Chapter4
905 Words
It was almost sunrise when I finally dragged myself home.
The cash still sat heavy in my purse, like a weight chained to my guilt. No amount of hot water could scrub the night off my skin. I’d stood under the shower until my fingers wrinkled, scrubbing and scrubbing until the bruises from his grip on my hips faded to red marks and then to memory.
And yet… my body still remembered him.
The way he whispered my name like he already owned it. The way his mouth had explored me like I was a mystery he intended to solve with his tongue alone.
I hated how my body reacted just thinking about it. The heat that curled low in my belly. The tremble in my thighs. It wasn’t just s*x. It wasn’t supposed to mean anything. And yet…
He thanked me. Thank you.
Not for pleasure. Not for my body. But for the distraction.
A pawn. A placeholder.
For what? A dinner? A proposal?
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat, pulling the bedsheets around me tighter. The memory of that note still burned behind my eyes.
Family dinner went better than expected.
What kind of man takes another woman to a family event while bedding someone else hours before?
And what kind of fool was I to care?
I’d done what I had to do. I’d paid part of Mom’s bill. I'd bought her a few more weeks. That’s what mattered.
But that woman, Kira's mother or whatever her words were, haunted me.
“You’ve served your purpose. Take the money. Disappear.”
Something about that tone… That certainty. Like I was just a number to be filed away. A mistake to be buried before it bloomed into scandal.
Maybe I was.
Still, Maya’s call gave me something to hold on to. A job. A reason to keep going.
I barely slept.
By morning, I’d re-edited my résumé twice and picked out the only professional-looking outfit I owned: a knee-length navy skirt and a white blouse that didn’t quite hide the bruise blooming beneath my collarbone.
I met Maya outside a towering glass building in the heart of the city. She looked tired, distracted, but still managed a tight smile.
“You look… like you’ve been through hell,” she said with a small laugh.
“You have no idea.”
“I do.” She eyed me carefully. “You’ll be fine. Just speak confidently, look serious, and don’t stare too much at his mouth.”
I blinked. “What?”
She grinned. “You’ll see.”
We got to a part of the building where, maya walked me in to an office, where she spoke to the man in the office very casually, I didn't hear what they said, just knew it was about me and my job, he got up looked at me for a while,
“she'll do, only because i trust you maya” he said as maya smiles faintly to him, it was obvious she was irritated by hes present i wasn't surprised he looked.. Let's not talk about that now.
He didn't say anything to me, he just called for his assistant, and ordered for me to be taken to the CEO's office, and I left after waving maya a good bye and grateful gesture all at once.
“Good luck”, she whispered.
Inside, the lobby gleamed. Chrome, glass, and wealth oozed from every polished surface. I felt like I didn’t belong. My heels clicked too loud against the marble floor as I was escorted upstairs by a nervous-looking assistant.
“This way. Mr. Woods has an opening in his schedule; he'll see you now.”
Mr. Woods?
No.
No no no.
My pulse thundered as the elevator doors opened onto the executive floor.
It couldn’t be.
It wasn’t.
I stepped into the office… and froze.
There he was.
D. Standing by the window, sunlight slicing across the hard line of his jaw and those cruelly perfect lips.
The man who had made me come undone with just his fingers and a whisper… was now my potential employer.
And he didn’t recognize me.
His eyes swept over me briefly, cool, professional.
“Sit,” he said.
I did.
Barely.
I could still feel where he touched me.
His voice was smooth, disinterested. “I need an assistant who knows how to shut up, show up, and solve problems. Maya says you’re good.”
“I am,” I whispered.
He raised a brow, glanced down at his tablet, and paused.
I held my breath.
He looked up again, frowning. “You look… familiar.”
Shit.
My hands clenched in my lap.
“Maybe I just have one of those faces,” I murmured, hating how breathless I sounded.
He stared at me a second longer. Too long.
Then finally nodded. “You start Monday. Don’t be late.”
I stood, legs trembling.
As I reached the door, I heard him murmur to himself
“Strange... I could’ve sworn”
I didn’t wait to hear the rest.
The elevator doors closed, and I let myself finally breathe.
This… this was going to be a problem.
A delicious, dangerous problem.
And if I wasn’t careful, I’d lose more than just my secrets.
I’d lose myself all over again, and worse what will happen if he realizes who i am, what happened between us.
- Writer
