Meera
"Meera, did you get the paper work compiled for the buy out?"I look up from my laptop screen as I find my eyes clashing with the green orbs of my best friend in this office, the feisty redhead named Clarissa.I nod my head, "yes, I already submitted it on Mr. Gianopoulus' desk last night. Is everything okay?" I ask her, noticing how winded she looks.Clarissa huffs, "yeah, I'm just worried that they're going to find something wrong with everything and my head is going to be served on the platter in front of the new boss."I chuckle, tucking a loose strand of my hair behind my ear, "why are you so afraid of him? In fact, why is the entire office so afraid of him?" I wonder out loud.Ever since the news of the new boss has been out in the open, everyone has been fretting over the man who is going to take over after Mr. Gianopoulus. I personally know nothing about the new boss since I have been on leave since the last two weeks and today is my first day back on the job.I am a paralegal working for one of the biggest law firms in New York and at the moment, this buyout is all that anyone can talk about in this city.Apparently the man buying this firm is some great business mogul from Europe who has come all the way here because he has some huge plans for the expansion of this firm.Some people in the office have also formulated conspiracy theories about how Mr. Gianopoulus is being blackmailed into buying his law firm. And for the sake of that old man, I really hope that it is false.Mr. Gianopoulus is a good man. He built this firm with his own blood, sweat and tears, and he doesn't deserve to have it all taken away by some young hotshot."Well, Mr. Harrington is very particular about every little thing. He has a notorious reputation for firing employees on the smallest of mistakes." Clarissa explains and I roll my eyes."What an ass." I mutter, looking away from her eyes as I quickly shut down the window of the dating website on my computer.If Clarissa saw that I am considering going on dates, she is going to go crazy about it. For the last year and a half that I came in this city and met her, she has been dying to get me to go on dates.But because of some unavoidable circumstances, I was stopping myself till now. There were certain wounds that were still bleeding when I met her.Some of them are still fresh but now that it has been two years since everything went to hell in my life, I figured that it is time to at least try to move on."Well, I am also curious about how he looks. I mean...if the recent images have to be trusted then the man is purely out of some romance novel. He has the looks to die for." She rambles on.I shudder, remembering the haunting green eyes that always persist in the back of my mind, "looks aren't everything, Isa." I whisper, shaking my head and looking down at my hands in my lap.I feel her staring at me right before I hear her sigh, "are you ever going to tell me what happened to you in your past?" She whispers sadly.I meet her gaze, hoping that my eyes won't betray me this time by crying as I shake my head, "it's nothing important, Isa. Anyways, show me the photos of our new boss. I should at least know what he looks like."She looks at me with a knowing glance and that tells me that she is aware about the fact that I am only trying to distract her from her previous question about my past.However, luckily for me, Clarissa nods her head and quickly opens up her phone screen, "yes! Of course I wouldn't miss a chance to ogle at this greek god through my phone screen." She mumbles.I chuckle and just as she passes her phone to me, probably to show me a photo of our new boss, a knock at my cabin door distracts us both.We look up at the same time and Clarissa's hand that was outstretched towards me with the phone in her grasp falls to the table slowly as I catch the eyes of Steven— Mr. Gianopoulus' personal assistant and one of my arch enemies in this office.A tight lipped, formal smile overtakes my lips as I mutter, "Mr. Howard, how can I help you today? Shouldn't you be busy licking the ass of the new boss right now?" I chide.Steven is as bad as a human being can get and it was only my personal rapport with Mr. Gianopoulus that ensured that I had a job. Otherwise if it were up to Steven Howard, I would have been fired months ago.Lord knows what problems this man has from me!Steven gives me a heated glare, "Mr. Harrington is demanding both of you to be present in conference room C." He tells us by giving both of us a pointed stare each.Clarissa's mouth falls agape as her head snaps between Steven and I as she