GABRIEL I woke up in an unfamiliar bed with a pounding head, and according to my hazy memory, I had sex with a redhead whose legs curled in my stomach. The last time I found myself in a stranger’s bed, I saw my face plastered across the front page of a tabloid with the most outrageous title. Stark Apparel Inc. CEO, Gabriel Stark, Spotted in A Hotel with A Senator’s Daughter Having a Scandalous Affair! Clearly, the media only targeted me because of my reputation in the corporate world. The woman in the tabloid wasn’t even a senator’s daughter. She was the mayor’s daughter. That’s why I didn’t believe in the news. They just wanted to sell papers. The past few years have been chaotic enough. I was a businessman—not a fucking Hollywood actor. I moved her leg aside, creeped out of bed, and tried not to make a sound. I swiftly dressed, picked a sheet of tissue paper from the nightstand, and a pen from my suit jacket, and then wrote on it. Thank you for letting me devour your pussy last
AUDREY“Mr. Stark, the applicants are here. Should I let them in?” Ms. Mason poked her head through the slightly cracked door. Ms. Mason had initially interviewed five applicants for the internship position, but I couldn’t see the people she was talking to inside.“Go ahead, Ms. Mason,” a man’s voice said from the door.Before the end of our initial interview, Ms. Mason, the head of HR, briefed us about the company’s higher-ups, and we would answer them for the final interview. First was Bryan Jameson, the General Manager, who would be our direct superior. The second was Coulson Stark, the Vice-CEO. Last but not least was the CEO, Gabriel Stark. Gee, the name alone made me curious as hell.My best friend Chelsea called me about the job vacancy only yesterday, leaving me to fly from Phoenix to New York last night. Typically, people wouldn’t grab such an opportunity. It was too abrupt. But I couldn’t seem to ignore how promising the position was.According to Chelsea, Stark Apparel was
AUDREYLiam Cross. The memory of him was one reason I wanted to flee from Phoenix. How could I ever forget his eyes that stared affectionately at me that night? He—who still haunts my dreams at night because of guilt? Guilt that I led him to misery because of my mistake—his death, to be exact, however brutal that word was. But perhaps fate wasn’t done with me yet. And just when I thought I had finally escaped, fate sent someone else to torture me. I thought I was going to faint on the spot, looking at the face of my prospective boss, Gabriel Stark. The symmetry of his face resembled Liam, only Mr. Stark was sophisticated and brisk, and right now, I was having second thoughts about working for him. I could call HR and tell them I wouldn’t be able to come anymore, but that would be a terrible blemish on my employment record.“Hey!” Chelsea sat next to me, snapping a finger in my face to bring me back to reality. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve been sucked into a black hole.” Sh
GABRIEL“Don’t do this to me, please, miss,” I begged. My chest was growing tight. “You know I won’t do that. You were with me that whole night, and even if I knew the risk, I brought you home because I can’t do that to you… Ah!” This time, a sharp strike from the left side hit me. I bellowed in excruciating pain.I dropped to my knees, screamed, pleaded, and used all the strength I had left in my body. I looked up at my assaulter’s glacial expression. Audrey remained standing still.Two days ago, Samuel asked me to take his sister, Audrey. I was going to New York, where I would start a new life. Audrey Hopkins was the youngest daughter of the vineyard owner where my father and I worked. She was sixteen. I was three years older than her. I guessed she never noticed me even once, but I always saw her. Every day, I watched her from afar, admiring her beauty and her sweet face and listening to her sweet voice. And I thought I was the luckiest man in the world when she suddenly spoke to m
GABRIEL“Mr. Stark?” Audrey placed a coffee on my desk two weeks later. Typically, I could just ask HR to reassign her, but I didn’t, even though looking at her made my blood boil.I kept myself in control around her—to refrain from staring at her too long, but I couldn’t help being more contemptuous than ever. I made her responsible for my twice-a-day cup of coffee, demanded that she rearrange every fucking paper I had in my filing drawers, even if it was unnecessary, and re-do every assignment and proposal at least five times. Whenever she asked for my help, I simply answered her with ‘I’m busy.’She never seemed offended or dismayed by my cruelty, which made me even angrier. I even asked her to run to a bookstore three hours away from the office, but along the way, I asked her to come back, telling her I didn’t need the book anyway. She came back to my office with a smile on her face. She even asked me if I still needed something before she left.I thought having her work for me an
AUDREY“Come home, Audrey. Dad is waiting for you to come home. He’s dying, you know.” Anton stared back at me sincerely. He called me to meet him at the restaurant across from the Stark office building. I was hesitant at first, but I was curious about what they had been up to.My half-brother had grown thin in the past months. His eyes darkened, his skin paled, and his voice croaked. His eyes looked fatigued after working almost twenty-four-seven. According to my source, Linda, our housemaid who didn’t leave Anton and Samuel, still worked under the new landowner at the vineyard. They sold all our properties, except for my mother’s house, and our money was wasted on some bad investment, and of course, Dad gambled. “Look, Anton. I don’t know how you found me or who told you where I am. I’m already guessing that it’s Chelsea, but I’m not coming home. I left, even though Dad was sick. And I’m sure he’s not waiting for me. It’s impossible.” “I don’t know how long you keep running away.
AUDREYAt first, my boss’s presence and his large frame intimidated me—so powerful and dominating, but my fear was altered by relief. I suddenly felt safe. “And who are you?” Anton glared back and finally stepped back. “Who is this interloper who can’t fucking mind his own business?”“I don’t fucking care about your business, but you are harassing a woman in a public place.”Anton scowled. “Who the fuck is this, Audrey?”“He’s my boss,” I muttered.Anton let out a derisive laugh. “So your boss is just walking around the streets, meddling in his employees’ lives. What, are you fucking him, Audrey?”Gabriel seethed under his breath and clenched Anton’s collar, slightly lifting him off the ground. “What did you just say?”“Mr. Stark.” I held his hand. “Not here.”“Look at me and tell that to my face again,” Gabriel said tightly.Anton snickered, then he glared back at him. But abruptly, Anton’s expression changed into confusion. For the next few seconds, they just stood there, glowering
AUDREYAn hour later, I stepped into the dazzling reception area of Gilmore Shopping’s head office. My necessary appointment wasn’t just a simple appointment. It was a job interview.I passed the first two rounds, thanks to the probation at Stark Apparel. The company’s good name and reputation were known to many other companies. They welcomed me as if I was a VIP guest. Now, I was approaching the final interview—the last one-on-one interview with the CEO. I took an elevator to the executive’s floor.I knew I still didn’t receive an employment evaluation at Stark Apparel, but my three-month contract ended today. I needed to find a new job, whatever the evaluation result. Moreover, I didn’t think I could work adequately around Mr. Stark without undressing him in my thoughts. I already got over the fact he was Liam’s dead ringer, but I didn’t move past the point that he could still make me wet despite being an asshole. I didn’t want to be treated like a slave anymore. “Are you Miss Hop