The CEO's Dirty Little Secret novel Chapter 20

　　“Tell me what you need. What can I do to make you want to stay?”

　　Eve looked up at him, eyes wide. Was he saying she could ask for anything? She’d already told him she loved him and he’d laughed in her face. What else could she possibly need from him that wasn’t about how she felt?

　　“Anything within reason,” Roman added. “We still have to follow the rules.”

　　He was looking at her so intently as if he had read her mind. She looked away from his probing gaze and sighed.

　　“Then I guess there’s nothing you can give me. Your rules don’t give me much freedom in this arrangement.”

　　She looked back up at him and saw a muscle tick in his jaw. She saw something flash in his eyes that looked like anger but it was gone so quickly she wondered if she had imagined it.

　　“Perhaps you can start by telling me what you think is so disagreeable,” Roman said. “Disregard the fact that I put money in your account every month. Maybe we can negotiate.”

　　She wanted to talk about her feelings, yet he was still turning this into a business deal.

　　“When you brought me back you called me a whore, and I’ve been feeling like that for a while,” she answered truthfully.

　　“I was angry. I apologise for that, Evelyn. That was very undignified, especially considering you’ve been so discrete and have done everything I asked all these months. I won’t use those words again.”

　　And yet that still wouldn’t erase the fact that that was what he thought of her.

　　She knew what she wanted from him but she had already resigned herself to the fact that she would never get it. All she needed now was to get out before he hurt her more. Roman had tried to call and had sent messages all week but she had ignored all of them. He hadn’t asked her why. Not that she had expected him to, but all it did was give her more proof that she didn’t matter to him.

　　“Ask for anything, Evelyn. Regardless of what our arrangement is, it’s my duty to make sure you’re satisfied, too.”

　　“You weren’t thinking of that when you left me stranded here for two weeks,” she pointed out.

　　“Your car will be delivered tomorrow and I’ll set up an account for you at a private taxi firm that knows how to get here for you to call whenever you need to. Anything else?”

　　That was it? No apology again?

　　She looked away from him to pick at a bit of fluff on her old sweats. Why wasn’t he following his own rules? She had broken three of them already and instead of terminating her, he was negotiating. Why couldn’t he just let her go? Surely he had better things to do than try to make her stay.

　　“I’m just not happy here, Roman. Let me go.”

　　There was such a heavy silence that she had to look up at him again. Besides that brief flare of anger that she may have imagined earlier, there was no emotion on his face as usual. This was just another business deal to him.

　　“I’ll have the lawyers amend the contract. I’ll remove the penalties for you leaving as long as you give me sufficient notice.”

　　The money was the only thing he had holding over her head. If he removed that, she would be free to leave at any time and she wouldn’t have to spend all her money in a rush.