utters, "Mr. Harrington? Asking for us?" Steven nods with a bored expression, "why?" She questions."One of you has made a mistake in writing the name of the London subsidiaries in the contract. That has angered him and he would like to see for himself to determine which one of you would be fired today." Steven says with a satisfied smile on his face.The bastard is all too happy about this.Clarissa meets my eyes and I know that I can see guilt and fear in her orbs.Neither one of us can admit this in front of Steven but we both know that it was Clarissa's job to cross check all the subsidiaries, considering that she's the lawyer working on this buyout and I am just a paralegal.My job was to only proofread everything and submit things on time."Get out of my office, Howard." I snap at the man and he chuckles sarcastically and walks out with a jolly expression."FUCK!" Clarissa exclaims the moment Steven is gone, "how could I have been so stupid? How could I have missed such a small thing!"I look at her with pity as I watch her thoughts spiralling out of control right in front of my eyes, "exactly, Isa, it's a small thing. I'm sure we can get him to understand." I say as I stand up from my chair, straightening the black blazer that I am wearing on my work pants and shirt."You don't understand, Meera! Mr. Harrington does not give excuses. He's really as strict as they come when it comes to punctuality of work." Clarissa mutters exasperatedly.I walk around my desk and place my hands on her arms, "everything will be alright, Isa. Don't worry please." I whisper, trying my best to calm her down.My beautiful best friend has the habit of worrying too much unnecessarily and in the last year and a half, I have seen her spiralling out of control for absolutely no important reasons."How can I not worry, Meera?" She blurts, "what if he fires me?"I shake my head, "nothing of the sort is going to happen." I tell her squeezing her upper arms. "Come on, I'll take care of everything."And saying that, I take her hand in mine and taking a deep breath, as we walk out of my cabin and make our way towards the conference room.Steve waits for us just outside with a sheepish grin on his face as he awaits our downfall. Clarissa shivers slightly beside me but I clutch her hand tighter as the two of us stand in front of the door to the conference room and taking in a deep breath, I raise my hand to knock.Clarissa too takes in a shaky breath and I leave her hand as the two of us get ready for whatever awaits us behind these doors."Come in." I hear a deep voice call from inside once I have knocked at the door and I don't know why but there is a familiar ring to that voice.Clarissa and I exchange nervous glances and squaring our shoulders, I push in the door and we enter."You asked for us, Mr. Gianopoulus?" Clarissa asks as we enter the room full of men sitting around the long table and my eyes instantly travel towards the far end where our previous boss is standing.The silver haired man nods his head however before he can speak, the man standing beside him with his back facing the entire room turns around."It was me who demanded your presence, actually." Says the man in a soft and velvety voice that sends a shiver down my spine.I know that voice from somewhere.And just then, my eyes clash with the ivy green orbs of the man I have spent the last two years running from.My husband.The man who swore that he wanted me dead.The man who almost killed me.Alejandro Harrington.Ace.And currently he is standing right in front of my eyes and the expression on his face tells me that he is as stunned to see me as I am to see him.Fuck.MeeraMy jaw slackens as I meet the eyes of my husband who is currently standing with my old boss, ready to take the position of becoming my new boss. Fuck. "I'm going to kill you!""You ruined us!""Ace...please...please don't kill me...""You're a traitor, Meera!"All those horrible instances flash in front of my eyes and I relive every single moment of pain that I suffered because of this man. Fuck. Why is he here?I thought he would never leave the mafia business that he was into...Wait...has he left everything behind or has he finally been successful in finding me?No...God no..."You two were responsible for drawing up these contracts, I presume?" Alejandro asks, his face doesn't give away a single emotion that is currently going on inside his head. It's as if he is completely indifferent to my presence and he is currently regarding both me and Clarissa with nothing but a disdained scowl. "Y-yes, Mr. Harrington, we are responsible for them." Clarissa responds hesitantly.
