Love me Or Ruin me

Chapter Eight

The Monday morning air in Veridian City was biting and sharp, but it was nothing compared to the ice flooding my veins as I stood in the private executive elevator of Voss Tower.

In my leather designer bag, tucked safely inside a velvet pouch, rested the positive pregnancy test. Every time the elevator chimed, passing another floor on its ascent to the 89th, my heart took a violent, erratic leap against my ribs. I had spent the entire weekend drafting the words I would say to him. I wouldn’t be the meek secretary today. I would look him in the eyes, place his hand over my stomach, and tell him that his legacy was growing inside me. I was terrified, but the desperate, naive hope in my chest was a powerful shield.

The elevator doors slid open with a soft, expensive hum.

The executive floor was unnaturally quiet, an eerie contrast to the usual buzzing energy of a Monday morning. The senior analysts and vice presidents were huddled near the water coolers, speaking in frantic, hushed whispers. As I walked past them, my heels clicking sharply against the pristine white marble, I caught fragments of their conversations.

“...she arrived at seven sharp…”

“...straight into Voss’s office…”

“...the security team cleared the entire floor...”

A cold bead of sweat rolled down the back of my neck. I tightened my grip on my bag, my stride faltering for a fraction of a second before I forced myself to maintain the perfect, poised posture of Larissa Miller.

My steps slowed as I reached my desk, which sat directly outside the massive, double-paned mahogany doors of Arian’s corner office. The doors were closed completely shut, a heavy barrier of solid wood that felt entirely impenetrable. My desk was immaculate, exactly as I had left it on Friday, but the air around it felt heavy, thick with an unspoken tension that made the hairs on my arms stand up.

I put my bag down, my hands trembling slightly as I sat in my ergonomic leather chair. I arranged my desk organizers, pulled up the morning’s global market schedules, and tried to focus on the numbers swimming across my monitors. But my gaze kept drifting back to those closed mahogany doors.

Who was in there? Arian never took unprompted meetings on a Monday morning. He valued discipline and routine above all else.

Arian’s POV

I leaned back in my leather chair, my posture relaxed but every muscle in my jaw tight as I stared at the woman standing in front of my desk with thinly veiled irritation.

Brittany Deus looked every bit the highly successful, international fashion icon the media had been obsessing over all weekend. Her elegant cream designer dress hugged her slender figure flawlessly, her blonde hair was styled into perfect, effortless waves, and she wore that confident, blinding smile I had once found charming. Five years ago, that smile used to make my chest tighten. Now, it only irritated me, tasting like bitter medicine.

“Arian,” she said softly, her voice carrying that melodic, practiced purr as she stepped closer to my desk. “Five years is a long time. I made a mistake back then. I was young, foolish… I thought I needed more than what this city could offer. But I never stopped thinking about you. Not for a single day in Paris.”

I rubbed my temple, feeling a massive headache blooming behind my eyes. I didn't look at her; instead, I focused on the expensive fountain pen resting on my blotter. “You left me when I had nothing, Brittany. When Voss Empire was still struggling in the trenches, when my back was against the wall and the vultures were circling. You made your choice. Don’t come back now pretending it was a mistake.”

She smiled sadly, a carefully orchestrated expression of regret crossing her flawless features. She moved slowly around the perimeter of the desk, the sharp click of her heels cutting through the silence of my office. “I know. I was scared of the intensity, Arian. But look at you now… you built all of this out of the ash. You’re the most powerful man in Veridian City. And I’ve built my own international empire too. Imagine what we could be together now that we are equals. We could rule this city. No one would dare stand against us. You and me—the ultimate power couple.”

Her voice dropped to a sultry, intimate whisper as she stopped right in front of my chair, effectively cutting off my view of the rest of the room. “I came back for you, Arian. I still love you. We belong together. You know that.”

I stood up, my six-foot-three frame easily towering over her, throwing her into my shadow. The air between us felt suffocating, clogged with the heavy, expensive scent of her jasmine perfume. “Brittany, you need to leave. I have a global market opening in less than an hour, and I have work to do. Our past is dead.”

