Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 59

Chapter 59

KISAREL.

It had been an eventful day. But nothing prepared me for what Oceans had planned.

And for my sake. I genuinely hoped he was joking.

“I don’t understand. Oceans.” I turned to face him fully. “What do you mean it’s mine?”

“The office decided it’s best for the CEO’s assistant to have her own space.” He said it with a shrug, both hands in his pockets, like he was discussing a change in the meeting room booking system. “All bills handled by the company.”

I stared at him.

“This has never been the norm.” I shook my head slowly. “I’ve never heard of any PA at SSC being given-”

“It’s new.” He held my gaze. “Rules change.”

“The board decided.” I repeated, letting the words sit for a moment. “The board sat down and decided that my housing situation was a matter worth their collective attention.”

He said nothing, which was its own kind of answer.

望

“Oceans.” I pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose. “I can’t accept this. I’m already staying with Elgin, and he needs me right now, and I can’t just…”

“Kiss!” He called firmly, cutting me off, “You’ll stay here for as long as you remain the personal assistant to the CEO of Stark Sovereign Capital. It’s not up for discussion.”

I pressed my lips together and felt the lump forming in my throat that I refused to let become anything more than a lump.

“Can… Can Elgin come live…”

“No. He can’t.” He cut me off again, stretching out his hand toward his driver, who stepped forward and placed a set of keys in his palm.

Oceans held them out to me.

I took them slowly, still working through everything happening in my chest, and looked down at what was in my hand.

These were not house keys.

I turned them over, looked at the fob, and looked back up at Oceans.

“Those are the keys to your car,” he said. “I hope Bernard made a

1looked at the fob in my hand.

Then I let out a nervous laugh, the one that came out when

prepared yourself for that laughter was the only available re

“Oceans.” I shook my head. No. This is.. No. This is too much.”

The board-

Stop saying the board. I looked at him, “You’re lying.”

hoice.”

far outside the boundaries of what you had

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Chapter 39

He held my gaze without any particular discomfort.

“Is this because of the cab driver?” I asked. “This entire–” I gestured at the house, at the keys in my hand, at the general enormity of what was happening, “-all of this, because I gave a cab driver my number this morning?”

He said nothing,

He simply turned and pointed across the parking lot.

I followed the direction of his hand.

Parked in the far corner, catching the last of the evening light, was a Mercedes–Benz EQE – deep midnight navy, tinted windows, and chrome accents.

It was beautiful,

I hated how beautiful it was.

“That’s-“I pressed my lips together. “Oceans. That has nothing to do with any board decision, and you know that I know that.”

He lifted one shoulder. “Maybe the board also knows I don’t like to share. He paused. “And made their decision accordingly.”

I turned to look at the house properly for the first time.

It was a townhouse – four floors of warm brick and clean architectural lines, tall windows that caught the light on every level, a private entrance set back from the street behind a short iron gate that matched the ones outside his own house two

streets over.

He closed the distance between us before I got another protest out.

His fingers found my chin and tilted

my

face up

to his.

“Listen to me carefully,” he said as his voice dropped into that low, quiet tone that bypassed every rational thought I owned. “For as long as you work for me.” His thumb pressed lightly against my jaw. “For as long as you warm my bed, take my cock, and give me every single thing I ask of you when I ask for it.” His eyes held mine without blinking. “You will live where I put

drive what I give you, and stay the hell away from every man who isn’t me.” His grip tightened by one small, intentional degree. “Are we clear?”

you.

I held his gaze and said nothing.

Because the part of me that was supposed to be forming a response was too busy sitting with the question I couldn’t stop asking myself…

Was I ready for where this was

going?

Because this wasn’t the arrangement anymore. The clean, finite, no–emotions–attached arrangement we had agreed to with its clear end date and its clear terms of what it was and wasn’t. That arrangement had been quietly, systematically dismantled over the course of one day and replaced with something that had a house in it. And a car. And a man gripping my chin, telling me to stay away from every other man like it were a condition of my employment.

“You don’t know the lengths I’ll go to safeguard what’s mine, his face so close to mine that I could feel the warmth of his

His voice dropped to something barely above a murmur,

“This is beyond logic. This is” He stopped.

I saw something deeper than just move through his eyes, and it was there for exactly one unguarded second before he pulled it back and smoothed his expression into something more manageable.

He released my chin and stepped back.

2000 @

THE

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Chapter 59

Come on. He turned toward the house. “Let’s go see your new home.”

“Kisarel, you can’t tell me that. At least, not at this point in my life.” Elgin said, leaning against the doorframe as I hurriedly gathered my hair into a neat bun.

The dinner meeting was for seven, and it was almost six thirty already. I was running late.

“Elgin…”

“I am still grieving, Arel.” His voice was quiet. None of the usual flourish. Just the plain, tired truth of it. “Grand–père has been gone for three weeks. I cannot be alone in this apartment, I cannot.”

I paused with a bobby pin between my teeth and looked at him in the mirror.

“I’ll visit. Always.” I tried to reason with him.

“No. It’s not the same. It’ll feel so lonely here, Arel. I might even die of grief,” He palmed his forehead sadly.

“Don’t say that, El.” I countered.

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“Fine. Can I come and stay with you?” He asked, and my heart skipped a beat, “at least for now. Until I am fine enough to stay on my own.”

I was quiet, resting my hand against the vanity table.

I remembered every syllable of Oceans‘ words this afternoon, about Elgin coming to stay with me. But I couldn’t say no to that face. I physically could not. He looked so sad and miserable right now.

“Fine.” I said before I changed my mind. “When I move, you come with me. For as long as you need.”

I’ll deal with Oceans later.

Elgin exhaled so completely it looked like something leaving his body. “Vraiment?”

“Yes.” I turned back to the mirror and pushed the bobby pin into place. “But I need to handle something first. But for now, let me finish getting ready.”

He smiled

– the first real one in days – and pushed off the doorframe. “Okay. Also. Marcus called.”

I turned around. “And?”

“The number that called Grand–p

-pere the night he died was from New York. Right here.” He folded his arms. He says he’s still digging. He thinks he can get a name or a more specific location with time.”

“Okay. That’s good news, right?” I asked, waiting to hear about my mystery caller, too.

“Yeah.” He said, “And for your mystery number… He couldn’t get a name or a specific location. But he got something…

My heart hammered against my chest as I listened.

Minnesota.