He catches my bottom lip between his teeth and that sends my mind into a frenzy and I forget to breathe for a second. I'm nothing but a puddle of mess beneath him and he knows it well enough. His fingers reach the roots of my hair as he tilts back my head slightly to gain more access to my mouth as our tongues fight for dominance but as usual, he wins by running his tongue along my bottom lip and making an elicit moan escape my mouth. Why am I kissing him back?Why do I want to run my fingers through his hair? Why do I want to feel the hardness of his chiseled chest? Why am I so turned on by the idea of kissing him after such a long time of being away from him, as if I was lost in the desert till now and he is my last drop of water?Fuck...Ace's lips travel down my jaw and into the crevice of my neck as his grip tightens on my hair and he pushes my body further against the wall by pressing himself against me. A shaky breath escapes my lips when I feel the bulge of his pants press
"And to make things more interesting, would you like to see one more thing?" He asks pacing away from me as he goes to stand in the front of the room and casually places his hand on the top of the chair where he was sitting as the head of this meeting. I run my hands through my hair, staring at him with nothing but betrayal on my face as I say nothing. He chuckles at the dumb fucking expression on my face as I stand there feeling worse about myself. "Raise your head and see what our recording buddy might have witnessed in the last fifteen minutes." He says pointing towards the lone camera hoisted up in one corner of the room. Realisation dawns upon me. There are cameras in every conference room of this office and at the moment, I am looking at the one which has just recorded me getting off at the hand of the new boss. Fuck. I could lose my job for this and be defamed. "You could lose your job, little Meera." He purrs from where he is standing, watching me like a hawk. I meet
Meera - 2 Years AgoI can feel the blood running down the side of my jaw as I lay there on the side of the pavement, not knowing if I will even survive the next few hours.The cold air bites into my skin as I try my best to gather my remaining clothes around my body tight enough to at least keep myself warm, but even so, nothing seems to be working. My eyes feel heavy as I blink with a lot of effort and because of that, I know that there is not much time left before either the cold or the blood loss takes my life away. My ears are still blaring with the sounds of my tormentors' voices and all I can see are their sick smiles that came from watching me in pain."You are never going to be his, dear Meera. And this child that is festering in your womb is going to die along with you tonight!" Her voice is still very shrill and cold in my head and right now, as I lay in the corner of the street, shivering with blood matting my hair and more of it layering my skin, I place my shaking and
MeeraHushed whispers reached my ears as I walked down the lobby of my office building, trying my best to keep my tears at bay as I realised that everyone here found out about the immaculate demotion that I had just received. I bit the inside of my cheeks as I tried to gather my emotions, knowing well enough that when I come back here tomorrow, I wouldn't be a paralegal, but instead, Alejandro Harrington's personal secretary. And I know that I cannot run, I cannot let him fire me, because a lot many important things depend on me keeping this job. I cannot allow Alejandro to take away the mere semblance of happiness that I have conjured up for myself. The moment I step out of the building, my hair curtains my face from both sides as I step into the pouring rain, seeming as if even the skies are weeping at the turn my fate has taken. I don't have an umbrella to protect myself from the biting cold showers pouring down from above, but instead of the cold, I focus on rushing out of th
Meera"Wallowing in self pity at what your life has turned into?" Ace's voice breaks through the silence in his car as we enter the parking space underneath the building where he lives at the top floor penthouse. I look at the sleek and admirable collection of his cars in the private parking space that is reserved for just the owner of the building where the other tenants are not allowed to enter and I am reminded of how easy money always came to my husband. He was born in one of the richest mafia families of Europe and with all the blood money they have, they can make the heavens look cheap. "No, Mr. Harrington, I am simply waiting for whatever devious plans you have for me." I chide with an indifferent expression as I continue to stare outside the window until the car comes to a stop right in front of the elevator. Four fully armed guards are standing in front of the elevator as they approach our vehicle. Two of them stand in their place while two come to a stop at both sides of
AceThe clicking of Serena's heels agitates my senses as I sit in my office located within the underground club that I own in this city as she saunters inside the room and walking around to where I am sitting, she leans back until she is perched on top of my table, facing me with that sultry look on her face."You look particularly disheveled today, Mr. Harrington." She whispers, placing her hand on my chest and I have to clench my hands into fists because they are currently itching to reach for my gun holstered against my thigh. "Mind if I help you with something?" She asks suggestively as her hand starts to travel down my chest, following the length of my torso before finally stopping just above the waist band of my tailored dress pants. I immediately reach down and wrap my hand around her wrist, stopping her right at that moment as I take her hand in a vice grip. It doesn't seem to bother her one bit. If anything, she is more excited and enticed by the idea of me being forceful.
AceThe elevator dings open, catching my attention away from my phone as I straighten up, taking in a deep breath just as the doors part and my ears catch onto a frenzy of noises coming from inside my penthouse. CLANG!The sound of utensils falling to the floor catches my attention as my eyes widen and my feet are making their way to the expansive kitchen of my penthouse. I still in my tracks the moment my eyes take in what's in front of me and my veins flood with simmering rage.Jo, the brute that Serena has hired to keep an eye on me is standing near the kitchen counter with his hands around my Meera's neck, squeezing the life out of her body as she claws at his hands trying to get him to stop. "Stop it." The words come out in a ragged hiss as I glare at Jo, making it a mental promise to myself that I will give him the worst possible death once I have defeated the Van Dykes. Jo stops in his assault of my wife as I catch the sight of a tear glimmering down Meera's cheek that sen