Bound By Obsession

Chapter 5

I couldn’t focus. My leg wouldn’t stop shaking as I sat through the meeting, trying to avoid Michael’s gaze. His eyes kept drifting to me, and I knew he was doing it on purpose, revelling in how uncomfortable he was making me.

“So, Mr. Davis,” Michael said, leaning back comfortably, “you’re confident your team has covered any possible liabilities on your side?”

Davis, oblivious to Angela’s discomfort, nodded with pride. “Absolutely, Mr. Hastings. My team and I have made sure to mitigate any risks associated with this partnership.”

“Mitigate?” Michael repeated with a hint of amusement. “You’re confident, then, that your debts won’t come back to haunt you?”

Mr. Davis’s eyes narrowed, but without any feasible evidence, I knew he wasn’t going to give in to what Michael had just said. “If you’re referring to some rumours about debts, we’re well aware of the numbers. It’s already factored into our strategy.”

The talk about money, debts, liabilities—all business went on for long, and I couldn’t even concentrate on it because all I could think of was how badly I wanted to leave. And, of course, Michael was enjoying every second of it. He was leaning back, perfectly relaxed, while I was wound up and pissed off.

Just when I wanted to excuse myself, Michael turned his head towards me, and I froze. His voice was smooth, almost teasing. “Baby girl,” he said, as if we were the only two people in the room, “you look a bit tense. Is something wrong?”

The endearment made my skin crawl, and worse, everyone else in the room noticed. I felt their eyes on me, their surprise at the way he’d spoken to me, and my cheeks burned with humiliation. I clenched my fists under the table, like throwing one at him, but urging myself to keep calm.

“Mr. Hastings, that’s quite unprofessional of you. Are you going to take the deal or not?”

He just smiled, and he turned to his assistant, Kelsey. “Play that recording, would you?”

Kelsey pulled out her phone, and the room filled with the sound of my own voice from the night before, when I’d been venting to him. As I heard myself talk about our debts, my heart sank. He’d recorded me. He’d been planning this all along.

When the recording ended, everyone was silent, and the shock on their faces was almost painful. Michael leaned back, turning his attention to Mr. Davis. “As you can hear, Mr. Davis, I’m aware of your little financial issues. So, if we’re going to proceed with this deal, I think the terms will have to change—considerably.”

Mr. Davis’s expression shifted from surprise to fury. He glared at me. His voice was low and cold. “Angela, clear your desk. You’re fired.”

“No—Mr. Davis, please! I didn’t know who he really was—I had no idea. I stammered, feeling my world crumbling around me.

But Mr. Davis didn’t care; the contract means a lot to him. “Are you deaf? Clear your desk and get out of my f*****g company.”

I looked over at Michael, hoping he’d at least show some sign of remorse, but he didn’t. Instead, he watched me beg.

I turned back to Mr. Davis, fighting the tears that threatened to spill. “Mr. Davis, please—”

But before I could even finish, he was already looking away, dismissing me as if I were nothing. Michael spoke then in a sharp tone. “Mr. Davis, if you speak to her like that again, you’ll regret it.”

Mr. Davis laughed. “So it was you who kept her from finishing that report? I really thought she was smarter than this. Guess she’s not as clever as I gave her credit for.” Then he turned to me.

“If only you had told me who he was when I asked, maybe you could have had your job still.” He shook his head, disgusted, and walked out of the room, leaving me standing there feeling shameful with anger and confusion.

Michael stepped closer, reaching out as if to comfort me, but I recoiled. “Don’t touch me,” I hissed with my voice trembling. “Stay away from me. Stay out of my life. You evil.” I didn’t wait for his response. I turned around and walked straight to my desk. My heart sank as I gathered my things.

As I left the building, carrying the last of my belongings in a box, my phone rang. It was the care centre calling to remind me about my mother’s latest medical bill. The amount left me numb—it was so much more than I could handle, especially now that I had no job. I managed to arrange a payment plan, but the reality of it weighed heavily on me. How would I keep up with the payments now?

Hours later, when I finally arrived home, all I wanted to do was curl up and escape everything that had happened. But as I unlocked the door, I came to a sudden halt. There, sitting on my couch like he owned the place again, was Michael.

I never gave him a key to my apartment. How in the world did he think he owned me and could just get his way around getting access to my apartment? I was so sad and disheartening staring at him in my room again.

My voice was sharp, fuelled by all the exhaustion and anger I’d kept bottled up. “If you don’t leave right now, I’m calling the police.”

“Angela,” he said in a tone softer than I expected, “I didn’t want this to happen. I didn’t plan for you to get fired.”

“Are you serious? You set me up!” I spat. “You used me to get what you wanted, and now I’m out of a job. Isn’t that enough for you?”

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “There’s more to this, Angela.”

“What could possibly justify this?” I demanded.

Then his tone shifted, becoming eerily calm, almost clinical. “Your name is Angela Mendes. You live in apartment 24B on Redmond Avenue. You have a younger sister, Emily, who’s in boarding school at St. Mary’s Academy. Your mother is in Brookside Care centre on Maple Drive.”

My blood ran cold. “How do you know all that?”

“Because I’m in love with you,” he said simply, as if it explained everything. “And I’m not going to rest until you’re mine.”

I took a step back, shaking my head in disbelief. “This isn’t love. This is obsession, Michael. You’re insane.”

He closed the distance between us. “I’m offering you something that could change everything. A job. Financial stability.

I’ll take care of your mother’s bills, cover your sister’s school fees—all of it. But not all good deeds are free.”

He pulled a document from his jacket pocket and tossed it onto the table in front of me.

What’s this file all about? I kept asking myself a series of questions with no answers to them.