, unwritten contract.
A knock at the door startled her.
She hesitated. “Yes?”
A door creaked open and a woman in a crisp black uniform entered. Her face remained professional, her expression unreadable.
“Señor Monteverde sent me you tell that breakfast is ready,” she said in perfect English. “He wants you in the dining room in 10 minutes.”
Sofia swallowed. "O-okay."
The woman smiled weakly, then disappeared down the passage, leaving Sofia alone again.
Her mind whirled. Alejandro is waiting for me?
She wasn’t used to being waited on. She had been a lifelong. ignored, underestimated, or easily dismissed. But Alejandro? He didn't disregard anything.
He observed. He calculated.
And now, he owned her time.
And Sofia let out a tough breath and pushed the covers away. Time to meet the devil.
Alejandro’s breakfast room was larger than a good restaurant. The room was filled with a marble table, its chairs so refined as to be thronelike next to it. The skyline outside was framed by floor-to-ceiling windows, golden streams of sunlight spilling into the space.
But that didn't faze Sofia.
Alejandro did.
He took the head position at the table, dressed in a cleanly pressed, dark, button-down shirt with the top two buttons undone. He had his sleeves rolled to the forearms. He was appearing relaxed, but there was nothing relaxed about his being.
From the moment she walked through the door, he noticed her. Sticking her where she stood.
"Sleep well?" he said, his voice smooth, blank.
Sofia pulled away, trying to push out a chair as far from him as she could. “I did the best I could, under the circumstances.”
Alejandro raised his eyebrow but remained silent.
A waiter appeared, setting down a plate in front of her — eggs, fruit, toast. Over what she would usually eat in a full day.
Her stomach growled, scoring her out.
Alejandro smiled. "Eat."
Sofia paused and then picked up her fork. She wasn't dumb. She needed to stay strong if she was going to get through this setup.
They sat for a moment in silence, eating. Or at least, she ate while Alejandro watched her as if she were a puzzle he was going to solve.
Finally, she just couldn’t take it anymore.
“Are you this reclusive all the time? she said, setting down her fork.
Alejandro sipped his coffee. "Only when I'm thinking."
Sofia's brow rose. "And what are you thinking?"
He leaned back in his chair and stared at her. "You."
Her breath was taken.
“I don’t get you,” he confessed. “Most people in your position would be frightened or trying desperately to impress me.”
Sofia crossed her arms. “Who says I’m not terrified?”
His lips twitched. “You don’t act like it.”
She redirected her gaze, gripping her coffee cup. “Maybe I learn to hide it or something.”
Alejandro hesitated, his face impassive. He set down his cup with a gentle clink, leaned closer.
“Let’s talk about your job.”
Sofia straightened. “Right. My job.”
“You’ll be my secretary, my personal secretary. That means you will be with me everywhere I go. You’ll manage my agenda, negotiate with my clients, and keep any surprises out of my business.’
Sofia nodded slowly. "That. doesn't sound so bad."
Alejandro grinned. “Because I haven’t given you the complete picture.”
She shivered down her spine. "What else is there?"
He withdrew his hand from his pocket and removed a thin black folder, sliding it toward her across the table.
She waited to open it.
The contents left her feeling cold and afraid.
Inside were dossiers on high-ranking men and women, some of whose faces she had seen on the news. Filed next to their names were heavy notes, accounting statements, and — shudder of shudders — photographs of them in compromising positions.
Sofia looked up at him with trembling hands, and Alejandro's words came rushing out. "What… is this?"
“Leverage,” he said, nonchalantly.
Her throat clenched. "And you want me to—what? Be part of this?"
If Alejandro’s expression changed, there was no way for it to show. “I’ll expect you to keep your mouth shut and follow orders.”
Sofia felt trapped. It was something about the air in the room, thick, heavy, like molasses.
“Why me?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.
Alejandro smiled at her for a hard beat, then continued. "Because you're smart. Because you’re so damn desperate to make whatever needs done get done. And since I don’t want to have faith in anybody else.”
Sofia was sick. That was something other than work.
This was a test.
She would be putting herself at risk if she quit here. Hector would track her down. Everything she had worked tirelessly to build would come crashing down.
But if she remained…
". listeners She would be tied to Alejandro Monteverde in ways she didn’t fully grasp.
Alejandro approached her, using his gentler voice. "Choose, Sofia. But get this one—if you work for me, you’re working for me and no one else.’ No other. Not Hector, not anyone. Do you get it?"
Her heart pounded in her chest. There was no turning back.
Sofia breathed. Then gritting her teeth against the lie she hadn’t even the heart to tell, she set her chin and met his gaze.
"I get it."
Alejandro smiled. A slow, threatening smile.
"Good."
Alejandro immediately got to work getting her into it, as soon as breakfast was over.
He brought her to his private office —a spotless, modern office with bookshelves, high-tech security equipment and a giant desk that looked less like a desk and more like a throne.
Sofia had no time even to admire it before he slapped a file into her hand.
“Your first task,” he said.
She opened it and froze on the spot.
A secret contract between Monteverde Industries and a foreign investor. But what struck her was the handwritten note at the bottom, signed by Alejandro himself.
_If this gets to the wrong people, we’re dead. _
Sofia swallowed. “Why are you offering this to me?”
Alejandro's eyes sparkled. “Because I need to understand whether I can trust you.”
A test.
A risky one.
Sofia held the folder firmly. She had only just accepted a job with him.
But she had not decided whether she was on his side yet.
Can Sofia prove her loyalty to Alejandro — or find an escape plan before it’s too late?
- Writer