She didn't flinch. She didn't move away. Instead, she took a deliberate step even closer, her eyes flashing with a predatory, unyielding determination. Her fingers reached out, bold and familiar, trailing slowly down the front of my tailored suit jacket, then slipping beneath the lapels to smooth over the crisp white fabric of my shirt, right over my chest.

“Arian…” she murmured, tilting her head back, looking up at me with those wide, familiar blue eyes that used to dictate my moods. “Don’t push me away. We were so good together. Remember how it felt when we were untouchable?”

Before I could formulate a response, before I could rip her hands off my clothes and call security to have her thrown out of my sight, she rose swiftly on her tiptoes. Her arms flew up, wrapping tightly around my neck, and she crashed her lips firmly against mine.

The kiss was entirely unexpected, aggressive, and unwanted. It tasted like an ambush. A sudden surge of dark anger flared in my gut, and I immediately moved my hands up to her waist, bracing myself to forcefully push her back and break the contact.

Larissa’s POV

I sat at my desk and waited ten minutes.

Then fifteen.

The whispers on the executive floor had grown significantly louder, morphing into a low, buzzing hum of high-society gossip that made my ears ring. Yet, despite the chaos, no one dared approach Arian’s closed doors. Everyone was too afraid of the ice king’s wrath. But my patience finally snapped. The pregnancy test hidden in my bag felt heavier with every passing second, a ticking time bomb burning through the leather. I couldn't sit there like a compliant little employee anymore.

I stood up, my movements sharp and decisive. I smoothed down my black pencil skirt, picked up a priority financial file as a shield for my intrusion, and walked toward the massive mahogany doors. My hand trembled violently as I reached out and let my fingers wrap around the cold brass handle. I didn’t knock. I didn't want to give him a chance to put his corporate mask back on. I simply turned the handle gently and pushed the heavy door open just a c***k.

The scene inside froze the air right in my lungs, shattering my existence into a million jagged pieces.

Arian stood in the middle of his office, bathed in the bright morning sunlight. Brittany was pressed flush against him, her slender arms wrapped tightly around his neck as she kissed him deeply, passionately. Her body molded perfectly against his powerful frame, completely at home in his space. And his large hands—the same hands that had held me with such fierce possession just nights before—were resting on her waist.

The betrayal was a physical blow to my chest. A cold, heavy numbness washed over me, starting from the crown of my head and freezing my blood solid. The naive girl who had dreamed of a happy family died right there on the threshold.

My phone slipped from my suddenly paralyzed, numb fingers. It clattered loudly against the polished marble floor, the sharp sound echoing like a gunshot through the expansive office.

The sudden noise made both of them jolt apart instantly.

Arian’s eyes snapped directly to mine across the room. The color rapidly drained from his face, and a look of absolute shock, followed quickly by something darker and frantic, flashed across his features. “Larissa—” he breathed, his voice cracking with a panic I had never heard from him before.

I didn’t wait to hear his explanation. I didn't wait to watch him wipe her lipstick off his face.

I turned on my heel and ran.

Tears burst from my eyes, blinding my vision as I sprinted down the hallway. I flew past the groups of whispering executives, who scattered out of my way like frightened birds, and ran straight into the private executive elevator. My chest felt like it was being crushed under a shifting mountain, gasping for oxygen that wouldn't come. The positive pregnancy test in my bag suddenly felt like a cruel, mocking weight, a devastating joke played on me by fate.

The elevator doors slid shut, sealing me away from the world, and I finally collapsed against the cold metal wall, sliding down to the floor as heavy, agonizing sobs tore from my throat.

Arian’s POV

“Get the hell off me,” I snarled, my voice a dark, lethal vibration as I shoved Brittany back forcefully.

She stumbled backward against the edge of my desk, her breathing shallow, but a satisfied, wicked smirk was already playing on her lips. She had heard the door open. She had known exactly what she was doing.

