Just Before My Wedding: Trapped By My Ruthless Boss novel Chapter 81

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Chapter 81

Chapter 81

KISAREL

(50

I woke up with the uncomfortable feeling that my life had been moved while I was still inside it.

For a few seconds. I did not open my eyes. I just lay still beneath the soft, expensive sheets and listened to the quiet of the

room.

I pushed the blanket down and sat up slowly. My body felt heavy from poor sleep, my thoughts still tangled in the kind of fear that did not leave just because the sun came up.

I still had to prepare for work either way.

Before I could finish taking my bath, Elgin was already in the room.

“You look like someone who slept inside a very expensive problem.” he said.

I pressed a hand to my face. “Good morning to you too.”

“It is morning, yes. Good is still under investigation.”

Elgin watched me quietly for a few seconds as I pulled out a cream blouse and a dark skirt. “I did not sleep well.”

“I doubt that.”

He rolled his eyes.

He sat curled in the armchair near the window, one leg tucked beneath him, wearing a silk robe I was almost certain had not belonged to him yesterday. A cup of coffee sat on the small table beside him, and his eyes were on me as I tucked my blouse into my skirt.

“Elgin.”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t worry too much.”

He lowered the cup slowly. “That is a very funny sentence coming from a woman who was relocated by force less than twelve hours ago.”

I met his gaze through the mirror. “I know what this looks like,” I said quietly.

“No, cherie.” His voice softened. “You know what it feels like because you are inside it. I know what it looks like because I am outside it. And from here, it looks like you’re in being put in a very expensive cage.”

My fingers tightened around my hairbrush.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “What troubles me is not what he wants, Arel. It is what he is willing to do to get what he wants.”

I quietly digested his words.

“I’ll apply wisdom,” I said after a while.

Elgin blinked. “Wisdom?”

“Yes.” I dropped the hairbrush. “I won’t provoke him. I won’t fight him in ways that make everything worse. I’ll do my job.

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Chapter 81

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keep my head down, and apply wisdom until I finally leave the job.”

Elgin sighed. “Arel, my love, applying wisdom around a man like Oceans Stark is like applying sunscreen during an active volcano. It is admirable, but I question the science”

“I don’t have another choice right now.”

“Yeah. But soon, you will.” Elgin said and sipped from his coffee before picking up his phone. “I didn’t want to say anything last night because you already had enough madness in your bloodstream. But you got an email from one of your close contacts at Morrison”

My hand stilled.

“Morrison?” I asked, my heart picking up speed.

“Yes. Apparently, my contact pushed your application forward, and they will be calling you for an interview soon.”

For one full second, I forgot how tired I was, as something opened in my chest. “They said that?”

Elgin nodded. “They said soon. And if soon behaves like a serious adult, then maybe you will be out of Stark Industries before this man finishes decorating your prison with indoor trees.”

***

I walked toward my office with renewed hope. I already made a mental note of everything I’ll tell Oceans when it’s time to leave and how I’ll map out my payment plan for the money I owed him.

But that hope screeched to a halt when I opened the door to my office and saw Oceans sitting behind my desk, with his legs crossed, one ankle resting on the opposite knee, and his hands folded in his lap.

His dark hair was brushed back from his forehead, not a single strand out of place. His silver–grey eyes caught the morning light and held it.

His face calm in a way that made my skin prickle. His eyes lifted to mine the moment I appeared, and my stomach dropped.

They were blazing.

That was the only word for it.

His face was unreadable, but his eyes looked like something had been burning behind them for hours and had only now found a place to land.

On me.

I swallowed and forced my legs to keep moving.

“Good morning. Mr. Stark,” I greeted, doing my best to push the numerous thoughts racing through my heart aside.

His

gaze

moved over me slowly, from my hair to my blouse, to the bag in my hand, then back to my face.

“Miss Harry.”

I placed my bag down carefully, trying not to show that my hands were not as steady as they should have been.

“Is something wrong?” I asked, keeping my voice professional as I sat in the opposite sest. “Why are you at my desk“”

For a moment, he said nothing.

He just watched me.

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Chapter 81

The silence stretched until my pulse began to beat in my throat.

Then he leaned forward slightly, resting his forearms on his thighs, “Did you think I would ever let you go?” He asked in a very quiet voice.

“What?”

His

eyes

did not move from mine. “Did you think I said what I said because I was being romantic?”

I sat very still.

“I don’t understand.”

“I told you I’d fallen for you,” he said. “That wasn’t an invitation to run. That was a warning.”

My fingers tightened around the edge of my desk

“What do you mean?” I asked, though some part of me already knew I did not want the answer.

Oceans tilted his head slightly.

“You applied to Morrison.”

The blood left my face.

I felt it happen.

One moment I was sitting there, trying to keep myself together, and the next my whole body went cold.

“They called me for a reference.” He uncrossed his legs and leaned forward, placing both hands on my desk. “Do you know what I told them?”

I couldn’t even muster up a response.

“I told them you are under contract. That any approach to hire you would be considered a breach of my goodwill. And that I have very expensive lawyers who enjoy proving breach.”

My stomach dropped so violently I thought I might be sick. I gripped the arm of my chair.

I could not breathe properly.

All morning, that tiny space inside my chest had opened around the thought of Morrison. Around the thought of leaving. Around the thought of having one thing Oceans had not touched yet.

But he had already been there. He had already closed the door before I even reached it.

“If you apply anywhere else, Kiss, I’ll know. And I’ll call them, too.” He stood up slowly, unfolding from my chair. “Not to threaten. But to explain that you’re the best PA I’ve ever had. That I can’t imagine running this company without you. That losing you would cause me personal distress.”

He came around the desk and stopped close enough that I could smell his dark and expensive cologne. It seemed he wore it to match the mood.

His presence made my body tense before I could control it.

“Personal distress is not a legal term.” His voice dropped lower. “But it’s a very effective one when the person saying it is me.

I turned away. I couldn’t look at him. My hands were shaking

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Chapter 81

“You’re blackmailing me

“I’m protecting what’s mine.” He reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. I flinched. His fingers lingered for a moment, warm against the side of my neck. “There’s a difference.”

“There’s no difference.”

His thumb traced a slow line along my jaw. It was feather–light and almost tender.

“There’s every difference,” he said quietly. “Blackmail is when you take something someone doesn’t want to give. You want to give me this, Kiss. You just haven’t admitted it to yourself yet.”

I forced myself to look at him. His face was close. His silver–grey eyes were dark in the morning light, pupils wide, watching me with an intensity that made my stomach tighten.

“I don’t want this,” I whispered.

“Your mouth says no.” His thumb brushed my lower lip. “But your body says something else. I can prove it to you.”

“I’m not going to be trapped by you.” I shook my head, holding his gaze.

He smiled, but it was not a kind smile. It was the smile of a man who had already won and was simply waiting for me to realize it.

“You’ve been trapped since our first night in DC, Kiss.” He dropped his hand and stepped back. “You just didn’t know it.”

AD