Page 12 of Darkest Deception

Didn’t my mother say the same thing to her when she came to console us after Dad died, while I stood there watching? Didn’t I stay there, unmoving, not even letting her talk to us?

Now the situation has flipped, and I am the one who is being thrown out. Left helpless…

What I would give to turn back time. But it’s not possible. It’s the one thing humanity cannot manipulate. I need to keep moving forward.

Aurora is a better person than me, to even listen to what I had to say, to let me be assured that I would have a job and will not lose it.

I have been at the mercy of Helia for the past two weeks, ever since I started my new role.

He tried to kill me in warning that night. He had me pinned against the wall, squeezing my throat. My life flashed before my eyes in those seconds. I never hated anyone more than I did him at that moment.

Helia doesn’t come out to taunt me, but the tasks he gives me are a joke. What he is doing is a slow torture that will drive me insane. I really want to scream, then slit his throat with a knife. He keeps giving me tasks that require me to deliver and retrieve files and things to and from each department. Lucky for me, the elevator has been out of order for days. So. Many. Stairs.

I have been sending physical files to the staff downstairs, collecting photocopies, delivering them to Helia, and bringing him black coffee with no sugar—just like his dead heart—at least three times a day. And that coffee… He can’t just have it from the twenty-grand coffee machine in the office. No, it has to be from the coffee shop two roads away. A good twenty-minute walk for me.

I don’t complain.

Not once.

But it’s getting too much for someone who loves working with numbers. I know it’s a matter of time before I explode. Sure, I organise his schedule and accept calls and emails, but that is where it stops.

It’s like he just doesn’t want me to be involved in anything to do with the actual company.

He doesn’t look up at me when I go into his office to give him the items.

At least there is peace in that.

He seems busy, constantly calling in the new finance manager he hired.

Soon enough, it’s time for the first shoot for Glamorous under new management, and I have been given the task to oversee this new volume.

I hold my iPad and my bag, ready to head out, when the door in front of me opens and out walks my tormentor.

Energy lights with electrifying sparks. My heart quivers at the sight of him, knowing what hides beneath those ruthless eyes of his. They are a fortune teller’s globe; the moment you look inside them, the only future you will see is your death. Helia doesn’t look like the forgiving type.

I don’t even want to look him in the eyes, but I need to keep up my fight.

He wears another black suit and a dark green dress shirt. Helia towers over me despite my height. Ever since I met him, he has constantly been in my personal space. His lean yet muscular body makes me feel like a small woman, even though I am five foot nine.

I’m not sure how, but we ended up matching today.

My black skirt hugs my hips and the flowy top is a deep emerald colour, just like his. Even my black heels match the exact shade of his dress shoes.

For the first time in days, Helia glances up at me. His tousled jet-black hair covers the scar on his eye today. My eyes trace his smooth sharp jaw and the muscles highlighted under his suit. My stomach dips for some unfathomable reason.

“My favourite assistant.”

I frown at him and his stupid grin. He keeps acting like he didn’t threaten me, and it’s making me want to claw at him, to ruin that grin that he is always sporting around others.

“I’m your only assistant,” I grumble back. I shoot a quick glance over my shoulder in my office to see if I missed anything, then follow Helia towards the… broken elevator?

“It’s broken. Are you stupid or…” I trail off when the doors do in fact open.

Helia strides in, and I am left frozen in my spot.

“No. The only stupid one is you. You keep running up and down the steps, not realising the sign is fake.” He leans against the back of the elevator, dropping his head back, his eyes lazily on me.

The elevator… wasn’t it broken?

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