LOGINMAXBalancing college and the internship took herculean effort. For one, Lang Corp wasn't even internship. If anyone from school management found out I'd been skipping classes to come down here……Ugh. I didn't even want to imagine the kind of issue that'd spring up. I missed the entirety of school today for two main reasons. One, today was basketball practice for the semifinal of the tournament in two days, and I doubted I was in the right frame of mind to watch my basketball dreams go straight out the window. Two, I wanted to be nowhere near Bianca after last night. Even now, after having a truckload of projects and deadlines dumped on my desk, I was still thinking about it. I knew I'd slip up eventually. I knew that damned storage room was a bad idea.But this?She hasn't even told me if the scheduled texts made it to Vanessa or not after everything. My guess… they probably did. Vanessa hadn't talked to me the entire day. More than that, she hadn't replied my texts, picked
BRIAN“W… what are you doing? When did you get here?” She asked. Tessa looked like she was five seconds away being completely wrecked. Her hands were violently jittering, as if the adrenaline coursing through her veins was too much for her own body to handle. “Mind dropping the knife?” I answered. The entire dining table had been closed in by the thick arms of tension, a beat that continued to suffocate even after she let go of the knife. “Give us a minute” I said, pulling her to the side. Tessa wasn't exactly my boss. Her husband was, but because she was the acting head of Lang Corp, our relationship wasn't a completely straightforward one. Tonight, however, none of that really mattered. Especially if she'd gone through with what she’d actually planned for the Sterling family.“Why are you here?” She asked when we reached the balcony. “Don't you think you're being a little too rash?”“Rash?” She nearly exploded. “Do you have any idea—”“Liam's gonna skin you alive if he finds
VANESSAThe storm didn't let up until I'd made it back home. The entire drive, I should've been thinking of how I left Bianca and Max at home. But for some reason, they were the least of my worries.I knew from my mother's tone over the phone that something was wrong, and when the engine of my car purred to a halt just in front of the Sterling Mansion, that horrible gut feeling dropped into a familiar, sickening crack. A flurry of cars occupied the parking lot, even more than it was during the last party we held in here. I stayed in the car, stilling myself with careful breaths while the storm around me drowned everything out. But just as I reached back for my umbrella, my door clicked open, and the familiar butler stood outside. “Miss Sterling. We've been expecting you” he said in his usual montone voice.Since we moved to New York, Jeffrey had been given strict instructions regarding the family and his roles towards us. His own brother was ‘handled’ by Tessa, and after begging
BIANCAHe could only feign stubbornness for so long. When he realised there was no way out, he did exactly as he was told.Max crouched and picked the cuffs off the ground, then walked over to one of the seats tucked into the dining table, drew it out, and sank into it. He crossed his hands behind it, and the metallic click of the cuffs locking into place echoed in the quiet room. All the while, his eyes never left mine… dark, burning, defiant.“Get this over with already” he groaned, voice clear with distaste. A shame. He looked so attractive like this. Pinned against his will, eyes burning and soothing all at the same time. I slipped out the keys to the cuffs from the hem of my bralette, then placed it gently on the table as I walked over to him. “Twenty five minutes” I said, straddling the chair, my chest pressed against his. I curled both arms around his broad shoulders, tilting slightly to lock gazes with him and leave virtually no space between our bodies. “Did you like it
MIA…apologised.“I’m sorry about your mom,” he said.The words hit like a sudden gust, winding and paralysing all at once.“I heard about it from—”“Shut up,” I muttered.“I didn’t know she—”“Brian, shut up.”He tried to sit up. I didn’t waste a second in hesitation. I leaned forward, and as if he knew exactly what I was going to do, he loosened his grip on my hands just enough.My arm swung toward his face, unchallenged, and snapped against his jaw with a vicious slap.The sheer force of it sent a bolting pain down my arm, just as his head swiveled to the side.He looked back at me through the corner of his eyes, returning my gaze with one that carried… nothing.“If hitting me is gonna make you feel better…”“I said shut up!” I struck him again. Then again. And again. Completely disregarding how red and hot my palms were getting.At a point, I couldn’t even feel my hands anymore. Yet I was still hitting, knowing fully well it was having no effect.Brian didn’t move. Didn’t block or
MIAIn the summer of 2023, I started working as an intern in Lang Corp.The job came from the most unexpected source. Brian Callaghan, a guy I'd had a crush on for almost the entirety of college. We bumped into each other one night at a restaurant. He reached out a few days later, one thing led to another, and boom, I started working as his secretary less than a week after our chanced meeting.It was pretty much the perfect setup to what could've been the perfect relationship. But there was one slight problem. Brian, at the time, was dating my best friend Sabrina. As a matter of fact, he'd been dating her since the second year of college… around the same time I told her I had feelings for him, Could I have fucked her relationship over out of spite? Of course. But Sabrina and I had known each other for years, and even though it felt like a stab in the back… I wanted to let bygones be bygones, and focus on my new career. That determined mindset… didn't last the test of time. And i







