Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 40

Chapter 40

KISAREL.

The meeting went on for another two hours, and somewhere in the middle of it, everyone seemed to have forgotten about me and the embarrassment from earlier.

It became a little easier to breathe. Not fully, but enough to convince myself I could make it to the end of this without completely falling apart.

I sat in my chair, typed my notes, kept my eyes on my screen, and told myself that the worst was over. That I had survived the file humiliation and hadn’t broken down in front of twenty- seven people, and that counted for something. That Mr. Stark had made his point and moved on, and the rest of this meeting would pass without incident, and I would walk out of here with whatever was left of my dignity intact.

I almost believed it. Until…

“My schedule,” Mr. Stark said, and even though he wasn’t looking at me, I knew he was talking

to me.

His eyes were glued to his system as he browsed through a document with keen interest.

–

market value,

“George, take your team to the property tomorrow. Comprehensive analysis risks, structural quality, I need details on my desk by Thursday.” His eyes stayed on his screen. “Miss Harry. My schedule.” Mr. Stark addressed me again, still without lifting his gaze.

I looked across the table toward Zen.

I had forgotten to collect the printout. In the chaos of the morning, I never went back for the physical copy.

But he was sitting right there across the table, and he would have brought it with him somehow, even without being told. Right?

I finally managed to get his attention without attracting others‘ attention.

He looked back at me with the blank, slightly puzzled expression of someone who genuinely had no idea what I wanted from him.

I mouthed ‘the schedule‘ to him, and he narrowed his brows and looked at me like I was

crazy.

A cold sensation spread through my stomach.

“Miss. Harry?” Mr. Stark’s firm voice called me, and this time, it held visible impatience. “My schedule. His eyes slowly found mine, and I knew I was screwed.

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Chapter 10

My

urth mistake.

“I’m trying to get it from Mr. Zen, sir.” I quickly said in defense, and once again, all eyes were

on me.

“I’m sorry. What?” Zen asked immediately. “What schedule?”

“The one I emailed you for printing this morning,” I replied, hoping this was just a big joke coming from Zen. One I wasn’t going to be excited to laugh about.

“You never sent any emails to me today, Miss Harry,” Zen said, maintaining his confusion.

The words didn’t register at first.

They just… floated before they finally landed.

And something inside me went cold.

“What? No. I did.” I straightened up and took a quick glance at my laptop on my lap. “I did.” My voice trailed off in panic as I did the only thing that survival dropped in my instincts at that point. Checking my mail.

I tapped hurriedly on the laptop and navigated my way to my emails.

And there…

There, I wished I could restart my whole day and not even come to the office in the first place.

Mr. Stark was silent. Patient. Calm. And it was not good.

I had composed the email, but I never hit the send button.

I felt the sting at the corner of my eyes and prayed to any God listening at this moment to not let me cry in front of all these people.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I slowly lifted my eyes, and the first place they landed was on Mr. Stark’s blank face.

He watched me like he already knew what I had found on that screen and was simply waiting for me to confirm it. His face was completely still. He looked, for all the world, like a man with nowhere else to be and nothing else to do except sit and watch me unravel piece by broken piece.

“I… I’m sorry, sir, I began, half–expecting him to cut me off like before, but he didn’t. And somehow, it began to feel worse.

He let me talk.

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Chapter 10

“I thought… I could have sworn I…” God, I sounded so stupid, even to my own hearing. Everyone’s eyes never left me. “I’m so sorry, sir.”

Oceans, just like his name, swallowed me whole with his silence, and I sat inside it and felt every second of it against my skin like acid. It was pure torture,

He just watched me fool myself.

“I can forward it to your email, sir,” I rushed, clinging to anything that sounded like a solution. “Or you can just…”

I stood up before I even finished speaking, closed the distance, and placed my laptop in front of him like offering it would somehow make this better.

“You can access it from here, sir.”

My voice was so thin it barely qualified as sound.

Mr. Stark looked at the laptop. Then he looked at me. The look lasted one second.

“Take it off my table,” he said coldly.

His tone told me he wasn’t going to repeat himself, nor was he ready to listen to anything else from me.

Inodded, rubbed my palms together, and picked up the laptop.

I took the walk of shame back to my seat, feeling useless and totally incompetent.

Again, for the fourth time, the meeting went on smoothly, and I imagined everyone else

shoes. already thanking their stars that they weren’t in my

I bet more than half of them already imagined me clearing up my desk by the end of this meeting with my sack letter in hand.

They weren’t wrong. Even I expected that. I expected a lot of things, but the last thing I expected at this point was to find out that I had made the fifth mistake in just one morning. And, God help me, I might just die of humiliation right here, right now, as everyone turned their attention to me again.

Again.

By now, my heart was already thudding so fast that I feared it might rip out of my chest.

Why was Mr. Stark doing this to me? Why?

I could endure any other punishment, but this? This perfect public humiliation might as well

be the end of me.

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Chapter 40

Mr. Stark’s gaze told me he was waiting very patiently for a response to the question he just asked.

The call to his attorney.

The documents I was meant to receive from him before the meeting.

I could swear I had called his attorney. That call wasn’t one I had marked as ‘unimportant‘ this morning. I was going to call him, I swear. But how did I miss it? And how was I going to explain this to him?

I even saw some people whispering amongst themselves as they cast disappointed looks my

way.

I closed my laptop and stood up. My legs were not entirely reliable, but they held. The faces of everyone instantly turned blurry. I didn’t trust myself to speak without whimpering or bursting into sobs.

Mr. Stark never pushed. He just watched me crumble slowly

“I…” The word didn’t make it out. My throat had closed around everything behind it. “I’m sorry, sir…” That was all I could say.

I had lost the right to use that word further today. It held no weight anymore coming from

1. me.

“I thought…” My voice cracked on the last word, so I paused. I was not going to give him that on top of everything else.

I was still trying to gather my words when his cold, demeaning voice dismissed me.

“Get out.”

That was it. Just two words that stabbed through every ounce of dignity and competence I thought I had.

I didn’t even know how it happened, but I suddenly lost control of my legs and even my

emotions.

I clasped my palm over my mouth, but the stupid, broken, humiliating whimper still managed to escape, as I ran out of the Ocean of humiliation that was about to drown me.

I had underestimated that man.

Now more than ever, I regretted ever having anything to do with him.

And just as I stepped into the hallway,my phone rang.

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Chapter 10

It was a strange number.

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