21

21

-ONE WEEK LATER-

Sarah sat in her silk pajamas on the floor of her father’s house, her lips twitching, her laptop open, three empty wine glasses next to her, watching a live feed from a private hacker she paid $5,000 a month to.

The screen showed pictures. Clear, timestamped, HD pictures. Her eyes flickered in anger, she folded her fist till it turned white.

She stared at the images in front of her. Luke. In Imani’s house that morning, leaning against his Mercedes with coffee.

Luke and Imani entering the car after leaving the Shawn Tech boardroom, looking at Imani like he was her savior.

Sarah couldn’t deny the fact that her anger fueled even more, she

Sarah’s hand started shaking.

“No,” she whispered. “No, I won’t let this happen,” Her anger sparked when she saw another picture of them, Luke stroking Imani hair behind her hair.

She grabbed the mug next to her — World’s Best Daughter mug her father gave her in college — and smashed it against the wall.

It shattered. Coffee and ceramic splattered everywhere.

“That bitch!” she screamed, tears finally coming. “That bitch! That bitch! He was supposed to be begging me now!! He was supposed to come back to ME!”

She had used her connections to make sure Shawn Tech’s stock dropped. The whole plan was for Imani to fail, to lose everything, and for Luke to come crawling back to Sarah when Imani fired him for failing to buy the shareholders pity.

But Luke had somehow secured the deal. He was Imani’s new business partner. He was touching her.

That thought alone made Sarah almost went crazy.

Her father, Mr Velt, walked in at that moment in his robe, holding his own coffee. He looked at the shattered mug on the wall, then at his daughter on the floor, and sighed like this was an inconvenience.

He rolled his eyes “Get up,” he said coldly.

Sarah looked up, mascara running. “Daddy, did you see? Did you see what she—”

“I saw,” he cut her off. “And because you saw fit to use our company name to make a mess in front of the Shawn, disgrace the family name…You will have to fix what’s broken!” Her father yelled to her face.

Sarah squinted her eyes. “What?”

Her father dropped an envelope on her laptop, “Get ready. You start Monday. You will serve Shawn Tech as their new General Secretary.”

Sarah’s mouth dropped open. “WHAT?!”

“Imani’s terms for unfreezing our accounts and not suing us into bankruptcy was that you work for her. In her office. As her secretary. For six months. Without pay. I already signed it.”

Sarah scrambled up. “You want ME to serve that— that ghetto— Imani?! Are you insane?! I am Sarah Velt! I don’t serve anyone!”

“You are Sarah Velt who almost made us go bankrupt!” Thomas Velt roared, finally losing his patience. “You wanted to be Luke Wife so badly? Here is your beginning to one! Because what’s the difference,” He stated.

Sarah almost cried. “Dad..”

“No excuses. Your work is simple, you will file, you will make coffee, you will answer her, and you will smile while you do it! Or I will cut you off completely and you can go live with your mother in Ohio!”

Sarah went silent. Her hands balled into fists so tight her nails drew blood.

She looked at the laptop again — at Luke’s hands on Imani’s hair.

She vowed. Quietly, with venom.

“I’m going to make Imani Shawn pay for putting me through all of this stress. Every single day. She wants a secretary? I’ll be her worst nightmare.” Her smirk became more darker.

---

SHAWN TECH — 9:47 AM

Imani sat in her office, but her office felt too quiet.

The shareholders were happy again. The stock was up 3% already. Luke had sent her 12 messages that morning with ideas. Emily had brought her green tea.

But something was off.

She kept looking at the door.

For the last one week, she hasn’t seen Killan barge into her office like he’d normally do. A coffee she didn’t ask for, he’d always bring it to her office but somehow, he’s not coming.

That got Imani worried because no matter how much she told him not to, Killian Morgan always came to disturb her at work.

Today, the doorway was empty and even when she had asked about him at his desk, it was empty.

She tried to focus on her laptop, but her mind kept replaying his face and how he has angrily left the other day. Was I Harsh? Is that the reason why he had stopped coming? These questions ran through Imani’s mind that she didn’t know when Emily walked in.

“Ma’am? Ma’am?” Emily called after she had been standing there for over one minute.

Imani jerked back to reality. “Yes?”

“Is everything alright?” Emily asked, concerned.

Imani pressed her lips together and nod. “Yeah. What are you here for?”

“To give you report on the new design on the cars,” Emily dropped the file and was about leaving when Imani suddenly calledD

“Emily?”

“Yes, Ms. Shawn?” Emily popped her head back.

Imani tried to sound casual, flipping a pen and pretended to be jotting down. “Have you... have you heard anything about Killian? Did he... did he come to work today? Or call?”

Emily looked confused, then sad.

“Oh, Mr. Morgan? No, ma’am. He called in sick this morning. Said he won’t be in for a few days. His assistant said he had a... a family emergency last night. He sounded really rough on the phone.”

Imani’s pen stopped jotting, she wanted to hear more.

Called in sick. Killian Morgan never called in sick. Ever.

Her chest tightened with a guilt she didn’t understand.

“Sick?” she whispered. “What kind of sick?”

Emily shrugged. “They didn’t say. But... do you want me to ask further about his conditions? I think it’s really bad…”

Imani stared at the empty doorway again.

“No,” she said softly, almost to herself. “No, leave him.”

Then, after a pause, even softer: “Hope he’s okay.”

Emily smiled knowingly and left.

Imani pulled out her phone, opened Killian’s contact, typed: Are you okay? — then deleted it. Typed again: Did you get home safe? — deleted it.

She threw her phone face-down on the desk.

“Mind your business, Imani,” she whispered, repeating his words to herself, but it sounded hollow now.

But deep down, that’s a big fat lie.