Nine Months of Deception: The CEO's Hidden Heir

There are three surefire ways to ruin your life when you're twenty-four. The first is to go into debt. The second is to lie. And the third, by far the most lethal, is to fall in love with your billionaire boss, sleep with him on his mahogany desk, and discover you're pregnant right after he makes it clear that he will never, ever acknowledge a child. My hands were shaking so badly I could barely hold the plastic test, and I stared at the two red lines that had just appeared on the small window. Pregnant. By Sebastian Volkov. The Iceman. Sitting on the floor of my apartment's luxurious bathroom, a knot of pure terror tightened in my throat. And suddenly, my mind mercilessly dragged me back to the night this whole mess began. Exactly one month ago. One month ago. The golden rule for surviving at Volkov Industries was simple: when the CEO lost his temper, you ran in the opposite direction. However, that night I broke my own survival protocol. Sebastian had just lost the acquisition of OmniCorp, a three-billion-dollar deal. Therefore, the fiftieth floor felt like ground zero after a hurricane. When I entered his office with the damage report, expecting to find a leader plotting his next act of revenge, I found a man on the brink of collapse. He was leaning against the enormous window, staring at the storm-drenched city. His jacket lay on the floor, his shirt unbuttoned, and a glass of whiskey trembled slightly in his hand. "Get out, Gianna," he said, his voice so full of rage it rattled the glass. "I don't want to see anyone. Least of all you, with your damn notebook and your face of absolute perfection." Any secretary in her right mind would have turned right around. But I'd been secretly in love with that demon for three years. Three years watching him burn himself out trying to keep his empire afloat. So, instead of running away, I slammed the door behind me. "I'm not going anywhere," I replied, placing the papers on the table. "And I'll stop looking 'perfect' when you stop acting like a spoiled child who's just had his favorite toy taken away." The silence that followed my words was so thick it almost suffocated me. Sebastian turned slowly, like a predator who'd just heard a branch snap in the forest. His gray eyes, usually calculating, now burned with a wild fire. He slammed down his glass, spilling the amber liquid, and walked toward me. "What did you just say to me?" he hissed, cornering me against the edge of his desk. For the first time in three years, I didn't look away. I lifted my chin, feeling my heart pound wildly against my ribs. "A bad deal doesn’t define you, Sebastian. You’re destroying your own office because you’re scared of having failed, and I’m not going to stand by silently and watch you sink." My boldness crossed an invisible line. Using his first name and confronting him like that shattered the glass between us. He stopped inches from my face, breathing heavily. Suddenly, his gaze dropped to my lips, and I saw something dangerous break inside him. “I’ve spent three years, Gianna…” he whispered, his aggressive tone shifting to a hoarse, desperate growl. “Three damn years watching you swallow my screams, being so submissive, so unattainable behind those gray suits. It drove me crazy trying to figure out what it would take to make you lose control. And it turns out all it took was losing a company to see your true fire.” Before I could process his confession, his hands flew to my waist and he lifted me up, plopping me down on the cold wood of the desk. The kiss wasn't a question; it was a head-on collision. His lips devoured mine with a need that left me breathless, mingling the bitter taste of whiskey with the raw electricity of desire. I didn't pull away. On the contrary, my hands tangled in his dark hair, pulling him even closer, responding with all the passion I'd kept locked away since the day I met him. The chemistry exploded, burning away years of stolen glances and pent-up tension in the office. That night there was no boss, no secretary; just a man seeking refuge and a woman willing to give him everything. But refuges built on ice always end up melting. As dawn broke, harsh reality hit me with the force of a freight train. I woke up on the leather sofa, barely covered by his jacket. When I looked up, I saw Sebastian across the room. He was already wearing a new suit. He was immaculate, cold, and as distant as a star. "There’s an envelope with money on your desk so you can take a few days off," he said, turning his back on me as he put away his phone. "What happened last night was stupid. A necessary mistake to burn off pent-up adrenaline, but a mistake nonetheless." His words pierced my chest. "A stupid thing to say?" My voice cracked, despite my efforts to sound strong. He turned and fixed me with that steely gaze that had so often terrified me in board meetings. "Don't get the wrong idea, Gianna. You're a brilliant secretary, but I don't get involved with my employees. Besides," he added, walking toward the door, "make sure you stop by a pharmacy. Children are emotional parasites, anchors that drag successful men down. I'll never have heirs, least of all from an office fling. Don't forget the pill." He left without looking back, shattering my heart into a thousand pieces. Present. The sound of my phone vibrating on the bathroom tiles pulled me from my reverie. I blinked, wiping away the stray tears that threatened to spill, and looked at the screen. It was him. Sebastian Volkov. Demanding to know why I was twenty minutes late to the office. I looked again at the pregnancy test, its two damned red lines glowing like a death warrant. He had made his feelings about children abundantly clear. If he found out, he would force me to get rid of my baby or snatch it away and hide it from the world, because a Volkov couldn't have any weaknesses. I ran my hands over my face, making the most terrifying and desperate decision of my life. I couldn't go back to Volkov Industries. I couldn't see Sebastian again. I had to disappear today, and I had to do it pretending to hate him, so he would never come looking for me.