I looked down at the sleek black smartphone lying abandoned on the marble floor. Larissa's phone. A strange, sharp knot tightened in my chest as I stared at the blank screen.

“Larissa—” I called out, taking a single step toward the door, but the sound of her rapid footsteps fading down the hallway told me she was already gone.

Brittany let out a soft, musical laugh from behind me, smoothing down her cream dress. “She’s just your secretary, Arian. A dime-a-dozen assistant. You can’t seriously be reacting like this over a nobody seeing us—”

“Get out,” I cut her off coldly, not even turning around to look at her. I walked over to the desk and hit the intercom line. “Security, remove Miss Deus from the building. Now.”

I didn't wait for Brittany to argue. I walked back to my desk, picked up Larissa’s phone from the floor, and set it down on the blotter. I sat back down in my leather chair, staring at the closed mahogany doors.

An uncomfortable, lingering weight settled in my gut, making me restless. Why did I feel bad? She was my secretary. An employee. Granted, she was an employee who shared my bed, a woman whose quiet obedience and striking presence had become a fixture in my late nights, but she was still just an asset in my structured world. I hadn't promised her anything. I hadn't confirmed a single emotion beyond the primal attraction that kept me pulling her back into my space. She knew the rules of the game we were playing.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, sighing heavily. It was an inconvenience, sure. Having a loyal employee walk out on a Monday morning disrupted the workflow, and the look of sheer, broken shock on her face before she fled was a minor annoyance to my conscience. But it wasn't fatal.

I picked up my fountain pen, forcing my eyes back to the global market reports waiting for my signature. People were emotional; they reacted to things they didn't understand. Larissa would calm down, or she wouldn't. Either way, Voss Empire didn't stop moving for anyone. I pushed the strange, tightening sensation in my chest aside, entirely brushing off the feeling as I forced my mind back into the cold, calculating space of business. She would return tomorrow, or I would find someone else to manage my desk.

I had an empire to run.

Larissa’s POV

The taxi ride back to my downtown neighborhood was a suffocating blur of hot tears, choked breaths, and broken sobs. I sat in the backseat, curling inward, clutching my leather bag tightly to my chest like a shield. The pregnancy test inside felt like a physical knife, twisting deeper into my flesh with every mile the car traveled away from Voss Tower.

When I finally burst through the apartment door, my vision swimming, Camila was standing in the kitchen. She took one look at my pale, tear-streaked face and the frantic rise and fall of my chest, and she dropped the dish towel she was holding, rushing forward in absolute panic.

“Larissa? Oh my god, what happened?! Are you hurt? Did someone attack you at the office?!”

She caught me as my legs threatened to give out, her arms wrapping around me with fierce, protective anxiety. I squeezed my eyes shut, a heavy, painful sob ripping from my throat. Camila didn’t know. She didn't know about the late nights at the penthouse, the secret relationship, or the terrifying truth of the child growing inside me. To her, I was just a hard-working corporate secretary dealing with a demanding, cold-hearted boss.

“I… I can’t breathe, Cami,” I choked out, unable to voice the truth of what I had just witnessed. I couldn't tell her that Arian had just shattered my heart into a million pieces, or that I was carrying his baby. The weight of the secret felt like a lead brick in my chest.

Camila guided me down until we were both sitting on the floor, rubbing my back in slow circles as I cried into her shoulder, letting the agony pour out of me until my throat felt raw.

“Is it Voss?” Camila asked, her voice tight with growing anger as she held me. “Did that monster finally push you past your breaking point? Larissa, you’ve been working yourself to death for that company, dealing with his insane demands. Look at what that place is doing to you! You need to quit. Leave that tower and never go back.”

I couldn't nod, and I couldn't explain. The beautiful, hopeful future I had foolishly imagined over the weekend—the naive fantasy of Arian softening his cold heart, of us stepping out of the shadows and becoming a real family—lay completely shattered at my feet like worthless glass.